Meet Our Outreach Performers – Sophie Maeding
Sophie Maeding is getting ready for her very first outreach performance with the FLCCA, and as a part of our continued efforts to give you a more in-depth look at what we do here at the FLCCA, we thought Sophie’s story and responses were perfect. Sophie has had experience performing in front of retirement communities as well and wishes to continue her mission in giving the joy of music to people of ALL ages.
Sophie is an up and coming artist that has grown up here in the Folsom Community area and has recently branched out to places like Seattle and Arizona in the furtherance of her musical career. With a voice that can be characterized as both classical and contemporary, it is no surprise that Sophie will have a continued positive affect on her audience’s. Her story resonates with such a vast portion of our organization because it shows a young performer’s inception of being simply a singer, to learning an instrument, to performing as a singer and musician. What more could you want in a profile, especially when she is a local?
Here is Sophie Maeding in her own words:
My name is Sophie Rose Maeding and I have loved music my whole life. I realized my passion for singing at a young age, and grew up in choir and singing for my church. It was not until high school that I started to get guitar lessons, and realized my love for guitar as well. I ended lessons after a couple of months and then began to teach myself by using the Internet to teach myself new cords and songs. My favorite song is, “The Happiest Day of Your Life” by The Apache Relay because it tells a story, and using music to tell a story is very powerful. I base what I play based upon how I am feeling as an outlet. For example, sad songs when I am sad or happy songs when I am happy, but more importantly I get a feel for the audience and what they want most.
I sang at Eskaton before, a retirement community in Rancho Cordova, and loved getting to know the folks there and hearing their stories. I met a man named Joe at Eskaton who was 98 years old, and after his wife passed away after decades of marriage, he took it upon himself to learn how to play harmonica over YouTube! He played “Amazing Grace” for me, and I remember his resilience after tragedy and that passion for music truly inspired me. I hope to meet more people like Joe through the FLCCA’s Outreach Program – to be blessed by their stories and to hopefully bless them with my performance.