Harp Therapy travels to UK and Ireland Nov 26, 2022

On November 26, I gave a zoom presentation on my trip to Scotland and Ireland with the International Harp Therapy Program. The link below and the password (at the bottom of the link which you will need to access the link) will take you to the recording of that presentation.

https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/zFbeFe9im5490APkR9Bbb5zeyFhupXvtAZANApCHJU3hJ1GwTUFkTDw6694-zMYc.Eqidjf0rvOUT29Gq
Passcode: Y1fj@bQ

UTHN Meeting of September 26, 2020

We did not hold our regular zoom meeting this month. One of our members, Catharine DeLong, Music Thanatologist, presented a four hour zoom training on Music As Medicine. This was a thorough presentation on utilizing harp and voice to facilitate end of life transitions for patients from a Music Thanatologist perspective and based on Catharine’s extensive years of playing harp at the bedside. I know those of us who were able to participate learned a great deal from Catharine’s presentation that we will be able to incorporate into our own practices as Therapeutic Musicians. I would recommend Catharine’s program to anyone interested in improving their skill set in the area of Therapeutic Music. For more information or if interested in discussing Catharine’s work with her she can be reached at catharinedelong@gmail.com

UTHN Meeting of 8/18/2020

Utah Theapeutic harp Network Meeting of 8-18-2020 via Zoom

Attendees:  (from L to R, Top to Bottom)Kate Dougherty, Heidi Jaeger, Angela Scothern, Laurel Wright-Fiehry, Cris Watts, Pam Archbold, Peggy Cann, Catharine DeLong, Cyndi Bowen, Kristen  Rogers-Iverson (not pictured).

We did not meet in July due to everybody being busy or out of town.

Introductions of Members and welcome to Catharine, our newest member.  Some highlights: Kate and Peggy took a zoom seminar from Dr. Alice Cash who is promoting her Healing Music Enterprises program.  It is all recorded music she sells to hospitals. Chris is still playing for home bound hospice patients 2 days a week. Heidi is playing for a hospice patient 2 times a month, Peggy played for two weddings of family members which she will talk about later, and sang with a mask on for a hospice patient.  Kristen is spending her time playing the viola these days, Cindy is getting ready for school to start tomorrow where she teaches music, among all her other jobs and activities and will graduate tonight from two programs she has been working on.  

Catherine told us about her journey as a harpist starting at age 11, and graduate of the Chalice of Repose (2013) as well as MTAI program (2019).   After graduation she moved to New York and worked for the Visiting Nurse Service of New York as well as a couple of hospitals including Bellevue.  She promised to tell us more about her Bellevue experience at our next gathering.  She also attended One Spirit Interfaith Alliance https://www.1spirit.org/ where she became an ordained minister.   Catharine has moved back to Salt Lake City due to the Corona Virus preventing her from seeing patients for now in New York. We are so happy to welcome her to our Therapeutic Harp group.

Peggy shared her technique for memorizing music fast which she had to do recently for two different weddings.  Her son married July 11 and she drove down to Arizona to play for his wedding. The happy couple wanted “Memories” played. Peggy was able to listen to it on Youtube and figure out the melody on the harp which she played for us.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4xhbiJ605o

To demonstrate how to break a song down into it’s parts for easier memorization, Peggy shared a song with us called “Prospect” that has been used for several traditional hymns. She encouraged us all to pick up our harps and play along with her while she broke down the song into the A part, the B part and talked about how to remember the chord progression. 

Catherine said she learned this song as The Lone Wild Bird which you can find several performances of on Youtube If you want to listen to it. The sheet music can be found at:  http://www.reigningharps.com/Music%20Files%202014/Prospect.pdf

The second wedding Peggy played for was her nieces’ who asked for Cant Help Falling In Love With You with the following arrangement:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EzbMtyovI8

Peggy listened to it and learned it in 3 days.  (Peggy has a phenomenal ear for music). Peggy was able to break it down to the A part and the B part which pleased the bride who approved Peggy’s arrangement. 

Pam took two zoom courses over the last two months: One from Christine Tourin on how to record videos  and use of Garage Band.  The second one was Harp Mastery Four Weeks to Finger Freedom by Anne Sullivan. More information on this course can be found at Harpmastery.com

 Final Notes :  Catharine had mentioned that the MTIA group was preparing to begin offering bedside Music Thanatology for patients remotely using Zoom. Catharine walked us through how to improve the sound quality on Zoom when playing harps for patients: 

To start, on the Zoom screen bottom left hand corner click on the up arrow^  Then click on Audio Setting then Advanced. This should bring you to the following screen where you click on Audio and check the box to the left to “Enable Original Sound”.  The next two boxes should be disabled and the last box should be marked Auto.  If this is not clear even with the screen shot below, there are Youtube videos to help clarify the directions.

