{"id":4965,"date":"2015-12-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/2015\/12\/16\/volunteer-angel-plays-music-to-ease-pain-give-comfort\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:08:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:08:33","slug":"volunteer-angel-plays-music-to-ease-pain-give-comfort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/volunteer-angel-plays-music-to-ease-pain-give-comfort\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteer \u2018angel\u2019 plays music to ease pain, give comfort"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Walking down the hall on Memorial Hospital North\u2019s fifth floor, visitors hear an unusual sound. Not an alarm, or a beeping machine, but notes of live music \u2013 a gentle, melodic tune.<\/p>\n<p>In the dimly lit room, an elderly patient lies curled in a semi-fetal position, relaxed and content.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2025\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2025\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2025\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28145225\/SOU12162015HarpPlayer-scaled.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28145225\/SOU12162015HarpPlayer-scaled.webp 1600w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28145225\/SOU12162015HarpPlayer-300x225.webp 300w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28145225\/SOU12162015HarpPlayer-1024x768.webp 1024w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28145225\/SOU12162015HarpPlayer-768x576.webp 768w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28145225\/SOU12162015HarpPlayer-1536x1152.webp 1536w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28145225\/SOU12162015HarpPlayer-2048x1536.webp 2048w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28145225\/SOU12162015HarpPlayer-150x113.webp 150w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28145225\/SOU12162015HarpPlayer-200x150.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2025\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Volunteer Karen Bragado plays the harp for patients, often those who are in pain or who need soothing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At the foot of the bed, a woman sits, playing a harp. It\u2019s a serene, comforting scene.<\/p>\n<p>Volunteer Karen Bragado does this twice a week \u2013 and it\u2019s a far cry from her day job. With a master\u2019s degree in procurement and acquisitions management, she\u2019s been reviewing contracting files for the U.S. Air Force for 32 years.<\/p>\n<p>Working from home with flexible hours gives her the ability to volunteer.<\/p>\n<p>She has always loved music, plays the piano and has played the violin, too. A few years ago, some friends rented her a harp and found her a teacher as a birthday gift.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey knew it was on my bucket list,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She fell in love with the new instrument. Then she discovered she could get her certification from the MHTP \u2013 Music for Healing and Transition Program \u2013 and help others while indulging in her newfound passion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole program takes about three years, including 45 hours of playing time as a volunteer,\u201d she said. \u00a0Now she has CMP after her name: certified music practitioner.<\/p>\n<p>Bragado wants to be clear: \u201cWe are not music therapists. Music therapists have a bachelor\u2019s degree in it. We are just certified.&#8221; MHTP professionally trains and certifies students to provide live therapeutic music but does not require a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n<p>Though she plays the harp, some CMPs play flutes, dulcimers, guitars, or other portable instruments.<\/p>\n<p>As a CMP, \u201cYou learn to play for patients with different issues. Some play at hospitals, some at nursing homes or hospice care centers. It depends on who hires you,\u201d Bragado said.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, she\u2019s a volunteer now, but some day she could get paid for it \u2013 a second career, if you will.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ultimate goal [for many CMPs] is to play in hospitals and actually be on staff.\u201d\u00a0 A lot of medical facilities use CMPs now, she added.<\/p>\n<p>Bragado has been playing for patients for about a year and a half at Memorial Central and Memorial North \u2013 usually on Tuesdays and Fridays. Often on request.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe volunteering is a huge part of what we do,\u201d she said. \u00a0That being said, she would love to be hired as a CMP, but added that she will probably continue volunteering until that happens.<\/p>\n<p>Her visits are coordinated with the Volunteer Services Department, and she tends to go to floors, like the cancer floor, where people are in a lot of pain.<\/p>\n<p>Her first stop is the nurses\u2019 station, and now that they know her, they often recommend certain patients who might appreciate some soothing music. Then she approaches the patient and takes her guidance from them. Some say \u201cthank you\u201d after she plays one song. Others don\u2019t want her to leave. She\u2019s stayed as long as two hours for one patient.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce the nurses know what I do, they look for patients who might benefit, and they say it makes things so much better when I\u2019m there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Bragado recently played for a brain trauma patient who had not been able to sleep. After she was there a while, the patient fell asleep. Bragado wasn\u2019t offended \u2013 she was thrilled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was very cool,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Bragado plays a Celtic lever harp, which has no pedals, so it\u2019s more portable than a full-size harp. She performs different types of music for different situations. Though she does not play classical or religious music, she does play \u201cfamiliar songs and what I call harp music \u2026 or new age-style music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The tempo and selections vary by situation \u2013 joyful for a patient who\u2019s going home, and soothing for a patient in distress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to watch the patient to see what they need \u2013 if it doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019s working, you can change the music,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes she gets requests, what she and other CMPs call \u201cstump the harpist.\u201d A popular request is \u201cGreensleeves,\u201d which she has added to her repertoire.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s also careful to stay out of the way of nurses, doctors, and other medical staff \u2013 but often when she offers to leave a room, they ask her to stay. So she does.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is, \u201cIt relaxes patients, and it helps facilitate the healing,\u201d she said. \u201cMusic is a powerful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Are patients startled to see a woman playing a harp at their bedside? No, though some do think she\u2019s an angel for doing so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne patient did say to me, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m not ready for you, yet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Walking down the hall on Memorial Hospital North\u2019s fifth floor, visitors hear an unusual sound. Not an alarm, or a beeping machine, but notes of live music \u2013 a gentle, melodic tune. In the dimly lit room, an elderly patient lies curled in a semi-fetal position, relaxed and content. At the foot of the bed, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":2025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2786,171],"class_list":["post-4965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovative-care","tag-uchealth-memorial-hospital-central","tag-volunteer-services"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Volunteer \u2018angel\u2019 plays music to ease pain, give comfort - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Walking down the hall on Memorial Hospital North\u2019s fifth floor, visitors hear an unusual sound. 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