HEALING MUSES

Healing Muses provides live therapeutic harp music to support patient care and healing in hospitals, hospices, cancer care, and convalescent centers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Our harp music creates a stress-reducing and calming environment that reinforces healing for patients, visitors and staff. The impact of our work is found most directly in the stories and testimonials of those who hear and feel the music. Patients report feeling calmer, less worried and more hopeful, all of which are critical to healing. Medical staff appreciates the reduced ward noise, which improves their own offering of care. The healing impact of music has been recognized in multiple studies. Our medical advisers, led by Bruce Victor, M.D., work closely with Healing Muses' program staff to ensure we integrate current research into our work with our clients and their patients. A normal Healing Muses engagement lasts two hours. We serve ICU, cardiac care, neonatal, surgery, oncology, hospice, and convalescent centers, among others. Our music reduces stress, lowers general noise levels, lifts morale and reinforces healing. Healing Muses' diverse repertoire consists of healing music from many cultural traditions including classical and folk. Music does not need to be familiar to provide peace, joy or comfort; the body responds to both the vibrations and the music's rhythm. Our musicians hold regular meetings to review engagements and repertoire with a focus on our healing impact. It is a pragmatic, practical form of research that supplements that of our medical advisers. The special combination of musician, instrument and tune are key to any musical offering. Each Muse has favorite trusted pieces, those that best allow their particular instrument to speak and that serve that musician well in a given situation. If a particular piece shows consistent healing impact, the group will adopt it into our collective repertoire.