Teen Volunteer Plays Piano for N.Y.C. Shelter Pets to Help Keep Them Calm — And She Takes Requests! (Exclusive)

09/17/2024 05:16 PM

Zen Micheline Hung volunteers at the Bideawee shelter in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood with her parents

At a New York City shelter, rescue pets get bedside lullabies performed live on the piano.

Bideawee volunteer Zen Micheline Hung makes this luxury possible for the shelter's pets. The teenager started donating time to the Bideawee shelter in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood in early 2024 after the new facility "piqued" her interest.

"When I became a teenager, I wanted to make myself useful to the community," Hung tells PEOPLE about what drove her to volunteer.

For Hung, who has "only known life with a pet in the family," giving her time to animals in need was an easy choice.

"I ended up writing an email to the volunteer director, Franny Kent, and told her that I was a musician who wanted to play music for the shelter pets as a form of music therapy to help reduce any anxiety from being in a new place. I wanted to make the animals feel as comfortable and happy as possible while they are in the process of finding forever homes," Hung explains.

After a few days, she received a response. Kent replied that Hung's plan was "a beautiful idea" and set the teen up with the right people to become Bideawee's volunteer pianist for pets.

Like animals, music has been part of Hung's life from an early age. She started playing the piano when she was four and continues to practice daily. Hung first got the idea to play music for shelter pets after remembering how her dogs reacted to her piano skills.

The dog Hung had when she was younger "would either be sleeping or just resting and looking around" under Hung's feet as she played piano for hours.

The animal lover adds that her new dog also loves "hanging out" while she plays.

"He likes to move around in all different positions and sometimes plays with his toys at the same time. To catch his attention, I started playing musical messages to him based on what he was doing and what I thought his mood was, and I noticed he responded to the various musical messages," Hung says.

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She kept these observations of her dog in mind when she started playing music for the animals at Bideawee.

When Hung began playing at the Chelsea shelter, she was working on a piece by Hiromi Uehara called "The Tom and Jerry Show."

"It's an extremely complex piece that, to me, is like a beautiful musical journey that consists of 10 different parts with 10 different emotions. The whole piece takes almost 6 minutes to play at a normal tempo. When I started playing for the animals, I played the very slowed-down versions of the various parts of that song. I would repeat sections that I thought the animals responded well to," Hung says of her method for making music the pets enjoyed.

After several piano sessions at Bideawee, Hung noticed what the pets responded to well and created a few rules for her shelter concerts that she sticks "to very strictly."

"I only choose to play in a very limited range of dynamics. On the low end of the range, I play very softly (I'm trying to make my instrument mimic a soft whisper). On the high end of the range, I cap it off at the medium dynamic range (like a soothing human voice talking). I know that playing loudly (like a human voice screaming and shouting) is something to always avoid because pets find loud and sharp sounds to be agitating," Hung shares.

Outside of these rules, Hung is flexible about what she plays for the pets and often tailors the music to the animals' personalities and actions.

"For dogs, I feel like my music has reached them if they are lying down and just zoning out. Maybe they have their eyes closed," Hung notes, adding that for the cats, "some of them just stop what they are doing and just relax and listen."

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Volunteering has been therapeutic for Hung and her family. The talented teen's parents, Joseph and Cleo Hung, also volunteer at Bideawee, helping the animal welfare organization's Chelsea shelter with washing, cleaning, organizing, and pet socialization.

Zen enjoys volunteering with her family and says the work has given them new things to "talk about and reflect upon when we are at home."

"In an odd way, it's like our own family therapy," she adds.

Zen hopes that her volunteer piano concerts for the canines and cats of Bideawee inspire others to find fulfilling ways to give back.

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"It is so rewarding to do something useful, especially if it is something you believe in. Contributing time and effort on a volunteer basis without any pay is not without reward. The reward is a strong feeling of personal satisfaction and seeing the good that comes from that effort. Nothing gives me more fulfillment than to see the animals happy to be at Bideawee and ultimately finding their forever homes," she says.

Plus, volunteers are "very important" to nonprofits like Bideawee, according to Leslie Granger, Bideawee's CEO and president.

"We rely on our hundreds of volunteers to help Bideawee save cats and dogs each and every day and bring our work to even more pets and the people who love them," she adds.

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Granger encourages anyone who has considered working with animals to spend time volunteering at a shelter and promises the experience will "not make you sad."

"So many people think that shelters are sad places – I assure you that while there are moments of sadness – the overarching feelings are those of joy and happiness as you witness all of the transformations and happy tales! Seeing an animal you have worked with for days, weeks, months or years finally find their family and go to their forever home is the reason we are here! Even just spending socialization time with our cats, kittens, puppies, and dogs will be sure to put a smile on your face," Granger says.

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