About
About Patricia
I’ve been playing the harp professionally since 2000, and I’ve spent most of that career in places where people don’t come for a concert. Hospitals. Rehabilitation centers. Nursing homes. Hospice care.
I’m a board-certified music therapist, licensed in New Jersey. I also play piano and guitar, and I perform for weddings, memorial services, churches, and concerts. I’ve played alongside the Irish Tenors and I’ve played in rooms where the only person listening was asleep. I take both seriously.
What I’ve learned across twenty-five years is that people are reachable much longer than we assume. A resident who hasn’t spoken in days will sometimes sing every word of a song from 1948. Someone who can’t open their eyes will change their breathing when the music starts. It happens often enough that I’ve stopped being surprised by it, and never often enough that it stops mattering.
How it started
I followed a light across a stage.
I was sixteen, working as a counter girl in the kitchen at a Christian summer camp. The camp had a summer orchestra that year, and the orchestra had a harpist.
One afternoon I was in the auditorium goofing around on the piano, and I saw something gleaming in the corner of the stage. I didn’t know what it was. So I followed it — up onto the stage — and found the most beautiful harp I had ever seen in my life.
That was the first time I had ever seen a harp, and I fell in love with it.
Then in my senior year of high school, out of the blue, my guidance counselor told me I ought to learn the harp, since I was already an accomplished pianist. I hadn’t mentioned it to her. That’s how it all got started.
The same thing happened again a few years later. Over a Christmas break I ran into a friend from high school who invited me to visit his college, and when I got there I found they had a music therapy major. That’s the work I’ve done ever since.
What I believe
Simply, a Bible-believing Christian.
I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, and that He is coming again to judge the earth. I attend a local church whose mission is to preach the gospel. I believe in prayer, in Bible reading, and in obedience to the commands of Christ.
My gift is music, and I want to use it to glorify God and to bless other people. I believe in serving others, and in charity.
My faith is the reason I do this work. It’s what sends me into rooms other people have stopped going into, and it’s what I fall back on when the work is heavy.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD.Psalm 150:6
I don’t bring that into a room uninvited. I’ve played in Catholic hospitals, Jewish communities, interfaith services, and secular facilities of every kind, and I’ve been glad to do all of it. I play what a room needs, and I’ve never needed anyone to share my beliefs to want good things for them.
If you’d like the faith part more directly
There’s a page for that. Play for you. Pray for you. is where I offer free monthly harp concerts on Zoom, and prayer for anyone who wants it. Nothing to buy.
Background
The short version.
- Board-certified music therapist (MT-BC), licensed in New Jersey
- Professional harpist since 2000
- Pedal harp, folk harp, lap harp, piano, guitar
- Twenty-five years in hospital, rehabilitation, hospice, and psychiatric settings
- Performed with the Irish Tenors
- Recording: This Is My Father’s World
- Based in Branchburg, New Jersey
Get in touch
I’d be glad to hear from you.
Serving senior communities, rehabilitation centers, and hospitals throughout New Jersey.