NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Is a cello player an essential worker?
Andrew Janss might not be considered essential, but that hasn’t stopped him from working during the coronavirus pandemic.
He, along with other fellow musicians out of work amid the crisis, are now performing for hospitals around the Tri-State.
Most concerts are for patients in beds, sometimes on ventilators, using a cell phone.
“We could do one-on-one FaceTime concerts. We have a huge roster of musicians who are out of work right now, we’ve had to cancel all of our concerts for the foreseeable future, and what if we could do this and play for your patients,” said Molly Carr, director of Project: Music Helps Us Heal.
The group is at 50 hospitals.
Relatives can’t visit patients, but Brahms and Beethoven now can thanks to the musicians that have signed up to perform.
WCBS 880’s Mike Sugerman couldn’t see the patients who were listening in on the concerts, but notes that it’s clear the music moves them.
And the musicians are affected as well.
“Seeing someone, actually talking to someone who was right there, in the heat of it, we broke down. It was very, very emotional,” said Carr.
“Sometimes this might be the last thing they hear. Or the last bit of human contact they have for a really long time,” said pianist Anna Petrova.
The don’t get to see the intubated, but they can hear them responding.
“It makes your imagination go wild when all you can see is black, and you can hear the breathing machines in response to Bach,” Petrova said.
Janss says the group is just trying to spread positivity with their performances.
“What we hope to do with these concerts is remind people that there are people out there rooting for them, really hoping that they will get better, and that we can provide for them a moment of beauty, in this tremendous fight that they are going through,” he said.
They also give them a better soundtrack than the beeps and buzzing of constant machines.