See also:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkG7yOTRIAk

No date was picked for our next gathering  but Peggy recommended we all listen to Rachael Naomi Remen poems on Youtube and she may read one. Catharine will tell us more about playing for patients at Bellvue Hospital in New York. If any of you have something you would like to present please let me know and I’ll add it to the agenda. 

It was so good to gather with you all virtually today and I know we all look forward to when we can gather together in person once again.

UTHN Meeting of 6/15/2020

Attending:  Pam, Keri, Heidi, Kate, Laurel, Angela, Cyndi, Peggy, Kristen

CHECKIN: WHAT IS EVERYBODY DOING?

  1. Peggy played on the harp for us one of her son’s favorite pieces: Gabriel’s Oboe by Ennio Morricone. Both Peggy’s son and husband are not well right now.

2. Heid reported she had been accepted into the St. Mark’s Clinical Pastoral Education program as a Chaplain Intern starting in September.

3. Keri is now playing with an orchestra and they are working on Les Mis. She also completed a hymn arranging class and is creating an arrangement of For the Beauty of the Earth and God is Love medley for harp and choir.

4. Laurel is taking wire harp lessons and workshops.

5. Angela is teaching violin, planning on going to the MHTP conference this week, working on her harp technique and taking lessons. She took a recording course through Coursera

6. Pam is taking a sabbatical from the harp for now.

7. Cyndi is working on her therapeutic harp certification and several other programs as well as working full time.

8. Kristen is focused on playing her violin and viola

II. INFORMATION ON AUDACITY.  KATE DOUGHERTY’S NOTES FOLLOW

Useful Audacity Feature: Noise Reduction

Some therapeutic musicians want to record their music. A powerful free program like Audacity can improve the quality of an imported waveform. Removing noise is a quick and easy enhancement.

Check out YouTube for popular videos demonstrating Audacity in all its maddening, complex glory. Also Google Recording the Harp for how to position microphones and ways to improve the sound environment.

DOWNLOAD AUDACITY

Choose Audacity for Windows

            Audacity for macOS

Once installed, Chose Language.

An easy useful feature of Audacity is removing ambient noise.

RECORDING AND NOISE REDUCTION

Press record on the Player Controls. Wait three seconds for the mic to record the room’s ambient noise. Record your piece. Now select those first three seconds before instrument or voice begins.

Select Effect > Noise Reduction. Click on Get Noise Profile. Depending on the length of the piece, this may take a few seconds or be done in the blink of an eye. Then select the entire recording. (Ctrl A for Windows). Or use the I Bar to select the whole clip. You may need to Zoom out.

Return to Effect > Noise Reduction > Preview. Like the change? If more reduction is needed, increase the db level. Repeat the process till the sound is what you want. Click OK to apply. The waveform in the first three seconds has less background noise, as will the whole recording.

When satisfied, select and cut those first three seconds.

For more fun with Audacity and easy recording improvements, check out YouTube tutorials on normalization and equalization.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS TO RELATED TO RECORDINGS

The Quicktime  app can be downloaded for free and is an easy way to record and then import to itunes where a CD cna be burned. 

Using a good microphone will improve the sound of the recording no matter what recording system you choose to use.  We had a discussion about microphones.

 All recordings should be backed up before being imported/exported.  

UTHN meeting of 5/12/2020

Attending:  Laurel Wright-Feighery,  Pam Archbold, Kate Dougherty, Peggy Cann, Angela Scothern, Chris Watts, Kristen Rogers-Iverson, Cyndi Bowen, Heidi Jaeger

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic we chose to meet via Zoom so everyone could stay home and participate who was able. Pam hosted and led the meeting on Home Self Recording.

  1. General Discussion while we waited for everyone to login and throughout Pam’s presentation (see her notes which are cut and pasted into section II).
    • Angela reported she had taken a course on recording through Coursera, a free online educational platform.  She learned how to layon tracks for other instruments or singing. Mainly Angela uses it for instruments. Angela promised to send us information about her Coarsara course . and show us how she uses
    • Kate reported she had used Garageband and Fourscore for recording purposes.
    • Heidi reported she had used Audible (for Windows based systems)
    • The iPhone has a good sound recording system. Recordings can be uploaded to free Youtube channels and security settings can be applied to limit viewers from the public to specific individuals which Cyndi is doing with her music students. Heidi shared her recording on Youtube created with her  iphone10x of the Salt Lake Valley Threshold choir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hElg72h9b1c
    • Peggy learned how to use Garageband through a tutorial by the Apple store staff.
    • Audible is a free download for Windows Operating systems.  There are special features that can be applied to your recording with this program. Garageband has similar features but is designed for Apple devices.
    • Voice Record 7 is an easy to use voice record system and can be downloaded for free from the app store.
    • Everyone agreed, no matter what software program you use, it requires a lot of trial and error to find the one that works best for your purposes and situation while some are more user friendly than others. There are many reasons to record yourself from just listening to yourself to help with identifying problems you don’t hear when playing, to creating something to share with the world. It doesn’t require a lot of expensive technical equipment but takes time to perfect the sound you want.  Microphones can help with sound quality but make sure you get one with a USB port connection or adapter. Of course, if you want the highest professional quality without the DIY hassle of learning new technology and skills and you have lots of $$$$$, you can always book a recording studio and sound engineer.
  2. Pam shared her screen so that we could see her Garageband program on her laptop. Unfortunately, the ipad version is very different than the laptop version.  See the Garageband User’s Guide for iPad. The following are Pam’s notes which she wrote and I cut and pasted below with her permission.  

