This has been the most rewarding experience yet. Playing in the NICU for the preemies at the Credit Valley Hospital. This new facility is gorgeous and has the most amazing helpful staff you could ever wish for. I am pictured below playing for premature twins.
I am not a music therapist by any means but my music is therapeutic to all. Nurses love it so much they request to be working the day I play and doctors are pleasantly surprised to be treated to harp music while doing rounds in the NICU. It’s truly a delight to walk into an environment where my music is appreciated not because of what I look like or how lovely my gown is, or how grand the harp looks. The music is appreciated most in this environment because of its soothing sound. Harp therapy is what I like to call it.
The NICU is a place where things can change from good to bad within seconds and parents are trying to enjoy the miracle of life amidst the challenges of early birth. Everyone is there to help but no other therapy offers a non-invasive approach such as the harp. Harp is the perfect therapy for everyone. The music is so soothing to the babies it’s been proven time and time again that it helps calm them and settle them. The parents also find it very relaxing which helps them to interact with their babies on a more calm and serene level. Nurses are relieved of the stresses from the all the beeps and alarms when the gorgeous tones of the harp are in the air. Everyone is happy to see me arrive because they see the harp as the cure to all their anxieties. They know what it promises to offer to them every week, serenity.
I can truly tell you that unless you’ve been there to witness the calmness that harp provides you can’t understand it. But believe me when I tell you I walk into a very stressful environment and leave it feeling more relaxed than when I arrived. I also count on the harp to relax me as I play. Not having had any medical training at times I’ve found it stressful but usually by the end of my two hour session I’m ready to sleep like the babies. The therapy that harp music provides never fails anyone and works every time. The beauty of music is that it doesn’t speak words which is great in a place where sometimes words are not enough to comfort anyone.
