Red Dirt Diaries: More Than Music

<p>Four or five times a week you can hear the sweet sound of Arthur Mcunu on the piano at the OU Medical Center&rsquo;s chapel.</p>

Friday, October 21st 2016, 7:03 pm

By: Karl Torp


Four or five times a week you can hear the sweet sound of Arthur Mcunu on the piano at the OU Medical Center’s chapel.

“Sometimes you need a safety valve and the music allows you to do that,” said Mcunu.

“Really encouraging and uplifting to hear him play,” said OU Medical Chaplain Kent Kelso about the songs played.

Mcunu started teaching himself how the play the piano at age 15.

“It’s refreshing,” added Kelso.

Refreshing and remarkable when you consider that music isn’t Mcunu’s greatest talent at OU Medical Center. In the operating room, he’s considered more of a maestro as a cardiac surgeon.

“I have to make sure I bring myself to a focus to make sure that the patient gets the best of who I am,” said Dr. Mcunu, who was born in Soweto, South Africa.

That focus actually begins in the chapel at the piano before surgery a few floors up.

“I learned as a budding surgeon that is I sat at the piano and played I could allow myself to meditate,” said Mcunu.

The doctor said playing the piano allows him to warm up his hands before surgery, center his thoughts, and pray for his patients.

Dr. Mcunu has been at OU Medical for about a year and recently performed his 100th surgery.

That’s a lot of performances downstairs in the chapel in front of the piano.

“At the end of the day, it’s one of the reasons I do this, to relax and take off some of the stress that comes with what we do,” said Mcunu.

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