Karen Thueme delicately plucked at the strings of her harp in a nondescript office in Richmond. As the peaceful music filled the little room, a leather chair connected to the harp vibrated in time to the notes.
Thueme is a certified harp practitioner and vibroacoustic harp therapy practitioner, a therapeutic practice that combines the ancient traditions of harp music with modern technology.
Each string in the harp is connected to a special speaker that vibrates at a specific frequency and placement in the chair. When she plays a whole song, the full-body vibrations feel like a gentle massage set to soothing music.
Thueme’s therapeutic practice,
A Touch of my Harp, and several other music therapy programs heal souls through sound in Metro Detroit.
Vibroacoustic Harp Therapy
In her 50s, Thueme found herself burned out and lacking purpose and passion in her career. A lifelong music lover, she found an online
Vibroacoustic Harp Therapy Training Program and rented her first harp. She taught herself the instrument and completed the approximately two-and-half-year program to open her practice about four years ago.
“I’ve always loved music,” Thueme says. “It’s just always been there. It’s so special. It’s so comforting. There is a power within music.”
To start her sessions, Thueme learns a little about each client, including their job, family life, and potential life stressors. She plays a scale on her harp to gauge the severity and location of the client’s pain and tension in their body.
Then, Thueme plays pieces targeted towards each client’s unique pain areas, or resonance. As she plays, she adjusts her music to the person’s reaction and mood. She can also adjust the intensity of the vibrations for a gentler or deeper sensation.
Harp therapy can relieve physical pain, improve mental health, promote muscle relaxation, promote better sleep, and reduce stress and anxiety, Thueme says.
“I’m providing clients with an outlet to make a change in their life or make an improvement in their life, and that’s a very rewarding thing,” she says.
For some, the soothing music and gentle vibrations induce a meditative state as the client allows themselves to be still and sit with their thoughts, she says. Other clients like to journal, read, or even sleep during their sessions.
While Thueme’s practice could benefit anyone of any age and any physical condition, the clients who get the most benefit are those who have physical and mental disabilities or chronic illnesses or those experiencing acute physical or mental pain.
Thueme also plays therapeutic music with her smaller harps for patients at
McLaren Port Huron Hospital and Troy Beaumont Hospital.
Training Music Therapists at Eastern Michigan University
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Left to Right: Jody Stark, Laura Pawuk, and Debra Gombert.
Music therapy comes in many shapes and sizes. No two therapy sessions or clients look alike, as they are tailored to the individual or group and their setting.
“Music can be transformative for anyone, regardless of their ability, and it really should be meant for everyone,” says board-certified Music Therapist (MT-BC) Jody Conradi Stark.
Eastern Michigan offers a Bachelor of Arts program to train music therapists, one of only two music therapy programs in the state. Students are paired with board-certified music therapists to provide therapy to various clients in the community. Under supervision from their supervisor, students learn music therapy techniques, how to create goals and treatment plans, how to write assessments, and how to facilitate therapy sessions.
Sometimes, clients play instruments as a form of physical therapy. A client who reaches their arms up to play a drum or grasps an instrument is improving their range of motion and motor skills, says Laura Pawuk, MT-BC, and clinical coordinator of music therapy.
Other clients use music to improve memory or speech, or to provide an alternative outlet to express themselves. An older patient with Alzheimer’s or dementia might recall specific memories when they hear a certain song. A patient recovering from a stroke might not be able to speak, but they can sing song lyrics. A person with autism can express their emotions while moving to the improvised beat of a therapist’s drum, says Pawuk and Stark.
“It's an opportunity for people to express themselves authentically through their musical engagement,” Pawuk says.
“Music Is For Everyone”
Stark is also the Founder and President of
Creative Arts Therapies, Inc., which provides music therapy to private clients and contracts with public organizations to provide individual and group therapy to community agencies.
Like Thueme, Stark has always loved music. In high school, she knew she wanted to do something with music, but didn’t want to teach or perform. That’s when she found music therapy.
After getting a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State, a graduate degree from Eastern Michigan, and a PhD from Michigan State University (MSU), Stark became the director of performing arts special education at what was then the Center for Creative Studies’ Institute of Music and Dance in Detroit. When the Institute closed and became the
College for Creative Studies, she founded Creative Arts Therapies, Inc.
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Jody Conradi Stark plays for a patient at Children’s Hospital as part of a music therapy session.
She is also the site director of Music Therapy Clinical Services for
MSU’s Community Music School – Detroit, an outreach program of its College of Music. The school provides music classes, ensembles, and therapy for private clients and the Children’s Hospital of Michigan patients, funded by the Children's Foundation and the Hand in Hand Foundation.
In the hospital, Stark may play music and/or sing while a child experiences a painful or uncomfortable medical procedure, such as draining fluids or changing dressings on burn victims.
Music therapy complements other therapies and modern medicine, Stark says. Therapists in medical settings often work with physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, medical doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals to improve a patient’s physical and mental well-being.
Stark says that
several studies show that music therapy can even
reduce the quantity of pain medication some patients receive.
“The benefit of music therapy as a therapeutic modality is the ability of music to engage us in the here and now, in the moment, almost without us knowing it,” Stark says. “Music comes on and people will start tapping their toes, or you’ll have some kind of engagement rhythmically with your body and mind.”
Music is also a vehicle for human connection, she says.
“I feel music is for everyone, not just people with talent,” Stark says. “I want it to be something that, when I'm in a room with a baby and their mother, I want the parent or caregiver to feel as comfortable singing to their baby as I would be. It's not about me performing for them. It's about engaging in music, communicating, and making those human connections.”