Piano-playing Northeastern students help ailing seniors ‘step away from life for just a moment’
Northeastern University student Bonnie Liu was so intrigued by piano music coming from the atrium of Tufts Medical Center in Boston one day last summer that she went to investigate.
What she eventually found not only inspired her musically, it inspired her philanthropically — to the benefit of seniors throughout Massachusetts.
“The pianist did a variation of a variation of a variation,” says Liu, a fourth-year student studying cell and molecular biology who plans to go to dental school. “Then we started just talking about piano and he invited me to start this thing with him called MediNotes, where we would play at various sites around Boston and Central Mass. for geriatric patients.”
Liu has been working in a clinical lab at Tufts Medical Center since her first co-op in 2023, but her piano playing began long before when she was 5 years old.
By the time she was in high school, however, Liu found that she preferred playing in the lobby of Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, every Sunday to playing in competitions.
“It helped me realize that I liked interacting with patients even in a nonverbal way,” Liu says, recalling one patient who gave her a handwritten poem to thank her for sharing her talents. “It was kind of the kickstarter to exploring more clinical opportunities from there.”
But her work at Tufts Medical Center involved more computer than piano keyboard … until that day she heard someone rhapsodizing on Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” which itself takes inspiration from the theme and variations of Paganini’s “Caprice #24.”
“I tried to go down there to see who was playing, but they already left, and so I just decided to play the piano by myself,” Liu says. “Then the pianist came back and he introduced himself by saying he works in the emergency department.”
The pianist was Sang Lam, who, in addition to working as an emergency department technician, started MediNotes to play for geriatric patients at facilities in Central Massachusetts.
“We have talent around us all the time, we just don’t have a cohesive program to piece it together,” Lam says. “Hence, why I started MediNotes.”
Lam asked Liu if she could join him as the group’s vice president and help recruit volunteers as well as play for patients in the Boston area.
“It’s kind of crazy how life takes you on a journey and brings you to people you were meant to find,” Liu says.
So far, Liu and Lam have made connections with almost a half-dozen facilities in the state and are looking to expand. A recent story featuring the duo on WCVB has helped drum up interest, Liu and Lam say.
Kiera Truong, a second-year pharmaceutical science major on a pre-med track at Northeastern, joined the organization this semester.
“I was walking out of my piano lesson in Ryder and I saw this flyer and it was targeted towards people who are pre-health and also who like to play instruments,” Truong says. “I was like, ‘Wow, that’s so perfect.’”
Truong performed at a facility in Dedham last month, playing songs from contemporary South Korean composer Yiruma as well as sparking a sing-along with “Close to You,” by The Carpenters.
“Piano helped me relieve stress and also became an outlet for me to channel my emotions into,” Truong says. “For seniors and other people around you, it has the same effect — it alleviates everything and sucks you in, allowing you to step away from life for just a moment.”