April’s First Friday performance in the La Porte Hospital Chapel was played by healing hands. Harpist Debra Sawyer has a Master’s degree in Art Education and is a certified clinical musician. She’s been trained to heal with music.
“Music is very soothing,” said attendee Lucy Virgo. “I think it’s also very distracting. It’s impossible to be sad when you’re dancing. When you hear music, it evokes a lot of emotion.”
First Friday coordinator Mike Gillock found Sawyer at the First United Methodist Church in Michigan City, where she performs at an annual Madrigal service with her band, Ah Tu. Every month, First Friday’s in the Chapel features a local artist or group with musical talent. Sawyer proved to be an excellent choice.
“I love harp music,” said Gillock. “The tone, the glissando. My wife and I saw her perform and it was a shame because it was just a little bit. We wanted to hear more.”
Sawyer shared a classic Greensleeves with a surprise Stairway to Heaven riff. Her other pieces included covers, and self-composed works. Her original pieces boast a Celtic background that she practiced in Ireland. Music brought Sawyer to Europe, toured her through Norway and planted her at home in La Porte.
“I love the soothing, relaxing sounds,” said Ray Francis, the hospital's Chaplain. “Debra has always been a musician at heart. [She] has been playing the healing sounds of the harp to patients since her own 2009 diagnosis of ovarian cancer.”
Sawyer learned how to ease pain, stress, and other symptoms of illness through a program called Healing Harps. It covered protocol, like how to keep sterile in a hospital and how to read patients’ monitors, but it also taught her ways to influence the human body using only the notes on her instrument. Sawyer can pace hearts that are beating out of rhythm. She can calm a restless COPD sufferer or grant alertness to an Alzheimer's patient.
“Live music is not like listening to the radio or a CD. Our bodies are 80% water so when I play, it vibrates through that. People feel it in their bodies. It puts them in a relaxation pose.”
Sawyer strummed on her harp while she spoke, to demonstrate what she meant. She even invited members of the audience to test the strings for themselves. The afternoon show ended with a Q&A panel about the history of the harp and what impact it can have on a person.
April’s First Friday was more than a delight, it was educational. Sawyer will perform again on Sunday, April 9th, at 2pm at the Michigan City Public Library.
