Michele Carolin-Roger

Waterford, MI

248-535-1754

Michele@brittanygirl.com

Harp Healing

According the Kathryn Mannying and her Sound Healing Workshop in Ireland, the harp was invented just after the discovery of the hunting bow.  The folk harp is unique because it’s strings are absolutely mathematical and evident in its three dimensional harmonics.

  “Harmonics vibrate in proportionate symmetry with each other and their effect would be similar in the body as the vibrations penetrate the layers of density of bone and tissue”.

According to the Harp Therapy Program of California, people and especially children in hospital settings have improved with a range of benefits from listening to live harp music.  Harpists go to rooms of the sick or play for groups of patients.

The Society for Nurse Oncologists held their annual conference on February 22, 2004.  Spokeswoman for the conference said, “Nurses say they did not administer additional medication or extra therapies after the patient listened to therapeutic harp music played in a therapy room live for patients.  Patients were noted to improve at a higher rate after being in the presence of live harp music. 

Dr. Mitchell Gaynor is part of the “Doctors and Health Practitioners Research on Sound Group.  He says “Music can have a powerful salutary effect on our cardiovascular, immune and nervous systems, not to mention our emotional and spiritual selves.  I believe unequivocally and I’ve seen proof that the use of sound and harp especially is among the most powerful modalities ever embraced by practitioners.”

He bases his research on one German physiologist by the name of Hildebrandt who said, “The human being is not only constructed according to harmonic principles, but also functions within them.”  This was the basis for the research into sonogram technology and now the basis for the modern approach to harmonics, harps and the healing of the human body.

Call Michele about how a healing harp can help you or someone you love. Contact Michele at michele@brittanygirl.com .

Additional Articles

"Music is a healing force--all living spirits sing  --Joanna Shenandoah,  Oneida composer

In many places in the world when a person is ill, a song is sung to heal. For this to be effective, that person must let

the song sink into her body, and allow it to penetrate to even the cellular level of her being. In a sense she must breathe it in.

A song, in physical terms, is an action made of breath and sound. It is made by the vibrations of air across a section of

membranes in the throat, which are then shaped by the placement of tongue and mouth. That is a literal description

of singing, but of course there is more, much more. A song is also made from the mind, from memory, from imagination, from community, and from the heart.

Like all things, a song may be seen in scientific terms or in spiritual terms. Yet neither one alone is sufficient; they

need each other to truly represent the reality of the song. Singing comes from the misty place where human physiology,

feeling, and spirit collide. It can be, for some people, a holy act, a religious act, an act with great power.

From The Scalpel and the Silver

Bear, by Lori Arviso Alvord, M.D."

     There are angels among us! They gathered, in mortal form, at the "Healing Harps Symposium," late last year in Allentown, Pa. With harps in hand, about 50 came from all over North America to share stories about the harp's effects on easing mental, physical, emotional and spiritual suffering. They played music, networked, listened rapturously, ate and shopped in the bookstore--just like normal mortals.

Harp steeped in healing tradition
     The opening address reviewed the harp's historical uses in healing traditions, the continuum of active to passive roles harp therapists assume today, and the characteristics which make the harp unique for healing. Those characteristics include:
* The instrument's archetypal significance as an ancient, spiritual healing instrument, which opens doors to the collective unconscious and, therefore, may facilitate the healing process.
* Its wide pitch range (low C-32.703 Hz to high G-3136.0 Hz), which can vibrate the entire human body.
* Its varied and soothing palette of tone colors.
* The ethereal effect created through the harp's unique glissando technique (utilizing enharmonic tones).
* The tension release associated with the emotional expression of plucking its strings, as Pythagoras suggested when he saw the strings as symbols of the nervous system.
* The instrument's vibratory effect on the harpist's body, especially the thymus gland, a major gland of the immune system located in the chest.

     Greek, Renaissance and Chinese philosophies tell us that the basic elements--earth, wood, metal, air, water and fire--make up our world; and that health or harmony in music, in the body and in the cosmos is present when there is a proper balance of the elements. The harp symbolizes those elements. The earth is represented because the harp rests on the earth and is made from wood. The instrument's metal strings transmit sounds, reminiscent of drops of water falling into a pool, through the air. The fire is added by the heat or energy of the performer.

Featured speaker disclosed harp's healing power
     Dr. Ronald Price discussed his work as a Northern Illinois University School of Music professor, a harpist, and founder of Healing Harps. Author or co-author of more than fifty journal articles and monographs, he has given presentations throughout the United States and in Canada, France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia.

     Originally a French horn player, Price searched for an instrument that would challenge neurological function for people with physical impairments, but not intimidate them. The harp met his requirements and he was amazed, after learning to play, that his own cerebral palsy symptoms, which included muscular weakness and tremors, subsided. Now, if he doesn't practice for more than three days at a time, his symptoms return.

