February was short and sweet! MusicAid looks forward to things warming up in March!

Jewish Council for the Aging Volunteer Meet & Greet

This month we had the pleasure of working with and performing for the Jewish Council for the Aging. On Wednesday, February 18th, a small group of MusicAid volunteers, ranging from young elementary schoolers to high schoolers, performed at the JCA for an organization wide volunteer meet and greet. 

Our volunteers came to JCA right after school, with some even leaving school early to participate. They presented a special program lasting over 40 minutes, featuring a diverse repertoire ranging from classical works to light, uplifting pieces, with performances spanning solos, duets, and trios. 

Our board members Pianist Ethan Pei and Cellist Aaron Hwang prepared Prayer from Jewish Life by Ernest Bloch, a meaningful Jewish piece chosen especially for the occasion. We were very happy to be able to participate in an afternoon of warmth and togetherness. One attendee said the music brought tears to her eyes. She was so moved.

Since performing, the JCA has been kind enough to write about us in their newsletter, where they describe our performance:

 "The students’ performance brought warmth and vibrancy to the room, creating a beautiful atmosphere for volunteers from every JCA department to gather, reconnect, and celebrate their impact. It was especially meaningful to witness young people using their musical talents in service to older adults — a powerful reminder of how intergenerational connection strengthens our entire community."

We are incredibly grateful and thank the JCA for their kind words, as well as the opportunity to work with them. MusicAid completely agrees with the importance of intergenerational connection, which brings a sense of community and togetherness even across vastly different groups of people. Thank you JCA, we hope to continue to collaborate in the future. We hope to become even more involved with different organizations across the county. If any organizations are in need of music services, MusicAid is happy to be of assistance and will accomodate any needs! 

MusicAid & MCPS

February 28th, MusicAid volunteers were honored to provide piano accompaniment for performers at the MCPS Instrumental Solo & Ensemble Adjudication. Our Pianist  Ethan Pei and Alvin Xu were able to accompany performers in their competition. One of the performers we provided accompaniment for, Ethan Chen, earned a superior rating and has qualified for the state level! We congratulate him and wish him the best of luck in the next level! 

But all of the wonderful performers we accompanied did amazing, and we are incredibly proud of everyone for their hard work at this adjudication. We hope to continue to be a part of their music journey past this competition!

MusicAid is extremely happy to be able to aid performers in need. We wanted to remind everyone that although much of our focus is performing at nursing homes, MusicAid also provides free piano accompaniment to ensure equitable opportunities for performers.

While MusicAid has become a multi-state organization with chapters in not only Maryland, but also Virginia, D.C., and even Massachusetts, Montgomery County remains the center of our work and impact. Our work in performing at various venues and providing accompaniment has allowed us to engage with a significant portion of students across MCPS. Our volunteers come from 18 out of 35 of MCPS high schools, as well as three Maryland private high schools; 25 out of 40 of MCPS middle schools, plus two private middle schools; and many MCPS elementary schools, with additionally two Maryland private elementary schools. 

We are proud of how far we have come since May 2023 and happy to be able to build a sustainable culture of student-led service through performance and music. We are grateful for everyone that has helped us grow into the organization we are today, and we hope for your support as we continue to build and expand to contribute further to our community and our county. Thank you MCPS! 

And we hope to continue this impact, not only in Maryland, but also in our other state chapters in Virginia and Massachusetts.  This February marks another month where we were able to host a concert in Waterstone of Lexington, MA. And we hope to do even more!

February Concerts

February may have been short but it was full of amazing performances from our volunteers, who never fail to amaze us. 

This month gave us many impressive showcases of vocal ability. Some of our highlights this month include a powerful performance of Make You Feel My Love, performed by Joy, and also a beautiful cover of Enchanted by Taylor Swift that our volunteer, Journey, sang and played the piano part for. Our volunteers never fail to remind us of their skill and talent.

We were also lucky to have many volunteers perform as duets this month, not because of Valentine's Day, but actually because the Maryland Piano ensemble Competition is coming very soon! Many of our volunteers chose to play their duet piece at our concert, and we are glad to have the first listen before they head up on to the big stage. More than five piano duets have recently stepped up to perform at our concerts. We hope they enjoyed sharing their piece with us, and wish them the best of luck in their upcoming competition! 

We now have 577 subscribers on our YouTube channel! Thank you guys so much for the boost in subscriptions. We hope this progress can continue in the future as well!

If you would like to view more amazing performances from our wonderful volunteers, head over to our YouTube Channel. Our channel is linked here: 

https://www.youtube.com/@MusicAid-us

Check out the full February newsletter: https://app.smore.com/n/hqubf

The first month of 2026 has concluded and MusicAid hopes everybody's 2026 has been off to an amazing start!

January Concerts

In January, we hosted our four regular concerts.

On January 10th, the wonderful piano teacher, Hanni Zhang, once again, brought her adorable students to our concert at Victory Court. This marks one year of her volunteering with us, as she first brought her students to perform at our concerts last year on January 25th, 2025. We are so grateful and honored for the many times she has graciously had her students come perform with us over the past year. We have also had the pleasure of watching her young students grow and improve, and we hope 2026 provides for more opportunities for them to step into the spotlight. Thank you Hanni, for your dedication both to music and service. 

We have also seen a rise in duets and chamber music at our concerts. While solo pieces are always abundant, the increase in collaborations between musicians has been noticeable. We hope that all musicians are having fun rehearsing with other young students!

We are also honored to have had the Montgomery Board of Education member, Ms. Julie Yang, come and watch our concert on January 17th, at Bartholomew House. Each MusicAid concert is meant to inspire joy through music and foster a sense of community as volunteers are able to share their talent with us and the lovely seniors at each living complex. This concert was no exception, with many wonderful string and piano performances, ranging from classical pieces, to movie soundtrack, and traditional music, and even hymns. We thank Ms. Yang for her time and we hope she enjoyed her experience at our concert. learning a bit more about our organization and what it stands for.

Expanding Our Reach

Recently, we were invited by a local organization, the Jewish Council for the Aging, to perform for them at an organization wide meet and greet, an opportunity we were truly honored to accept. We are to perform for them on February 18th.  

Additionally, many students have started to reach out to our organization for accompaniment services, including events such as the MCPS Instrumental Solo & Ensemble Adjudication. We are so glad that they chose our services! Our accompanists are also student musicians, and we will try our best to make sure that students will get the best accompaniment possible!

Our organization has been gaining more recognition, and we could not be more excited. Working with local organizations to perform is exactly in alignment with our mission and values. We hope even more people can hear about what we do and that we can further our work by collaborating with even more venues and organizations. Every performance is meaningful to us and allows us to further our mission of spreading joy through music and building community through shared experiences!

We now have 561 subscribers on our YouTube channel! Thank you guys so much for the boost in subscriptions. We hope this progress can continue in the future as well!

If you would like to view more amazing performances from our wonderful volunteers, head over to our YouTube Channel. Our channel is linked here: 

https://www.youtube.com/@MusicAid-us

Check out the full January newsletter: https://app.smore.com/n/fekhw8