Harpists soothe the dying, their families

It didn’t matter that Bill and Barbie Dailey had never heard of music thanatology. When Bill’s beloved mother was dying, their whole family was comforted by the strings of a harp.

Georgia Dailey-Schmetzer died Dec. 29 at Providence Everett Medical Center. The 77-year-old suffered from lupus erythematosus, a chronic disease that eventually attacked her lungs.

As her condition worsened, her six children and a stepdaughter gathered by her side. Barbie Dailey, who lives in Lake Stevens, recalled relatives scrambling to their cars in search of her mother-in-law’s favorite music.

“There was a tape player at her bedside. We were all asking, ‘Does anybody have hymns?’ Mom loved her hymns,” she said.

A hospital chaplain told the family about Sacred Harmonies at Providence. Part of the hospital’s Spiritual Care Department, the program brings harpists to play for dying patients.

“Music thanatology is prescriptive music for the dying,” said Tim Serban, the Everett hospital’s director of spiritual care and a Catholic chaplain. Rather than entertainment, the calming music of a harp is tailored to each patient.

“We assess a patient’s heart rate and breathing. It’s helpful in all those areas,” said Jeri Howe, one of two harpists on the Sacred Harmonies team. The other is Claudia Walker, a music therapist with a music degree from the University of Wisconsin.

Howe is a certified music thanatologist. The harpist completed a two-year program through the Chalice of Repose Project, which was based at St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center in Missoula, Mont.

Thanatology takes its name from Thanatos, the god of death in Greek mythology. An interdisciplinary study, it includes elements of physiology, psychology and music.

The Dailey family didn’t know a thing about it. For them, it was simply a blessing to have Howe play Dailey-Schmetzer’s favorite hymn, “In the Garden.”

“We just thought it was so great to have wonderful music. Jeri played and sang softy. She played Mom’s favorite song as she passed away,” Barbie Dailey said. “It was an awful time. She was suffering. But the experience with the music, it was really wonderful.”

The family later had Howe play for Dailey-Schmetzer’s memorial service at Elim Lutheran Church in Lake Stevens.

Each time Howe and Walker visit the hospital, where they work on contract, they bring their own harps. Walker comes from Whidbey Island, Howe from Shoreline.

A benefit concert Sunday, called “Strings of Light,” will bring the Sacred Harmonies harpists together with music thanatologists from around the Northwest. Donations will go toward the purchase of a harp for Providence Everett Medical Center. The concert is at 2 p.m. Sunday at Trinity Episcopal Church in Everett.

The program’s first fundraiser last year was packed, Serban said. “Community support has been phenomenal,” he added. This year’s donation goal is about $6,000.

Sacred Harmonies plays at the hospital’s Colby campus, in homes for hospice patients, and also at the Providence Pavilion for Women and Children. Harpists visit pregnant women confined in the Everett hospital for bed rest, and they assist parents who lose an infant.

The music is traditional and spiritual.

“We often do Gregorian chants or lullabies,” Howe said.

Music eases the pain for both patients and loved ones, Serban said.

“If it’s a recent diagnosis of a terminal condition, a person may not even have words. The patient can let music fill the gap where words fail,” he said. “A family can be there, have that contact, it eliminates the need to speak.”

For the dying, Howe said, “music can be a prayer that transcends religion.”

“How do we find meaning in this moment? Music softens the sounds of the room and creates a sacred space. When someone is dying, it’s holy ground,” Howe said.

In a critical-care unit at the hospital’s Colby campus Wednesday, patient Roland Roberge listened intently as Howe plucked the strings.

When she finished playing, the Snohomish man said softly, “It takes all the pressure away. I don’t have to worry about anything for a while. It just picks you up.”

“It touches places in the soul,” Howe said.

Benefit concert

Sacred Harmonies at Providence will join other music thanatologists in a harp and vocal concert at 2 p.m. Sunday at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2301 Hoyt Ave., Everett. Donations at the concert, called Strings of Light, will go toward purchase of a harp for Providence Everett Medical Center, where Sacred Harmonies harpists play for dying patients.

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.