Written by someone who attended a concert with musicians with developmental delays, translated…
It was, on that rainy afternoon, with the pounding of the rain drops, reminding me, that the music fest was about to, begin.
concert in the park, photo from online…
It was actually, not planned, that I’d come to attend this recital, before this, I’d never imagined, that I’d spent a not-for-profit musician with handicapped performers. I was curious, what is it about this concert, that’s gotten a dozen individuals with mental and physical handicaps (Downs’s Syndrome, visually impaired, mentally retarded, polio, etc., etc., etc., etc.) to come together to perform? And, after this concert, can that icy tall wall that’s been erected and set there for a long time be broken down? Can the warmth of the sound of the music actually, melt down the general public’s stereotypes, discriminations for those who are handicapped?
the street performers, photo from online.
Whether if it’s how their fingers grazed over the keyboard lightly, or the vocals resonating in the auditorium, through each and every single note, I saw their persistence for life, for music. What impressed me the most, was Yu-Wei Hsu, a performer with Downs’s Syndrome; unlike how most of the other performers who had visual impairments, Yu-Wei Hsu, other than having Downs’s Syndrome, he’d also had the physical hardships in playing the Tao flute: not agile enough in the hands, couldn’t control his drool, etc., etc., etc., but, he’d chosen this path, that’s, paved with endless number of difficulties ahead.
To tell the truth, Yu-Wei Hsu’s performance was nowhere near perfect, he played off pitch and wasn’t on the beat, but, seeing how he worked so hard, to get the crowd going, and, what passed throughout the auditorium, wasn’t pity or sadness, instead, it was the laughter that came from inside of the listeners. Turns out, that, is the meaningfulness of how and why these handicapped performers’ passing love to all corners of the society.
I’d never really known, or gotten in close contact with handicapped musicians, I’d only seen them from time to time on the street corners. And still, from the slideshows of their separate lives, through the music that they brought to me, in an instant, I’d come, to understand, the moving chapters of the verses of the music that is, their lives.
Most people would be able to draw courage from such an inspirational tale, but, what this not-for-profit recital wanted to show, wasn’t to help everybody get encouraged or inspired from someone’s handicaps, but how that love, had turned everybody who was there, the musicians, members of the audience, or the workers, into the most important roles of this concert.
In a rainy afternoon like that, normally, I would be at home, sleeping it off, but that afternoon, I’d, gone out, and instead, I’d had, a never-before dream, and, the dream was, very beautiful, very inspiring.
So, these musicians with disabilities had given the members of the audience a lesson: that anything IS possible, and what they had done was, very inspiring, as it’s not that easy, for any of us to pick up a musical instrument and play it, it’s even more so, for people with handicaps or are developmentally slow to learn the instruments, and yet, the performers had, given it their all on stage, and that, is worth commending!
Life, the Obstacle Course 