NAPERVILLE, Ill. — A retired music professor and a cardiologist have formed an usual, but popular duo at Edward Hospital in Naperville.
At the hospital, there’s a volunteer music program called, Music from the Heart, which makes what unfolded in the lobby this year even more poignant.
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, Philip Spencer’s fingers dance across the piano keys in hopes it brings a little joy to the patients and medical staff passing by.
“Playing here really demonstrated the power of music to do more than entertain,” he said. “How music can help them celebrate, help them grieve. It can help them learn.”
During one day’s performance, a cardiologist by the name Dr. David Kim found himself drawn to that piano.
“I mustered up enough courage to go up to him and ask him if he knew a song in a certain key,” he said.
And that was beginning of perhaps the most unusual musical duo the hospital has ever seen.
The chance encounter has since morphed into a weekly performance.
“We’re all humans first before patients, doctors, caregivers and sometimes it’s hard to remember that in a busy hospital with a lot of people who are sick,” Kim said.
The singing cardiologist admits his new side gig comes as a surprise to some. But he says, there’s more than one way to treat a heart
“You can see it’s brightening someone’s day or just even that moment,” he said. “It’s a different type of healing but it is definitely healing.”
For the cardiologist to reconnect with his musical past, a retired music professor to share his love of song and the patients in need of a little reprieve and a melody.
The duo never rehearses. Most songs they do are off the cuff which is a testament to their shared musical talents. Neither are paid to perform at the hospital. They said that sharing their love of music does as much for their hearts as for those listening.
