Shawnmarie Stanton

Therapeutic Music Practitioner

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Music has always been an integral part of my being.  I started playing the piano at the age of seven and from there went on to play the saxophone, a variety of recorders, the ukulele, and a little (truly a little) bit of guitar.  Through all of this, I was also singing my heart out whenever the opportunity arose.  But my musical life took a major turn in 2004 when I found myself on a journey that would lead me to the harp. 

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It began as a whisper from my heart telling me to travel to California to take a workshop about home funerals and the natural death care movement.  Rather than question it, I listened and a few weeks later I was in Santa Rosa attending a retreat with a group of people who had also felt the call. Through that training and the people I met there, I learned that various groups of musicians were training others to use music as a palliative measure for the dying and that many of the musicians played the folk harp.  I immediately knew that I had to learn to play the harp to bring healing music to the bedside of those who are ill or dying.

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While it may sound simple on paper, the journey itself was much more involved and circuitous. After becoming immersed in the natural death care movement, I spent a year studying with the Chalice of Repose Project to earn a Certificate in Contemplative Musicianship. During those studies, I ordered my first harp without ever having even touched one, but I never questioned that decision.  Once that harp arrived, I embarked upon the musical adventure of a lifetime.  It has allowed me to nurture my own approach to making music and unlocked the songwriter in my soul.  I spent several years developing my relationship with my original harp, as well as several additional harps along the way, before I felt ready to finally move on to the next step -- actually training to bring music to the bedside.

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I have completed 80 hours of classroom training with the Music for Healing and Transition Program and I'm now ready to share therapeutic music anywhere I can.