Hospital Performances
WCM Flute Quartet, Fall 2023, 14S Lounge Concert
Through Weill Cornell Medicine’s affiliation with NewYork-Presbyterian, the Music & Medicine Initiative brings together students and faculty to integrate music into medical practice. At NewYork-Presbyterian, our musicians regularly perform mini-concerts and provide bedside performances, offering comfort and connection to patients and their families.
In 2024 alone, Music & Medicine has hosted over 50 hospital performances, the majority of which were bedside visits for patients with limited mobility. We frequently perform in the following units:
- Weill Cornell Medicine Hematology/Oncology Infusion Center
- Ronald Perelman Heart Center
- Inpatient Units:
- 2N (Orch Spine Unit)
- 5W, 5N (Medicine Step Down)
- 10S, 10C (Leukemia and Lymphoma)
- 11SB (Geriatrics)
- 14S, 14N (Medicine Step Down)
- Gracie Square Hospital
Music on Call
Music on Call is a consult-style service providing bedside performances on short notice. Since its inception, musicians have performed at two weddings held in hospital rooms and fulfilled numerous same-day requests for end-of-life care, including one arranged within just a few hours for a comfort care patient. Music on Call reflects a connection between the urgency of medicine and the humanity of music.
If you would like a musical visit for a patient at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, contact us at musicandmed@gmail.com, and we will send a musicians as soon as possible.
ICU Performance Series
In collaboration with social workers, nurse managers, and chaplaincy, we established a weekly rotating ICU performance series. Since its launch, there have been 10 performances, and we look forward to continuing this work as the year progresses.
Testimonials from NYP-WCM
“‘Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.’ – Jean-Michel Basquiat
Music on Call has beautifully decorated the lives of our patients, staff, and visitors during some very difficult days in the ICUs. Their music brought healing in the forms of peace, connectedness, and love (the most powerful and transcendent feeling, with a multitude of faces).
Love is the reason why we open our eyes every day and desire truth. But selfless love needs no reason and creates beauty without a ‘why?’ Just like our medical students, who made time afterwards to connect with our patients and their loved ones, helping our medical center care for the whole person.
Incredibly grateful for the talent, courtesy, and patience you all provided to our patients.”
– Alex Prado, Critical Care Chaplain, NYP-WCM
“The Music and Medicine program has been so inspirational and continues to be an important element of patient and family care for our admitted patients at NYP. I have watched countless bedside performances and have witnessed firsthand family members overjoyed to experience a moment of beauty and humanity in music despite the chaos and difficulty of what is happening around them. This greatly benefits a patient nearing end of life, a patient getting married, or even just a sad or lonely patient during a prolonged hospitalization.“
– Kimberly Hong, Palliative Care Social Worker, NYP-WCM
Music in the Community
Bringing music to the Weill Cornell Medicine community is a vital part of our mission. Music & Medicine actively provide musical services for major student organizations, such as Weill Cornell Community Clinic, Center for Human Rights, and Center for the Performing Artist, as well as for medical school associated events, such as the Gross Anatomy Memorial Service, graduate ceremonies conducted at Carnegie Hall, and student events (e.g., open mics, general body events). All major Music and Medicine hosted concerts are also publicly available to both the NYC and WCM communities.