from Harp Therapy Journal,
Fall 2011
from Discover the Region, September 2010
from The Desert Shamrock newspaper February 2009
from The Peoria Republic,
June 2008
By Rebecca Heller
Colleen Politi’s earliest memories are of music. “There was always music in our house,” she said. “My mother gave me my first record album when I was three. It was orchestral music featuring a pedal harp. She said as a little girl, I talked about the harp a lot.”
She credits her father for introducing her to Irish music. As a toddler she would walk with him to the end of their street in Buffalo, New York to listen to a local bagpipe band that practiced there.
These early experiences created a love of the harp and Irish music that grew over the years. Colleen always hoped to play the harp, but the time just never seemed right. Nine years ago, that time came.
One of the first workshops that she attended was with Laurie Riley, a nationally acclaimed harpist who once performed with the Chieftains. At the workshop, Colleen learned that Laurie also is a national leader in the field of therapeutic music. “I always thought music was therapeutic,” Colleen said. “When I found out there was research that proved it and a course of study to learn to play healing music at the bedside, I knew that was what I wanted to do.”
Therapeutic music programs are based upon clinical studies that show that music can significantly lower heart rates, regulate blood pressure and respiration rates, boost the immune system, help control pain, and greatly reduce anxiety in patients who are ill, injured or transitioning at the end of life. In addition, live music at the bedside played by a trained practitioner can lessen the need for medication and shorten hospital stays.
Colleen continued her harp studies and subsequently enrolled in a therapeutic music training program created by Laurie Riley and accredited by the National Standards Board for Therapeutic Musicians (NSBTM). In April 2006, Colleen graduated the program, which awards the title of Certified Clinical Musician.
She aptly named her new business Caring Harps. Colleen provides healing and restful music in private homes, nursing facilities, hospitals and hospices throughout the metro Phoenix area. “Don’t send flowers to loved ones, send me,” she quipped. Colleen also plays at the bedside at John C. Lincoln Hospital North Mountain and Hospice Family Care.
Colleen said it is rewarding to observe how the music lessens people’s pain and anxiety. In one of many cases, she witnessed the music’s physical effect as she played. When she entered the room, the woman’s fist was white from clenching it in pain. As Colleen played, the woman relaxed and unclenched her fist, which allowed blood to flow and restore her hand to a healthy pink color.
Colleen, whose maiden name is Colleen Margaret Mary Moore, draws heavily upon her Irish roots when she plays the harp. “The music I play is mostly by Turlough O’Carolan, the blind Irish harper who lived between 1670 and 1738,” she said. “I play wire and nylon strings with fingernails and on my left shoulder in true, traditional fashion.”
She honed her skills in Ireland, where she studied with masters of the Celtic harp. These include Ann Heymann, the world's foremost wire harper, and Siobhan Armstrong, who many consider to be Ireland's most talented historical Irish and Renaissance harper. Twice Colleen attended Scoil na gClairseach, where she participated in a week of intensive historical wire harping on reproductions of ancient instruments.
Last year, her musical life came full circle when she recorded three harp CDs in response to requests from people for whom she played. To learn more, visit www.caringharps.com or call Caring Harps at 602-410-6485.
June, 2008
Rebecca Heller, a Tempe-based communication consultant serving a non-profit and music-related clientele, submitted this article about a Peoria resident.
Colleen Politi knew it would be a long and stressful surgery, for both the patient and the operating team.
Throughout the four-hour surgery, the Peoria resident kept a watchful eye on the patient's vital signs as she monitored the anesthesia. Usually during such a procedure, she said, it is difficult to maintain steady heart and breathing rhythms.
"After an hour or so, I noticed that the heart and breathing rates were remaining extremely steady," she said. "In fact, the monitors were hardly changing at all."
Politi manually checked the vital signs, confirming that the equipment readings were correct.
The patient that day was a large female pit bull who had severely injured both hind legs playing with a flying disc and needed extensive, high-risk surgery. It differed from other canine surgeries in that Politi played recorded harp music with calm, steady rhythms in the operating room during the procedure.
The monitoring equipment validated what Politi learned about the intrinsic healing value of music during her studies to become a Certified Clinical Musician (not to be confused with a music therapist).
She is specially trained and certified in the art and science of music by one of several programs that are approved and accredited by the National Standards Board for Therapeutic Musicians (www.therapeuticmusician.com).
Politi can be found playing Celtic harp at the bedside of patients in home, hospice or hospital settings when she is not working as a veterinary technician at Arrow Animal Hospital in Glendale. She plays for people of all ages who are ill, recovering from surgery or approaching the end-of-life transition.
She decided to become certified in this field after learning how music played by therapeutic musicians can lessen the need for medication and shorten hospital stays.
"The advantage of playing live music at the bedside is that the music can be tailored to the patient's immediate needs," she said. "This includes pain management, stress reduction, regulation of heart rhythms and breathing, improved immune system response and mood enhancement."
After 34 years as a veterinary technician, Politi aspires to transition to a second career in the field of therapeutic music. In the meantime, both people and animals are benefiting from her musical knowledge and skills.
"The doctors started requesting harp music in the surgery room when they began to notice how it relaxed them during particularly long and stressful procedures," she said. "I've found that when the music is calm and steady, so is my patient, whether it is human, canine or feline. We keep harp music CDs in the surgery room regularly now, for the relief of all involved."