Music has been used as a healing modality since ancient times. The Greeks viewed music as a curative tool, incorporating therapeutic music in their healing temples to treat mental disturbance, induce sleep, and aid in digestion. Egyptian physicians incorporated musical incantations for healing. In modern times, numerous scientific studies have demonstrated and documented the efficacy of music as an adjunct to healing. One such is a recent study of the use of music therapy with advanced cancer patients, indicating that it is highly recommendable in these cases: “Effectiveness of Music Therapy in Advanced Cancer Patients Admitted to a Palliative Care Unit: A Non-Randomized Controlled, Clinical Trial” by Planas Domingo et al. Music & Medicine (2015). Another which references therapeutic harp specifically demonstrated that fatigue, anxiety, sadness, relaxation, and pain were significantly improved among the ninety-two patients participating in the trial: “Application of Therapeutic Harp Sounds for Quality of Life Among Hospitalized Patients” by D.M. Schneider et al in Journal of Pain and Symptom Management (2015).
Oakland-based Healing Muses is one of the Bay Area’s foremost organizations dedicated to therapeutic music. I joined the organization in 2013, and it has been my distinct pleasure to serve along with my fellow Muses, professional harpers Patrice Haan and Shira Kammen. Since 2019 I also serve in the capacity of Administrative Director. Healing Muses was founded in 1999 by Eileen Hadidian, a renowned flautist and recorder player for whom music provided great strength and support during her battle with cancer. Our mission is to provide live harp music in hospital wards, lobbies, cancer centers, hospices, and other care facilities to aid the healing process by lowering stress, blood pressure, and heart rate and to lift morale. Harps prove particularly effective instruments in these situations, as they resonate in a range that does not compete with the human voice nor the communications between medical staff members. Our most recent service locations include the Contra Costa Regional Health Center, UCSF Medical Center, Women’s Cancer Center of the East Bay, and the George Mark Children’s House, the nation’s first freestanding pediatric palliative care center. Past locations have included the intensive care unit, cardiac ICU, neonatal ICU, and maternity wards at Kaiser San Francisco, and many other facilities. Our Muses are all professional musicians who record and perform frequently and are well known in the Bay Area music community.
The music we offer is drawn from a wide range of cultures and time periods, with the primary criterion being the piece’s ability to communicate a positive emotion or state to the listener. As a rule, we focus on beautiful, simple melodies, including many from British Isles folk traditions and Early music of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras. Here are two examples: the Irish traditional tune “Pretty Maid Milking”, performed by Patrice Haan and 18th-century composer James Oswald’s arrangement of the Scottish tune “A Rock and a wi’ Pickle Jon”, performed by myself. One of the advantages of our work on the wards, as opposed to recorded background music, is our ability to react in real time to the situation and to adjust the music accordingly.
In these times of pandemic, we have gone virtual. We are engaged in the production of therapeutic harp videos, posted thrice weekly to the Healing Muses Facebook page and to our YouTube channel. We have also been streaming live healing harp music for the George Mark Children’s House to share with patients, patients’ family, supporters, and the public, viewable on their Facebook page.
I am so delighted to have been a member of Healing Muses for 7 years as of this past April. My personal experience has been very rewarding as I have honed my ability to choose the ideal music in settings ranging from lobbies to ICU wards. Many situations call for quiet and meditative music, others are best accompanied by upbeat and dance-y music. I have played for dying patients, for newborn babies, for teens in recovery. Part of our work includes making note of the specific responses of patients, family, and staff to our music, and they have not been shy about expressing their approval. One of my favorite responses was that of a teenage boy at a San Francisco hospital who had been there for 6 days. He said he woke up and heard the music and thought he was in heaven. He went on to say that the music really “fills in the nooks and crannies” of his time there. On another occasion I played on a pediatrics oncology ward where a mom and young daughter listened for quite a while — the girl commented, on leaving, “that pretty music sounds like dolphins.” There have been so many positive comments: “The most enjoyable time in a waiting room ever!” “Just the thought of you being here makes me feel good.“ “Nothing’s more soothing than harp music.” “Listening to you made my blood pressure drop from here — to here.”
Healing Muses is a non-profit originally funded by a combination of individual donations, grants, and payments from the facilities we serve, but now funded almost exclusively by individual donations. Our fundraising activities include the production of therapeutic harp recordings, and we have just released our latest, Solace of Sound, featuring Celtic, North American and Renaissance music for the Celtic harp performed by Patrice Haan, Shira Kammen, and myself.
Solace of Sound can be purchased at healingmuses.org/solace-of-sound, and review copies are available. For further information about Healing Muses or to donate, go to our website healingmuses.org.
References
Domingo, P., Escudé, Matamoros, E.N, Danés, C.F, Abelló, H.V., Carranza, J.M., Ripoll , A.I., Garcia, S.M, & Rossetti. A. ( 2015 ). “Effectiveness of Music Therapy in Advanced Cancer Patients Admitted to a Palliative Care Unit: A Non-Randomized Controlled, Clinical Trial”. Music & Medicine; an Interdisciplinary Journal. Vol 7 Number 1. Editors: Joanne V. Loewy, DA, LCAT, MT-BC and Ralph Spintge, MD. The International Association for Music & Medicine. retrieved on 8/4/2020: http://mmd.iammonline.com/index.php/musmed/article/view/MMD-2015-7-1-5[1]
Known for her beautiful crystal-clear vocals, Margaret Davis is also one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s finest folk harpers and a classically trained flutist and recorder-player. She has a degree in Music and also pursued graduate studies in Medieval French and Provençal. Her primary musical focus is the creation and performance of original interpretations of the Celtic music of her Scottish heritage and the Medieval and Renaissance music of the courts and countrysides.
Margaret has performed in the U.S. and abroad for over 30 years. She has appeared as harper soloist with San Francisco Renaissance Voices, as featured harper/flutist/vocalist in the 2016 season of the California Revels, and as vocal soloist with the Renaissance music ensemble The Brass Menagerie. She has recorded 15 CDs on the Flowinglass Music label — most notably her solo CD Princess of Flowers.
Margaret currently leads leads Celtic/Early Music ensemble Brocelïande, performs with Celtic rock band Avalon Rising, and performs in the duo Margaret & Kristoph with her husband Kristoph Klover. Margaret & Kristoph are the recipients of the 2018 Lost Chord Awards. She is one of the three therapeutic harpers of Oakland-based Healing Muses, offering healing music in hospitals and care centers. Margaret is also an accomplished artist, creating original mythic visionary art and illuminated Medieval-style calligraphy for an international clientele. flowinglass.com/margaret-davis and margaretdavisart.com.