Probably the last thing you would expect to hear in a
hospital is live harp music, nor would you expect to see a
good-sized harp plus harpist in a hospital emergency room.
Yet Shoshana Levy and her co-harpists in the Jerusalem Harp
Circle are trying to make such events commonplace.
Shoshana Levy's soul was awakened to the harp some ten years
ago during a `chance' visit to the only harp workshop in
Jerusalem. Her husband surprised her by giving her a small
lap-held harp. Musical, she might have been, but not enough
to entice real music from the harp. So she took some lessons
and realized that most of the techniques she was learning
could not be used on her little lap-held harp.
Shoshana mentioned her new interest to her father during a
phone conversation to South Africa and he must have noticed
how important the harp was to her, because he sent her a
custom-made harp from England. Now that she had her
instrument, she found a new teacher and she started to seek
out fellow harpists. The Jerusalem Harp Circle was started
and they met, played and learned together about once a
month.
Shoshana felt the harp was "what I wanted to do with my
life." She didn't feel that she wanted to be a performer. She
didn't just want to enjoy the satisfaftion of playing. What
spoke to Shoshana was the idea of using the harp for
healing.
Healing and curing are two very different processes. There
are so many `incurable' diseases and states in the medical
world. Someone is cured when the problematical state that was
affecting them has gone completely. Your throat doesn't hurt,
the temperature has dropped and you have your energy back.
Yet most of the more serious illnesses leave their residue or
need continual medication to control them. These states need
`healing.'
Shoshana and some Harp Circle members are studying for an
American certificate for "Practitioners of Clinical Music."
Much research has been carried out in America about the
effectiveness and process of clinical music. In Israel, too,
there is a research project in Kfar Saba on the effects of
harp and drum music on prenatal babies. Clinical music
playing is about healing, not curing. Inspired by Dovid who
was the first healer when he played for Shaul Hamelech,
research has shown that listening to harp playing helps
alleviate pain, lowers blood pressure and lowers the pulse
rate.
Shoshana was already practicing a variety of alternative
healing methods when she became interested in the harp. She
knew that harps were widely used in American hospitals for
healing. Surita Staneslow, her harp teacher, was involved in
this. Shoshana managed to see the head of the oncology
department in Shaare Zedek and offered to play the harp for
the patients.
"Dr. Cherny welcomed the idea with open arms and that's how I
started playing the harp for healing," Shoshana told me. "I
went to the ward and played for the patients on a regular
basis. I saw the imapct of the playing on the patient, on the
staff and on the family. It was very humbling; it affirmed
that this is what I want to do with my life."
Shoshana is now training with a course for practitioners of
clinical music. She tries to connect with the patient. "The
patient can be in the hard space of pain and horror and fear,
yet both of us maintain our privacy.
"There's a girl of 18 who is paralyzed from her neck
downwards. She is unable to talk but I was told she responds
well to music and I could see in her eyes that we were
communicating.
"The harp is the only instrument where the string is
suspended. It gives off stronger vibrations, which go deeply
into the person. When you play, the music blocks out and
numbs harsh sounds, like those of hospital machinery, and
sweetens the atmosphere. The relaxation allows the brain to
release endorphins (natural painkillers).
"It seems to me that every hospital should have a harp,
especially Israeli hospitals. We are trying to raise money to
acquire harps for the hospital but right now, we are just
ryring to raise money to pay for the taxis to and fro.
"Sometimes you play familiar tunes, sometimes quiet and
gentle ones. I have to focus on the person; if I think of my
technique, my fingers stumble. If I focus on the patient,
things flow."
One time, Shoshana was playing for a young mother who was
dying. Her family was all there, including a young son, who
wanted to play for his mother. Shoshana taught him some
rudimentary techniques and he did play. There are no words to
describe the effect this had.
"Music helps bring someone to a state of openness and
receptivity, of consciousness where one can make him/herself
into a vessel to receive Hashem's healing."
