Shawn L. Bird

See, when you get down to the basics of it, everything’s just molecules vibrating. Which is what music is, what sound is, vibrations in the air. So we’re all part of that music and the worthier it is, the more voices we can add to it, the better we all are.”

~Charles de Lint in Moonlight and Vines. p. 33

(I told you I’d have something to say about this eventually, didn’t I?)

I am fascinated by music therapy.  You may be thinking of the research that shows how music connects for Altzheimer’s patients, but that’s not what I mean.  

In the harp community research has been done on how sound waves align cells, and can induce healing at the molecular level.  It’s rather profound and quite amazing.  Playing the harp is a rather meditative thing.  With your legs and arms wrapped around the sound box , the sound waves travel through your body.  You can feel it.  Certain notes can make your head tingle or your spine stretch.  You can feel the music reaching inside your arms and legs and relaxing or awakening your body.  This is why harp therapy exists.  With a harp tuned in a pentatonic scale (five notes, all complimentary) it is impossible to make any dissonance, and even bed-bound patients can hold a small harp against their chest, strumming or plucking and absorbing those sound waves.

Some innovative hospitals include such therapy in their medical teams.

Sonic therapy, The Harps of Lorien, and International Harp Therapy are just some of the projects that explore the magic and mystery of this form of healing and transition therapy.  I’m so glad that I have my harps and have the opportunity to sit and absorb the science of the universe whenever I want.

Music is a miracle and we are part of its resonance in the world.