Tuesday afternoon, August 6, 2013..sitting at Beanrush Cafe with my Vanilla Latte...thanks for the extra calories Sandy and Betsy (they turned me onto this awesome place)
Today I spent a little over an hour with a Client I will call Angel. She will be celebrating her 51st Birthday at the end of the month. She suffered a Brain Aneurysm and is home in the care of her Family, her Husband and 5 Children. Angel requires complete care. I met her home PTherapist when I got there and she was delighted to have the Therapeutic Harp Music for Angel.
My Session with Angel was a generous Gift from a dear friend of Angel's and of mine. As you can imagine, Medical Bills are overwhelming for this family. I introduced myself to Angel and told her I was going to play the harp for her. She searched my face with her eyes and was very aware of my being there and speaking to her.
I started in the Key of F...playing in the lowest octave of the Harp. Angel reacted immediately to the Harp Sound and Vibrations. She listened carefully. The Daughters and her dear Friend were thrilled with her reactions. After a few minutes, her Daughter placed Angel's right hand on the Harp Column so she could feel the vibrations with her hand. She held it there for a few minutes and when her Daughter took her hand away, Angel put it back on!
There was a variety of Music, mostly Familiar played at about 80BPM...sometimes slower. I was so thrilled to watch the total relaxation and peace fall over the room...Angel peacefully listening and taking in all the good in the world around her. Her loving Daughters and Dear Friend surrounding her. The Harp was doing it's job in a powerful way.
Angel was trying to mouth the words to some of the songs. She started to drift to sleep and would startle awake, as if she didn't want to sleep through the Music. Eventually the magic of the Dolce Harp took over and Angel fell into a very deep sleep. I played for about 10 more minutes, allowing her to fall into her own peaceful world.
I have a Feedback Form that I ask Families to fill out while I am playing....these are some of the areas of impact the Family recorded: Relaxed, Peaceful Body Lanuage, Change in Facial Expression, Eye Searching, Changes in Communication Efforts, Steady Breathing Rhythm and Drifted to Sleep.....
Now I wouldn't be fair to myself if I didn't critique my Harp Playing. I noticed there were so many times I was just thrilled to watch Angel's reaction...enough so that I would forget that I was playing...loose my place in the music and in my mind. It's a very hard thing to be observant of your Client and still focus on your Music...making changes in selections and choices as you go along. Good thing it's not about the Musician and ALL about the Service I am giving to this Client and her Family. My little mistakes were not noticeable to Angel...and that is all that matters at the end of the day.
Below is part of an email I received last night from my most generous friend that gifted my Service to Angel...it can't get better than this:
"oh Jackie,
It was everything that I had hoped for and then some! To see XXXXXX mouthing the words to some of the songs….. I cried just about the whole time."
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