MUSIC HEALS!

Harp music is especially healing.

Una O’Donovan (Emunah Ruth) has been playing the harp for the sick and dying for over two years, on a daily basis.  Her main focus is Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, from where she moves the harp to an AIDS Hospice, Children’s Hospital, Memorial services, etc.

The effect has been phenomenal – surprising even Una herself.  In fact, it is a continual learning process for her, as she delves deeper into the possibilities of improving the atmosphere and feelings of not only patients, but also their relatives and the staff.  Just the sight of the harp trundling down the corridor has patients and visitors perking up, calling out from their rooms and asking whether the harp was available to play for them.  The harp, more than other instruments, seems to have these angelic connections with heaven, so that there is already a positive response even before they have heard a note!

The scientific basis for the effect of live harp music has been proved in clinically controlled studies.  For example, a hospital in Israel had the babies in incubators in three groups: one had no music at all, one had CD’s piped through loudspeakers, and one had a live harpist playing to them. 

The result was that the group with no music progressed the slowest, the group with piped music a little faster, and the group with the live harp sounds became viable outside the incubators in less time.  Apparently, the live harp music made the babies relax more, so they could sleep deeper and better, so that they when they woke up they were stronger at feeding.  This latter group cut the time in the incubators by (on average) two days.

This makes economic sense to the hospital administration, as it is cheaper to pay a harpist than to maintain a premature baby in an incubator.  Some hospitals here in the Los Angeles area, have a harpist on staff.  City of Hope is one such facility, where the patients can go to the library and check out a book or a harp.  They then get help from the staff harpist in playing their favorite tunes, while laying a small harp on their chest, or in the crook of their arm.

Not only Una, but other harpists as well, have reported high blood pressure subsiding, and/or a too rapid breathing rate or heart rate slowing, while the patient listens to the harp.  It’s also very therapeutic in the evenings to induce sleep.

Una plays for every ethnic group and every religion, and tries to match what she plays to the musical experience of the listeners.  It’s heartwarming to see a Russian patient smile and become teary-eyed at the sound of music familiar to them from back home.  Whereas, someone who was used to going to the Disney Concert Hall soaks up classical music.  Funnily enough, the patient often doesn’t realize that it is music they need – until they hear it.