If you attended last year’s AORN Congress in Anaheim or American College of Surgeons meeting in San Francisco, chances are you saw a performance by the Laryngospasms, a group of singing CRNAs known more for their musical parodies than their vital signs monitoring.
The amateur a cappella group (known by true fans as the Spasms) make their living in ORs in and around Minnesota’s Twin Cities, but they earn praise nationwide for their harmonizing and humor. They rewrite lyrics to classic songs (for example, "Waking Up Is Hard To Do"), creating funny, sometimes irreverent, renditions aimed at tickling the funny bone of anyone who’s ever worked in health care.
Gary Corzine launched the Spasms in 1990 with friends at the Minneapolis School of Anesthesia. He’s the only original member remaining from the group that first performed nationally at the 1991 meeting of the Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Several years and many new members later, the Spasms continue to entertain with lyrics that don’t take their audiences — or themselves — too seriously.
The Spasms have released two albums, and a third is in the works. They’re big-time — well, sort of. Busy careers and families at home keep them grounded when they’re away from conference halls packed with adoring fans. On the group’s Web site, Rich Leyh, who joined the Spasms in 1999, jokes, "They’re never too busy for a little public humiliation."
