Hey everybody, I just thought I’d share a very recent experience of mine. On Saturday August 6th, I played at an anime convention (my first gig of the kind) as a musical guest. I sang, played harp, piano, and my husband accompanied me on djembe. I played a combination of original songs, folk songs, and video game covers, and it was a blast! The crowd was lovely – it was mostly comprised of fellow college-aged youths passionate about Japanese anime and video games, and they were very quirky, warm, and welcoming.

This gig was also where I debuted my first EP of three original songs, which a nice number of convention goers bought. They LOVED it when I played songs from the Portal, Final Fantasy, and Zelda games. A couple of people actually danced to one of my original songs, which had a Middle-Eastern feel. Some other people told me they were filled with emotion when I sang and played “Eyes on Me” from Final Fantasy VIII. Being a typically shy person, I was refreshed by their energy and felt completely at home being my geeky self. I was so nervous and stressed in the week leading up to the performance, but it ended up being the best one I ever gave. I have a bad habit of obsessing over things I did wrong at a gig when I go to bed, but this time, I did no such thing. In fact, when I finished my set, they all gave me a group hug, much to my surprise, and many contacted me on my website and Facebook afterwards. It was such a rewarding experience!

Playing video game music on the harp is one of my favorite things to do with the instrument, and I am definitely going to try to play at more conventions. I got video coverage of the performance, so when I upload some of the songs to Youtube, I will post them here.

I thought it would be interesting to post about my wonderful experience at the convention, considering the diversity of the members here. 🙂