If you happen to walk through the front doors of Barrington’s Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital and think you’re hearing Windows launch music or Universal Studios or Warner Bros. themes played on the piano, don’t hesitate. This is most likely Guido Calcagno, a registered nurse, playing tunes for patients, staff and visitors.

Calcagno is one of the volunteer musicians who play live music for patrons in the Good Shepherd lobby Monday through Saturday.

When volunteer pianist René Mullany plays 88 keys in the lobby, she usually keeps her eyes on the entrance. If she spots a child going to the hospital, she can turn on a Disney song or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. If a veteran enters, she will play a patriotic song. Her reasoning is that hospitals can be scary and intimidating, and if people recognize a familiar song in the air, maybe that little thing will put them at ease.

“Because we’re in the front, I feel like the pianists are kind of ambassadors for creating a positive tone for Advocate Good Shepherd, and sometimes we can be the face of the hospital,” said Mullany, a Cary resident who has volunteered for her musical talent for four years old. “Let’s face it, when you’re in the hospital, the happiest thing is the kids. Otherwise, you are there to visit someone who is sick, or you are there for a test. … Every time I go to play, at least three or four people pass by, and you can see them snapping their fingers to the beat of the music. People stop by and thank us for our efforts — for being there and bringing a bit of comfort to what might otherwise have been a stressful situation.”

Calcagno, 23, understands. On weekends he plays the small Kawai piano. Piano-trained since the age of 4, the Deerfield resident began working at Good Shepherd in August 2021, and by October he was entertaining passers-by with popular music and compositions he composed. It all started when he heard volunteer pianist Sue Schurr play while walking to the cafeteria. He introduced himself, played some music for Schurr, and she referred him to the hospital’s volunteer services coordinator, Lynette Ig, a clarinetist who auditions for musical volunteers. The rest is history.

“When I play, I can play about eight different songs,” Calcagno said. “I play from a wide variety of music. I have my own compositions… about 10 different pieces that I can play from memory or improvise. I like to think that the music I created really evokes emotions or feelings. In my piano folder, I have music from TV shows, be it Korean dramas, anime, Golden Girls intros, songs from films like Interstellar, Inception, and more modern classical music, pop songs. It also depends on how I feel that day. Music is as therapeutic as it is for my listeners. It helps me relax and reflect and think about what might have happened the day before at work, helps me digest.”

Calcagno, who attends to a wide variety of patients during his 12-hour work day, says he always has time for music and would like to help out with film scores one day.

Eeg said that there are currently 10 volunteer musicians, including a flutist, who play in 90-minute shifts. High school students who have reached the age of 16 can also become volunteers. Interested persons can fill out an application. Magda Scanlan, Good Shepherd’s director of volunteer services, said the office makes sure volunteer roles are aligned with their needs and passions.

Schurr brought a friend from Mullany’s book club into the ranks, and she eventually brought her mother, a piano teacher, to duet with her in the lobby. Schurr, a retired English and drama teacher, laughs as she recalls how she came to play Good Shepherd in 2016.

“My husband had knee surgery and I was getting a little bored so I started walking and checking the hospital and going to the dining area, I was like, ‘Wow! Piano! It’s amazing!” – she said. She sat down and started playing. Schurr asked the staff if she could volunteer, and Eeg said the vacancy had been created.

“We created this position because we now had this beautiful piano that people wanted to play,” said Eeg. She and Schurr agreed that none of this would have happened if the donated piano had been small enough to fit through the conference room door as planned. When the piano did not fit, it settled at the main entrance to the hospital.

“It was a wonderful mistake,” Schurr said. “It was a blessing.”

She plays late morning/early afternoon on Thursdays. She said that playing the piano on Good Shepherd is good for her brain because she tries to learn two new pieces a week. At the request of patients, she learned to play Coldplay and the Ukrainian national anthem. She plays hymns, songs of the season. She even made friends along the way.

“I play Hanukkah and Christmas music. … I try to keep inclusivity in mind,” Schurr said. “You look around and see who’s there and try to play for those people. I listen to Pandora. I listen to the radio and if I like a song I download it and play it. I don’t want to get bored with my own music. I’m definitely trying to spice it up and make people have fun.”

Scanlan said that the live music “feels like you’re entering a really healing space.”

“It’s a beautiful campus, but when you hear music, it just speaks to your other senses,” she said.

drockett@chicagotribune.com

action adventure Dungeon & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves brings the high fantasy escapism of the hugely popular Dungeons & Dragons tabletop RPG to the big screen.

The film follows the lovable villain Egin Darvis, played by Chris Pine, and his ragtag team of magical misfits, including the barbarian Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), the paladin Xenka (Rege-Jean Paige), and the sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith), who must take on the adventurer. turned tyrant, Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant).

This is not Paramount’s first attempt at adapting D&D; there was a trilogy of films in the early 2000s that are probably best forgotten, but the script and ensemble played Honor among thieves garnering far more rave reviews and leading viewers to speculate that this could be the first installment in a new series of stories set in the fantasy world of D&D.

And if we’ve learned anything from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s that a surefire way to get viewers talking about potential installations in the future is to tease them a bit with a post-credits scene.

Is there a post-credits scene in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves?