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SpunOut.ie Blog
Inspiration through helping others
SpunOut.ie Blog: 17 year old Niamh Frances tells how she organised a fundraiser for SpunOut.ie.
Niamh Francis recently organised a fundraising event and give her first ever piano recital for SpunOut.ie. With just 8 weeks to prepare for the event, she successfully raised awareness and funds for SpunOut.ie as well as giving an amazing performance on the night. Here she talks about the experience of preparing for the event and performing in public.
Looking back on the piano recital, it was a much bigger success than we anticipated! The 85-seat venue was almost full and people who were unable to attend donated generously. The audience looked pretty big to me. It was very strange to think that all these people had come to see me play!
The most nerve racking bit of any performance is just before it starts, when you're all alone in the green room, waiting for your name to be called out... but the moment you walk on and take your place, you realise that it's too late for panic and all you can do is your best.
By no means was it a perfect performance. Plenty of nerves and plenty of mistakes- but I learned that audiences are very sympathetic. They won't start throwing tomatoes at you for a few slip-ups at your first gig!
At the end of the recital, I felt a little disappointed in my performance because of the nervous hesitations and because I'm rather hard on myself about these things. But after I took my bow, to my huge surprise, the whole audience rose to their feet and the applause went on!
The effect was as if the entire interior of the building was rising up like a gigantic volume switch! I wasn't so pleased when an encore was requested, being totally unprepared for it, but nobody cared how scrappy it was.
The very end of the recital was the most inspiring part for me. I stood at the door to thank each person for coming along and I met so many people who I hadn't seen in so long- my last piano teacher, two of my primary school teachers, some school friends, relatives, and a whole bunch of locals I'd never spoken to. I will never forget the compliments, the congratulations, the hugs and kisses and grateful smiles that greeted me continuously until the hall was empty. It was definitely one of, if not the happiest night of my life, no exaggerating.
In the space of these 8 weeks, I have changed so much. I can pick up a phone and ring anyone I want to without feeling nervous about it. I can meet new people and not feel excessively self-conscious. I feel as if my true personality is being released from an old cage! Above all, I have realised that no matter what kind of personality you have, you will always be loved and appreciated by those around you, more than you could ever understand.
My honest belief is that the only way to gain true happiness and discover your "purpose" in life is to find something you are interested in and have a passion for, and use it to the best of your ability.
Your purpose could be anything in the world. I considered being an architect once! I have never confessed this to anyone, but I was once seriously suicidal when I was 13, when I was without piano lessons or any sort of inspiration. But when I finally got the chance to take piano lessons again, remembering how much I used to love it before my teacher left, I began to realise that this was the road for me.
I wasn't born with any special ability, I wasn't born into a musical family nor does anyone else in my house even listen to classical music! And now that I've brought my musical ability up to this standard, successfully established myself as a musician, and used my skills to help others rather than myself, nobody can ever take that away from me.
Read Niamh's earlier blog about the fundraiser.
By: Niamh Francis
The SpunOut.ie team are appealing for significant funding and sponsorship to help us stay afloat and succeed on an even bigger scale. To donate online or to find out more, click here.