Simple Options and Tips for Self-Recording by Pam Archbold

Why Self Record?

  • For current clients and as marketing tool for new clients
  • Sharing, including a CD of your music, with patients, friends and family
  • As a practice tool

Space Considerations

  • Space that will sound good with your instrument: work in the largest room possible, avoiding low ceilings and close walls.
  • Avoid background noise such as traffic, dishwasher and HVAC running, computer fans etc.
  • Microphone placement: goal is full, clear sound without production noise such as finger placement, pedals shifting.
    • Depends on many factors including size of room
    • Use trial and error, selecting spot where you hear the clearest, most even sound in all ranges.
    • Often 20-45 degrees off the front of the harp, 5-6 feet away, 3-5 feet high depending on size of harp. Adjust height to optimize clarity in all ranges.

Basic recording equipment

Recording software

  • Voice memo recorder on your iPhone/iPad/Macbook, using builtin mic, per Kristina Finch, is “surprisingly clear.”
    • Can convert voice memo files to MP3 files
    • Can upload voice memo files to your laptop or to Dropbox
  • Can use free app GarageBand, which comes included with all Apple products.
  • Logic is updgraded pro version of Garageband, for $199.

Microphone

  • Can add external mic for additional sound quality
    • XY microphones create stereo audio. Examples: Zoom H1N, Tascam DR-40, Zoom H4N.
      • Pros: focused sound with stereo capability
      • Cons: Use of two microphones may be redundant for solo instrument recording
    • Omnidirectional microphones capture sound from every direction. Two microphones face away from eachother. Examples: Tascam Dr-05, Roland R-05, Tascam Dr-100.
      • Pros: true-to-location sound picks up more room ambiance
      • Cons: more expensive; more likely to pick up unwanted background noises
    • Hybrid microphones: multiple advanced options; not recommended for beginner.

Headphones

  • Free Apple earbuds
  • Sennheiser HD280PRO
  • Samson SR 150 headphones come with the Samson C01U Pro microphone

Garageband Basics

  • First Steps
    • From launch window, select New Project, select Empty Project =>
    • Create Track: select track type Audio/Record using a microphone or line input
      • Note: skipping over Tempo, Key Signature, Time Signature
      • Audio Input/Output: can select builtin mic or external microphone which will appear in drop down list
    • Track name: double click to edit
    • Sounds => may wish to select Acoustic Guitar => Natural Stereo
    • Mute button
    • Solo button
    • Volume slider: Doubles as level indicator, displaying green, yellow or red. If slipping into red, turn volume down. You may wish to select Automatic Level Control and Noise Gate.
  • Smart Controls
    • Compression, EQ, oh my!
      • Smart Controls display varies depending on what “Patch” you selected. I selected Vocal => Natural Vocal. Controls display with default settings.
      • Click on the EQ tab to see the visual equalizer: You can tap and drag the three different colored dots (orange for bass, green for mid, and purple for treble) to cut or boost a frequency.
      • Analyzer button: tap it to see a visual representation of the track’s frequencies in real time! This gives you the ability to see where a track is lacking or has too much of a certain frequency.
      • Echo: helps track sound fuller.
      • Reverb: similar to Echo; helps track sound “larger than life.”
      • Click on the Compare tab to listen to saved versions
  • Hitting Record
    • May wish to select automated count-in that will count in 1 bar before the point you begin recording. This allows a little extra time to prepare.
  • Save the single track you have recorded as your named project. You can then save the song to iTunes if you wish:

References:

Baird, Patrick. The Garage Band Quick Start Guide

Finch, Kristina. Technical Harpist #1 – Recording Devices. Harpcolumn, June 12, 2015.

Hall, Rachel Lee. Recording in Progress: a practical harpist’s guide for self recording. HarpColumn, March/April 2020.