     Dr. Price described more than 20 years of work with individuals labeled as 'societal rejects,' people physically, mentally and emotionally challenged, and their journeys toward wholeness through learning to play the harp. Uncontrollable children with spasms, neurological disorders and learning disabilities improved eye-hand coordination and posture, and increased attention span, muscle strength and range of motion. Learning to play the harp in ensemble as well as individually taught them socially appropriate behaviors.

     Thus began Healing Harps, which today has more than 200 members. The music of Healing Harps is arranged so that musicians at every level can take part. Members practice individually and occasionally gather for a "monster day," an ensemble rehearsal prior to public performance.

     Symposium attendees also had the opportunity to play in ensemble under Dr. Price's direction. Experienced participants mentored inexperienced harpists in several of his arrangements. On Sunday morning, Dr. Price and his wife, Carol, who plays hammered dulcimer, set the tone for the symposium's second day with their concert of "value-centered music." When they performed, Dr. & Mrs. Price wore the 'plain' clothing usually associated with Amish and other sects, as they always do, to reduce visual clutter and place emphasis on the beauty of the individual and the music.

Speakers reviewed the power of music
     Mary A. Scovel, M.M., R.M.T.-B.C., described her work with voice analysis, which is used to discover stressed notes or frequencies, and focused on intent as a key ingredient in the therapeutic process. A registered and board certified music therapist, Ms. Scovel is author of numerous articles and principal contributor to "Music Therapy in the Treatment of Adults: Theoretical Basis and Clinical Interventions" (a textbook published in 1990). She is also co-editor of Music Therapy Perspectives and a member of the National Association for Music Therapy's executive board. In her practice, Health Harmonics, located in Tahlequah, Okla., Scovel uses a voice analyzer to identify missing frequencies so they can be reintroduced into the client's sound environment by a tone generator through headphones and/or a sound table. The tones bring the body into physical, mental, emotional and spiritual alignment and attunement with its own pattern of resonance.

     Robert M. Roeshman, D.O., a practicing neurologist and licensed medical acupuncturist from Allentown, wove an intricate web linking allopathic and Oriental medicines and music, providing the theoretical basis for understanding how music effects the body. With slides, he reviewed the tools used in neurology and acupuncture, the neuroanatomy of hearing, the meridians and energetic philosophies of acupuncture and the relationship between the five elements and five musical scales. Selection of proper tones may be used to balance the five elements, thereby balancing yin and yang. Dr. Roeshman is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, American Academy of Pain Management, American Association for the Study of Headaches and American Academy of Medical Acupuncture. In addition, he has written articles that have been published in "Archives of Neurology."

     Lynnelle Ediger, B.M., M.M.E., gave a powerful presentation about her work with inner city children who have learned to play harp in her Healing Harps program. Ms. Ediger, a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, with degrees in harp performance and music education, is currently director of the Richmond Public Schools (RPS) harp program in Richmond, Va. In the 1960s, the RPS Harp program was the first of its kind in the nation. In 1994, with Dr. Price's encouragement, Ediger expanded the program to include mainstreamed physically and mentally challenged students. Ediger has noted an improvement in the challenged students' scholastic scores, and delinquency rates have decreased.

Music and medicine's interrelationship put to test
     Sarajane Williams reviewed the history of vibroacoustic therapy and her form of harp therapy, which combines amplified harp with a vibrotactile (sound) table for treatment of chronic pain, stress, and depression. An attendee volunteered to take part in an 'experiment' of sorts, aimed at showing the interrelationship of music and medicine. Scovel completed a voice analysis on the volunteer whose pulses were checked for their elemental qualities by Dr. Roeshman. When the volunteer chose the tone that felt best vibroacoustically throughout her body, it was the one Scovel had identified as deficient in her voice. The tone also mirrored the elemental deficiencies in her pulses and symbolized the life issues she was facing.

     A closing panel discussed educational and training guidelines that would help to prevent harm to clients, appropriate music selections for harp therapy, and methods that can be used to approach potential research teams or settings where harp therapy may be used. The symposium ended with all participants singing "Amazing Grace."

     We have come full circle in using the harp for music as a therapy. Willem Van de Wall, who was a professional harpist with the Metropolitan Opera, New York Symphony and Marine Band, used music to treat mental illness after World War I. In 1923, he established the very first comprehensive institutional music therapy program at Pennsylvania's Allentown State Hospital. The components of that program became a prototype for music therapy programs across the United States. Perhaps this symposium represented a new generation of using the harp therapeutically.

Symposium coordinator, Sarajane Williams, is a licensed psychologist, professional harpist, composer, and director of Shepherd Hills Counseling Center in Allentown, Pa., USA

For information regarding this website please contact our webmaster.