By Chuck Johnston, CNN
(CNN) - Blind violinist Romel Joseph laid in what he called his "grave" for 18 hours.
The concrete support beams of his music school in Haiti pinned his legs and feet. Buried in the rubble of the five-story building, Romel realized he was trapped and would not be able to get out on his own.
He was overwhelmed by the hot air. He began to have a conversation with God.
"I said, 'I would like to know if you are here. I'm really hot ... and don't have much time to live so if you are here, I'm really hot and I need some cool air.' And believe it or not, the next thing I know, there's cool air that got in."
He began to pray every hour, for 20 minutes or so, and then came his music.
First he pictured himself playing a Tchaikovsky concerto. And then every hour another concerto.
"I know I picked the Brahms, the Franz, the Sibelius. I picked several," Romel remembers. "I know a lot of concertos for violins. And I picked the longer ones."