Sutich, Brian. Understanding GarageBand’s 4 Most Essential Effects. The App Factor, Fabruary 2017.

  1. 3. Virtual Gatherings: These are great ways to virtually attend a conference with internationally renowned teachers without the expense and hassle of travel. If you need to get your CEUs this is a great way to do it and relatively inexpensive.
    • Joanna Mell is leading a zoom harp circle Thursday mornings at 11 am. Laurel has more information about that.
    • Edie Elkins is leading a meditation complete with her playing the therapy harp at 4:50 pm MDT.  Send her an email if you would like to be invited to that. Edie@bedsideharp.com. There is no charge for this gift.
    • Summerset Online 2020 is available in July.  Prices range from $200 to view in July; $400 to view for the rest of the year. July 16-19. http://www.somersetharpfest.com/

UTHN Meeting of April 14, 2020

Attending:  Laurel Wright-Feighery, Kinsey Mitton, Pam Archbold, Kate Dougherty, Peggy Cann, Angela Scothern, Chris Watts, Kristen Rogers-Iverson, Tamara Oswald, Meg Smith Dawson, Cyndi Bowen

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic we chose to meet via Zoom so everyone could stay home and participate who was able.  Kate was our technical person who hosted the zoom conference on her account and Peggy led the meeting.

We went around the group and each of us talked about what we had been doing with regard to playing harp for patients as well as self care.  It sounded like Kinsey and Cyndi were still working but with reduced hours. Some of us found playing our harps were providing us much needed comfort and others found that they couldn’t play harp right now.  Other activities included:  zoom meetings with friends and family,  sewing masks and quilting, taking long walks outdoors and staying indoors, video game playing, learning new music and foreign languages, reading, napping, baking.  Nobody seemed to be bored.     

Some suggestions during this stay at home time included many resources for online harp instruction.

Somerset will be holding their annual conference online instead of in New Jersey this summer.  http://www.somersetharpfest.com/      $100 discount for earlybird registration.

The MHTP program will be holding their conference online as well June 18-20.   For more information see their website:  https://www.mhtp.org/mhtp-conference      

The Edinburgh Folk Harp Festival Society held their first virtual and free festival starting April 3 through April 8.  Video can still be accessed at Youtube  https://www.youtube.com/user/edinharpfest  and Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/EdinburghInternationalHarpFestival/

Harp Column is offering many freebies due to the virus and if you are a subscriber, Harp Column Academy always has a myriad of harp tutorial videos available and regularly changing. It’s not just for pedal harps. www.Harpcolumnacademy.com

If you are a Facebook User you can follow a number of sites where harpists video themselves and upload to the site. These are not usually tutorials but more relaxing interludes.  Anyone is welcome to post so maybe some of you might want to do this. Music Heals the World is one and I know there are many others. So many musicians are not able to work now they are just posting videos. Check out Youtube also.

Edie Elkan of Bedside Harp hosts an online therapeutic harp meditation every evening at 4:50 pm MDT. This is free and accessible via Zoom However, Edie would appreciate it if you want to join send her an email introducing yourself and requesting to be invited.  edie@bedsideharp.com  Both Peggy and I find this very therapeutic and relaxing.  Edie plays harp to begin and then leads in a guided meditation that changes daily. We’re usually done by 5:30 and feeling rested and energized.

We took turns playing harp for each other. 

Peggy began by playing Reflections by Barbara Semmann in the Angie Bemiss book, The Music of Friends

Tamara said she had been focusing on upbeat music and was playing from Sylvia Woods music from the musicals, Up and LaLa Land.

Heidi played William’s Lullaby from the Angie Bemiss Friends book.

Chris said she had been working on some pieces to accompany one of her home patients who liked to sing but did not play for us.

Pam played Somewhere Over the Rainbow with her own bass pattern arrangement. 

Kate has been working on Irish jigs and played Spring Fever by Nadia Birkenstock, Morrisey Jig and Butterfly jig for us.  She also provided urls for free music in a follow up email (see below).

Angela played a song called Alta Cri on her wire harp

Laurel played a song called Alan is Dear To Me from the Angus Frasier Collection and also Nora Likes Cake from the Edward Bunting Collection, both happy tunes to prove to us that wire harps don’t only play sad songs.

Cyndi was at work and not able to play for us but asked about harp repertoire recommendations. Several recommendations were made including any of  Sylvia Woods harp books, Kate provided the following online sources for free music: 

  8notes.com

https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://8notes.com

http://www.thesession.org

http://musescore.org

If we are still quarantined for May, Pam offered to host our next Zoom meeting on the topic of making recordings. Tentative date will be May 13 at 10 am. 

