February 25, 2008

A noteworthy endeavor
for those who know the score

Two members of the YSM faculty hope their launch of a medical school orchestra will build bridges as it brings music to campus. So far, their efforts are receiving applause.

Lynn Tanoue, the driving force behind the new Yale Medical Symphony Orchestra, says many people on the medical campus who have studied music seriously, are eager for the chance to play with a group again.

Lynn Tanoue, professor of medicine (pulmonary and critical care), studied the violin all through childhood, high school and college. She stayed with it while in medical school, playing in the Yale Symphony and a community orchestra in New Haven, but by the time her third child was born, free time was at a premium. “It’s been 15 years since I’ve played in an organized orchestra,” she says.

Tanoue’s experience is not unusual. “I know a lot of people who studied an instrument all the way through college. But then you go to medical school, and your instrument winds up in the closet,” she says.

This is regrettable, Tanoue says, because “most people who played music seriously at one time of life miss it. We may still listen to music, but there’s nothing quite the same as playing yourself.”

That’s why Tanoue and Thomas P. Duffy, professor of internal medicine (hematology), and director of the Program for Humanities in Medicine, are starting the Yale Medical Symphony Orchestra.   About a year ago, Duffy tried to start a symphony composed of medical school students, but he quickly realized it wouldn’t work because of the transient nature of the pool of potential participants. When Tanoue called him to discuss her idea of forming an orchestra made up of anyone connected to the medical campus, Duffy was eager to give it shot. 

About 90 musicians packed the stage at an informal sight reading in Harkness Auditorium.

He and Tanoue received more than 200 positive responses to an initial call for musicians. “We had people from the medical school, nursing, the School of Public Health, community physicians, spouses, you name it,” he says. “It was an exuberance of riches.”

About 90 musicians packed the stage at an informal sight reading on December 12 in Harkness Auditorium. “It was a fun, lovely, wonderful evening,” Tanoue recalls. “They did a wonderful performance of not uncomplicated music,” adds Duffy. 

Prior to the sight reading, Duffy had been in touch with Tom C. Duffy, director of university bands and undergraduate affairs for the School of Music.  The two, who had collaborated once before on a popular lecture series on music and the brain, agreed to work together to make the medical school orchestra a reality.

The orchestra, which has received financial support from the medical school as well as Yale-New Haven Hospital, plans to start rehearsing in March for an inaugural concert to be held the first week of June. The exact date has yet to be determined.

Loosely modeled on the Longwood Symphony at the Harvard Medical School,  the YSM orchestra has “clearly tapped into a desire,” Tanoue says. “Many of us were very dedicated musicians at another time in our lives, but there usually aren’t any opportunities at the medical school to do this.”

Orchestra members plan to start rehearsing in March for an inaugural concert to be held the first week of June.

She thinks the orchestra could become central to YSM’s mission. “We could play in the community, raise money for charity, and provide entertainment at Yale-New Haven Hospital. There’s no end to the wonderful fallout that could happen.”

Duffy sees the orchestra as a way to build bridges among people in the schools and departments of the vast medical campus. “It’s a real opportunity to create a community amidst the community,” he says.

For more information, or if you’d like to get involved with the orchestra or donate money to support it, contact medical.symphony@yale.edu or lynn.tanoue@yale.edu.

—Jennifer Kaylin

Photo by Julie Brown

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