Social Responsibility Programme

For my Social Responsibility Programme, I decided to use my fifty-five hours allocated for voluntary work on playing the organ at the Floriana Parish for the 10.30 am Sunday Mass and other times during the week and also teaching guitar to children at the Society of M.U.S.E.U.M. at Swatar. I particularly enjoyed my experience playing the organ at the Floriana Parish. It was a wonderful experience and I became more confident in performing in public. I always looked forward to going there as I would always play something different every week. I would play different music depending on the particular period of the Liturgical year at that time. For example, during Advent time the music would all be related to the coming of Jesus and during Christmas music will be related to time the Birth of Christ , such as, Ningabru Nsara, O Lejl ta Skiet and Ninni La Tibkix Izjed. Even during Lent and Easter time the music played during mass would change. A popular hymn played during Lent is Gesu` Tieghi. With such a variety of music I never got tired of going there. After mass, which usually takes an hour, I would stay for another half hour till noon when the church closes, to practise organ music and learn some new music which I could play during mass on the following Sundays. For my second voluntary work, my experience at the M.U.S.E.U.M. was rather different. The children I had to teach were between the age of nine and twelve so they could be rather difficult when training them. When after some time, they started becoming restless, it would be rather difficult to hold their attention. The children had different levels of skills. Some were just beginning to learn the guitar, others knew a few chords whilst some others knew the chords but they didnt know any beats. For the beginners, I had to start by describing the layout of the guitar. I began by explaining that the guitar is divided into a number of frets and into 6 guitar strings running horizontally. With the beginners I started by teaching them the A set of chords, meaning the A major chord, the A 7 th chord and the A minor chord. Later I taught them the D, E, G, C, F and B set after they would have mastered the A set. As soon as all children caught up with all the chords, I would teach them the basic beats that are used when playing guitar which are 24, 34, 44, 68 and the mixed beat. Last but not least, I taught them to how to change chords easily while using the beats. All in all, these two experiences in voluntary worked helped me change and become a better person. By playing the organ for the 10.30 am mass I have become more confident in playing in public and I enjoyed making the congregations who attended mass to participate fully and not just sit the mass out. On the other hand, teaching children how to play guitar taught me to be a more patient person and more tolerant of other people. I have learnt to be more helpful and try to pass on what I know to others, helping them grow in the process.