UTHN meeting of 3/10/2020

Attending:  Keri Kammerman, , Laurel Wright-Feighery, Kinsey Mitton, Pam Archbold, Kate Dougherty, Peggy Cann, Angela Scothern, Chris Watts, Kristen Rogers-Iverson, Tamara Oswald

Guests: Kimber Martinson, Aileen Kelley

Aileen Kelley was our guest speaker at this meeting.  Aileen graduated from BYU with a degree in Music and later earned a Masters degree in Music from California State University, Sacramento. She was always drawn to Music Therapy but there was no program she could attend at the time. In 2004 she certified as a Music Practitioner through the Music for Healing and Transition Program (MHTP), and now teaches nationwide for that organization.  Aileen coordinated the Healing Music Program at the Kaiser Hospital in Roseville, CA, from 2010 to 2017 where she also played the harp at bedsides of critically ill patients.   Retired from American River College after teaching there for 18 years, she maintained a private teaching studio, directed the Capital Valley Harp Circle, and performed in the community as a freelance harpist until 2017 when she moved to Sweden with her husband, serving a 2 year church mission with him.   Aileen was Peggy’s advisor when she went through the MHTP training. 

Aileen’s therapeutic music journey began In 2001 when her granddaughter, Myra, was born four months early in Vernal, UT.  Aileen came to her granddaughters NICU in Provo and was granted permission to play harp for her in a limited capacity. As the nurses and staff experienced the response of the babies, parents and staff to the harp music, they encouraged her to bring the harp every day and play as long as she could.  The babies responded with increased oxygen saturation, fewer alarms, and steadier respiration rates. Mainly Aileen played simple and soft lullabies and found that keeping the music flowing through improvisation was important.  NICU babies need to sustain their blood pressure within an ideal range: not too low and not too high. Since they entrained to the tempo of the music she played she had to watch the monitors for optimal results. 

Myra was about 26 weeks gestational age before her heart began to entrain to the tempo of the harp.  Aileen learned from this experience that Therapeutic Music was her calling and at the end of the year of playing for the babies, Aileen found the MHTP program.  According to Aileen, the MHTP course took what she had learned playing in the NICU and gave it structure.  Aileen reported that Myra is now 19 years old and getting married this April. She does not suffer from any problems associated with her difficult start in life. 

Techniques for Improving Improvisation Skills

Aileen instructed us all to set our harps in C major, use a G chord for the bass and 4/4 time and improvise the melody using only the white strings (pentatonic). We all played together and then slowly harpists dropped out.  This was a lovely exercise that everybody could participate in.  Aileen used this technique once with an Asian woman who had intractable pain. Nothing else she had tried seemed to connect or soothe this patient until she used this technique and the patient responded quickly and positively.  

Aileen talked about using the sounds of the room including beeps and alarms to minimize their annoying sound and blend then into the background.  Find the tone and then work with it. 

In lessons with students, Aileen uses harp technique exercises as a foundation to improvise which she demonstrated using a 3 finger pattern etude. 

Aileen recommended Joyce Rice’s book:  Petty Larcenies. The point of this reference is that Joyce uses the opening phrases of familiar songs and then spins off in improvisational directions. This illustrates how one can also start with a familiar phrase  but then take off and make it something new by changing the patterns. E.g. changing ascending patterns to descending patterns and vice versa.

Aileen demonstrated using a form of musical question and answer phrases and said there are no wrong notes, just interesting ones. She emphasized listening to the end of a phrase and imagining where it might go…and then play what you imagined.

Peggy told a story about playing for an opera singer who moaned as she was dying and how Therapeutic Musicians can use a patient’s voice pitch and breathing to accompany them.  Aileen called it “companioning the patient”.  Sometimes humming or moaning is a way to vibrate ourselves from the inside out and a way to comfort ourselves.

Kinsey shared an experience of playing for a patient who did not respond to much of anything she was doing but she felt that a particular technique was the right thing to do and after a while it did help that patient to relax. Aileen added that 20 minutes of playing seems to be the magic amount of time needed to really benefit a patient and patience is often critical to success. “Put aside expectations and let the patient drive the session.” She emphasized the importance of working within the moment at the bedside, meeting the patient wherever they are at. She also noted these improvisations should be kept simple and spacious to not overstimulate the patient.  

The left hand should be kept simple unless it is the main improvisation source.  Single notes, simple arpeggios and drones work well. A drone can be a powerful stabilizer for patients. 

Final comments on improvisation from Aileen: Music exists in time. The mind will engage with a melody and go on a journey.  Rhythm = bodily functions. 

Aileen encouraged us all to imagine a patient and a condition or situation and then create improvisations to practice the techniques before it’s needed by a real life patient. 

