Shrink cheers up B’klyn nabe as

For some lucky Brooklyn residents, coronavirus-inspired social distancing is music to their ears.

Dr. Kari Groff, a psychiatrist and professional musician, has taken to the patio of her Park Slope home to serenade her neighbors with some tunes on her fiddle — from a safe distance.

“I felt I had to play music on my front porch to show people that we’re all connected and that we’re in this together, that they’re not alone,” said Groff, 44.

“I was trained on the classical violin when I was younger, but I moved toward bluegrass.

I mean now is not the time for a square dance because that’s way too much social contact, but that’s the kind of music that’s very natural, that lifts one’s spirits.”

Her isolated neighbors are listening in.

“Whenever she plays, the whole neighborhood comes out,” said Sanford Leff, 78, who has lived in the home across the street from Groff for more than 40 years. On Saturday, he joined neighbors singing along to tunes played by Groff including “Ashokan Farewell,” a Shaker hymn and “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

“It’s a tough time and it’s really tough to even feel good when you’re singing,” Leff said. “It’s not an exuberant feeling. There was a sadness there.”

Giselle Cohen lives down the block from Groff.

“I thought it sounded nice. It was calming,” Cohen, 41, said. “We’re just living in an alternate universe. Nothing makes much sense. The thought of hearing it was really nice.”

Groff says she was inspired by viral videos coming out of Italy and Spain showing musicians taking to their balconies and getting the whole street singing along to well-known tunes during the coronavirus lockdown.

Those videos “brought me to tears,” she said, because she had planned to bring her 9year-old daughter to Italy on April 8. With her daughter now at home with her 24/7, the duo are writing a song.

“The chorus goes, ‘We sang