Students feed musical passion
Three DBHS seniors use Instagram as an outlet to share their musical talents with the world.
March 21, 2018
Instagram is no longer a platform for just selfies. Diamond Bar High School seniors Fayleen Ho, Susie Choi and Hampton Douglas are utilizing the social network to document their musical talents.
“I just feel like it’s a different avenue for me to be able to express myself,” Ho said. “I’ve been watching Instagram singers for a long time and they usually have shorter clips which made it seem easier.”
Ho created her Instagram account, @faysing.thetruth, after numerous friends requested she sing and perform songs on the guitar. Being in DBHS commercial music class, Music for Healing club and Rowland Heights Community Christian Church’s worship team allowed Ho to quickly gain fans of both her vocal and acoustic-playing abilities. 
Although Ho was urged by friends and family to share her music on social media for years, she said that her lack of self-confidence prevented her from doing so sooner.
“I’m glad to finally have started the account because I have an avenue to show my own creativity and to look back on different times of my life,” Ho said.
After years of delay, she finally created her account last October and now posts live, minute-long acoustic covers of pop and Christian songs for her 120 followers.
Also posting vocal covers with guitar accompaniment is Choi, who started singing after she fell in love with the music of singer and guitarist, Ed Sheeran. After learning to play the guitar from her church members in middle school, Choi continued her passion by further learning from various websites.
Choi is now the director of the worship band at her church, a job which includes playing the guitar and singing during praise sessions. Hoping to grow in her own musical abilities and encourage others to do the same, she started to post short acoustic covers of pop songs on her account, @susienguitar, and is now planning to branch out onto Youtube.
“I made the account hoping to encourage others who are shy or scared of sharing their love for the arts, like singing, playing music, or dancing,” Choi said.
Douglas started his percussion Instagram account, @hampton.music, two years ago as a private account shared just between him and friends.
“At first it was to see our own progress and I didnt’ show anybody, but as I progressed I realized it’s important to start making relationships and network,” he said. “That’s why I opened it up, to follow new people so I can gain a following.”
On his account, Douglas posts clips of himself playing a variety of percussion instruments such as the drums, marimbas, snare and timpani. He posts excerpts, solo pieces and audition pieces for him and his followers to view.
One of his videos featuring the song Tempo Di Bouree was reposted by a percussion Instagram account with a large following, @percussivearts, exposing his videos to a much larger audience. Having played percussion instruments since the 6th grade, Douglas stated that Instagram became a platform for him to share his musical journey with the world.
“I’m planning to do music in college and as I progress through college, I’ll keep posting videos to see where I came from” he said.