In addition to the other hats she wears, Aileen is the founder of Music Partners in Healthcare (MPIH.org). This is a non-profit organization that educates healthcare facilities and provides Therapeutic Musicians to those facilities to provide music to patients at the bedside. As the first Therapeutic Musician in the Sacramento Valley, Aileen had to create a demand for her services.   Now, through the non-profit organization, MPIH provides paid positions for Therapeutic Harpists throughout the Sacramento Valley at memory care centers, hospitals, and skilled nursing facilities. There is now more demand than harpists supply and it is a model worthy of emulation that the Utah Therapeutic Harp Network might want to consider in the future. 

If anyone would  like to drop Aileen a note she can be emailed at akelley.home@gmail.com

We had talked about having a harp circle at Pam’s house next month but after the Corona virus events of the last week, we will postpone that until a later date. Peggy has suggested we have a virtual UTHN meeting via Zoom April 14, Tuesday at 10 am. She has agreed to be the Zoom host and we can focus on repertoire and self care.  Peggy attended Joanna Mell’s Zoom harp gathering which meets 11 am on Thursdays. Last week the group simply played for each other providing the name of the piece and the composer, although sometimes they just improvised. A calendar invitation will be sent out as well. Hope you all can make it!

I am including a link to a live, unattended performance put on by Utopia Early Music Saturday night at St. Marks Cathedral. Teresa Honey is the harpist on a gothic harp.  Enjoy!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esq0YeXIEw8

UTHN Meeting of 2-18-2020

Attending:  Peggy Cann, Keri Kammerman, Laurel Wright-Feighery, Kinsey Mitton, Chris Watts, Heidi Jaeger

Guests attending:  Gwen Soper, Laura Wall, Kelly Cann 

I. Introductions

Gwen talked about her musical background and experience and how she and Heidi ended up at the same patient’s bedside at the same time twice and other times she has felt called to sing for a friend who is ill or dying. She also sings with Peggy with the Baroque Ensemble. She is interested in continuing her work using voice at the bedside. 

Laura works for the Utah Alzheimer Association as the Foundation Director and is a new harpist. 

Kelly is Peggy’s niece through marriage and has just been accepted to the MHTP program.  We used the Orff methodology to introduce ourselves clapping out rhythms which was good practice for us all.

Peggy, Keri, Laurel, Chris and Heidi briefly introduced ourselves and experience

II. The Business of Therapeutic Music

Kinsey mentioned that CMS pays hospices more during the last two weeks of a patients life who is covered by Medicare/Medicaid. This is a good selling point for utilizing Therapeutic Harpists at the bedside as patients are transitioning.

Kinsey told us about her experience getting hired at Elevation Hospice after she earned her certification from MHTP, her negotiation for salary and how she accepted something less than what had been agreed upon and why. We also included the online discussion on the MHTP Facebook group regarding one person’s idea to get Patreon or other crowd funding methods to pay for Therapeutic Music in Assisted Living facilities.  Another contributor wrote that if nursing homes/ALFs don’t pay for this service and it is either offered as a volunteer service or paid for through another means, they will never appreciate what is being provided to them or the value of it. 

Pam Archbold sent an email differentiating offering a performance as a gift or sample of Therapeutic music versus providing Therapeutic Music to residents/patients for free. Naturally, when we Therapeutic Harpists are completing internships the exchange for the learning experience is to provide the service for free.  Therapeutic musicians are specifically trained. Once credentialed, they should be paid for providing therapeutic music services. Providing therapeutic music services at no cost undermines the perceived value of the service and the training.

Heidi shared her experience getting her first, second and third jobs at different hospices and how much and how she is paid both as an employee and as an independent contractor.  Several members work for more than one hospice and as a contractor this is perfectly acceptable.

Keri uses the harp in her work as a chaplain providing spiritual comfort where words sometimes fail us. She has left Inspiration Hospice and now works for Solstice Hospice.  She also shared her musical background with us.  She came to this group through Tamara Oswald’s invitation.  Keri also shared that she has worked for facilities owned by Kisco Corporation and they pay $60/hour for Therapeutic Harpists at their special events. 

Tristan was unable to attend but sent an email that was shared with the group reminding everyone that we all need to support each other in this work and communicate with each other to enable that support.

Laura Wall discussed her reasons for taking up the harp this year and offered a number of marketing suggestions as that is her strength and role with the Alzheimer Association.  She recommended we all subscribe to the Professional for Seniors network. To receive notifications of networking opportunities, contact Lorraine@seniorsbluebook.com and request to be on the notification list of events. Then go to those events and talk about our work. As Laura left for one of these events, she said she would be talking about us where she goes and the benefits of Therapeutic Music. The differences between Therapeutic Musicians, Music Thanatologists and Music Therapists was explained for our guests benefit.

Takeaways from the discussion:  If you’re not sure what the going rate is for Therapeutic music, ask one of us, we will share what we know and have experienced with you.

