Musicians on Call, a volunteer-based contracted independent organization at the University, gives students the opportunity to put aside the frenzy of student life in order to perform music for patients at the University Hospital.
“I think the thing that makes [the CIO] unique is that in a hospital people aren’t expecting it,” said Locher Grove, third-year College student and group vice president. “Time in the hospital goes slowly, so it’s really nice to have something to make it go a little bit quicker.”
The group boasts a wide variety of musical backgrounds — members include pianists, guitarists, violinists, a quartet, a banjo player, and recently a classical opera singer, all of whom auditions for a spot in the group.
“[The audition is] pretty informal because, after all, we are a volunteer organization, so we want to encourage people to volunteer and share their musical abilities rather than have this strict standard that keeps people from wanting to do something really nice for the community,” said third-year College student Kathryn Marqueen, group co-president.
Students in the CIO employ a number of techniques to create a soothing environment through their music. Some people play original songs and some people provide their own twists on pop songs in order to repurpose them into something appropriate for a hospital setting.
For many volunteers, playing in the group is a good way to both give back to the University community and keep in practice of playing a musical instrument.
“I love playing piano and I hadn’t really found an opportunity because I wasn’t taking [music] classes [...] so I thought this was a really nice way to keep up my hobby and also to do something nice for the community,” Marqueen said.
Playing at the hospital offers the musicians more than just practice for their instrumental skills.
“We get a lot of good feels out of going to volunteer at the hospital,” fourth-year College student Janice Park said. “It’s just one of those things you can’t walk out of feeling worse than you did walking in.”
Grove recalled meeting the father of a patient who had fallen off a roof and was on life support. The man expressed his gratitude for what the group was doing and proceeded to tell Grove his story.
“It is things like that that make you reflect on the fact that what you are doing is a really, really simple thing to do, but it could have a very positive impact on somebody’s day, which is a really nice feeling,” Grove said.