If you need help marketing yourself ask another member of the network for some pointers and practice. This is not easy for many of us but it’s a necessary skill for this field of work.  Organizations don’t know what we can do for them until we educate them.

If you are certified and looking for work (or more opportunities) share that with the UTHN members.   Many of us have contacts at facilities that may facilitate your search.  Most of us got our first jobs in this field because we knew somebody who introduced us or recommended us to the hiring agency.  

Just a reminder, some of what is shared at our gatherings is confidential and should not be repeated outside our meetings, or in our notes.

Music we have recently learned or are in the process of learning:

III. Presentations of music we are currently learning or working on

Heidi played See You Again by Charlie Puth,

Laurel played Begone From My Window, Song of Flattery and Truth, and Beloved Maiden on her wire harp,

Keri brought the sheet music for Debussy’s Premiere Arabesque which she intends to learn. 

Peggy demonstrated the use of style and its effect on a piece of music by making us guess what lovely piece she was playing.  (The Flintstones Theme song). 

IV. Book Recommendations:

Temperament: How Music Became a Battleground for the Great Minds of Western Civilization by Stuart Isacoff  or Temperament: The Idea That Solved Music’s Greatest Riddle, also by Stuart Isacoff

Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn

UTHN Harp Circle December 2019

The Irish Wire strung harpists dueting with an appreciative audience
Pam and Heidi performing for the Christmas Party at The Ridge MCU, Cottonwood Heights

For December’s monthly meeting we decided to gather and play harps together rather than have a formal meeting or presentation. Pam hosted at her lovely new home in Hideout, UT and there was room for 5 harps and harpists to all sit together and play Christmas Carols from Sylvia Woods book, 50 Christmas Carols for All Harps and some other holiday music.

Playing together and sight reading is not only fun but good practice, especially for those of us who typically play by ear, memory and improvise a lot. We intend to do this more often in 2020.

A few days after the harp Circle, Pam and Heidi took this show on the road to the Memory Care Unit at The Ridge where we played for the resident’s Christmas lunch. This is an annual event for us and we always try and dress festively for the occasion. The residents love it and one staff member commented afterwards they discovered harp music was so much more calming during a meal than some other types of musical performances. We agree, of course.

Tamara was busy elsewhere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jbsUl5v7F8 and we missed her and our other members who couldn’t be with us this month but hope you all can make it in January 2020. Merry Christmas and a harpy new year to all. God bless us everyone!

UTHN meeting of 11/5/19

UTHN members (missing Cyndi Bowen and Laurel Wright)

Present:  Keri Kammerman, Kristin Rogers-Iverson, Kris Watts, Angela Scothern, Kate Dougherty, Tamara Oswald, Kinsey McNevin, Pam Archbold, Tristan Adair, Peggy Cann, Heidi Jaeger

I.Tamara Oswald presented on Harp Care and Maintenance

Some background on Tamara.  Tamara has been playing harp for more years than she appears old enough to have accomplished. She began studying harp at the age of 7 after a year of piano studies. At the age of 13 Tamara soloed with the Utah symphony and again at age 14 and 16-once on piano. She received her degree in harp performance at the University of Southern California under the direction of Susann McDonald. Most of us are aware that Tamara is the principal harpist for the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and tours all over the world with this group. She is also a member of the Oswald-Goeckeritz duo with Jeannine Goeckeritz (see www.harpandflute.com). Together, they have played all over the US and in Europe and have recorded a CD.called Chanson.  Tamara met her husband Dan in Zurich when her parents were called to oversee the missionary work in Switzerland for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Her husband Daniel is the honorary consul of Switzerland to Utah. They are the proud parents of 6 children and 15 grandchildren.  Tamara was certified by the Clinical Musician Certification Program/Harp for Healing (CMCP) in 2017 and has been employed by Brighton/Bristol Hospice since then. Please visit her website www.harpandflute.com for more information.

In doing an online search for information on Tamara I also found the following review of her work:

The flowing style and graceful virtuosity of Tamara Oswald has been enjoyed by audiences across the world. She has performed with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra under the direction of such renowned musicians as Christoph Eschenbach and M. Rstropovich, and as a soloist with the Tuttlingen Jugend Orchestra in Germany. Nationally, she has performed with the Pasadena, Long Beach and the Honolulu Symphonies, and as a soloist with the Santa Monica Symphony, the University of Southern California, University of Utah, the Orchestra at Temple Square, Utah Chamber Artists and the Utah Symphony. She has been the recipient of esteemed musical awards from the American Harp Society and has competed as a semi-finalist at both the Israeli and Rome International Harp competitions.

Oswald was principal harp for Ballet West for 20 years. She continues to perform regularly with the Utah Chamber Artists, now in their 29th year, and has also been affiliated with the Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, Utah Chamber Festival, Salt Lake Choral Artists, and the Park City Music Festival. She has had the opportunity to perform with such luminaries as Julius Baker, Roberta Peters, Robert Shaw, Dale Warland, Jubilant Sykes, and Ida Haendel.”   http://www.harpandflute.com/about-us/tamara-oswald/

Peggy was kind enough to send us the link to listen to Tamara accompany Sissel recently with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFe84U__kt8

Tamara prepared a handout for us all which we referred to during her discussion. I will not copy the handout but will include some things mentioned that I found new information or a good reminder:

Harp History from ancient to modern times. While harps are an ancient instrument probably developed based on the bow and arrow, the modern use of the harp as a solo instrument did not develop until the 1600s. There was no way to adjust for sharps or flats until the 16 century when hooks were added to create C# and F#. In the earliest days, the harp was used to accompany songs, in groups with other instruments and voice. There wasn’t solo music for the harp until the 1600s. Pedals were not developed until the 18th century. 

The modern Troubador Harp was invented by Samual Pratt of Utah in 1960. From both marriages of Sam and resulting children the Pratt family have been influential in the modern lever harp movement., Carl Pratt (801) 377-7082, Sam’s son,  is an excellent local harp builder and technician if your harp needs some work.

Pedal harp strings should be reserved for pedal harps and not put on a lever harp except for the Lyon and Healey lever harps.  They require too much tension and may break the harp. When ordering replacement strings, you must specify the Harp maker, string composition (gut, nylon, wire, fluorocarbon), octave and note. 1st octave starts at the top and works down. (On a Troubador Harp, that would be E to F).  Be consistent with whatever the harp maker recommends.  A source for string sets is  D. Kolacny in Colorado (303) 722-6081.  Replace broken strings as quickly as possible as too much pressure resulting from the broken string will cause the neighbor strings to also break.

Dust covers are not required except for moving harps.  Keep it exposed,, dust as needed and play it daily.  If storage is required of the harp, the strings may be lowered a tone or so but don’t relax them completely. Avoid knocking over the harp.

Cleaning:  A slightly damp cloth with a little mild soap will do (no detergents). Clean a small area at a time and dry it. Avoid using too much water as it could get into the glued joints.  Black scuff marks can be removed with a little benzene.  If desired, a commercial polish designed specifically for harps may be used.  Polish is not really necessary though.

Tuning: Tamara demonstrated how she tunes her pedal harp for playing in an orchestra starting with A. checking it with the 4th note below (E) then the 5th below (D) then the 4th string above A (D) and then the Octave (A to A) repeating this for every note even when an electronic tuner is used.  When playing with the orchestra, Tamara tunes to 441 a bit higher as the stringed instruments tend to sharpen as they are played. Woodwinds tend to flatten. Tamara recommends tuning in Natural (C maj) although many orchestral harpists tune in the flat position of the harp.

Replacing Strings: Tamara provided a diagram for knotting harp strings and discussed situations where harp strings had broken in the middle of her performances and how she dealt with that.  Also how to look for potential breaking points and changing weak looking strings before they break. Good idea to date string packets when they are used in case of breakage right away.  Most string companies will replace the string if it breaks within the first week of use.

Dealing with pain:  resting an 80 lb. harp on your shoulder in an unnatural position, moving harps, loading harps into cars  is likely going to result in pain as we age.  Tamara recommends practicing harp in the right size chair for your body and the harp and using a chair with a good back on it, not a bench, at least for practice.   Only play for 45 minutes at a time and then take a break,, stretch before and after playing.  Tamara uses a pain relief cream product called Real Time Pain Relief. There is Physical Therapy specifically designed for harpists as well as ergonomic training to preserve the body. 

II. We each presented and played some of our favorite holiday music.

Kris Watts played for us and shared sheet music she has orchestrated for Silent Night.  Pam and Heidi played a duet of Pachabel’s Canon mashup with The First Noel, Kristen played a piece she had composed for the upcoming funeral of a dear friend that was contemplative and beautiful.  She was looking for feedback from the group which was provided.  Tristan improvised and sang     Away In the Manger,  Tamara played a version of In the Bleak Midwinter from Sunita Stanislow’s Christmas Eve book, Kinsey played Infant Holy, Peggy helped Heidi play Jingle Bells using only a bass pattern and singing the song to help her work on harp accompaniment for song.  Thankfully the group sang while Peggy pointed to the chords. 

We closed the meeting and shared  a light lunch potluck (always great food!) and casual conversation.  

We agreed to not meet in December but have a casual harp circle at Pam Archbolds house on a Saturday morning for those who can make it.  Next meeting will be in January.