The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Bambi Niles uses harp to help heal others
BambiNiles: Therapeutic harp practitioner brings ‘pure healing’ to variety of patients
ONEIDA » Themusical sounds of the harp can be soothing to all levels of body, mind, and spirit, says Certified TherapeuticHarp Practitioner Bambi Niles. But she didn’t really seek out the harp to learn how to play it -it was actually the other way around, Niles recalled.
“The harp found me in 1996,” she said of the fateful encounter that has since brought comfort to so many in need. “I just fell in love with its sound.”
Niles at the time was directing the handbell choir at the First United Methodist Church in Oneida, where she has been a congregation member since she moved into the area with husband Rex in January 1977. In October 1996, there was an ecumenical service for Victims of Violence at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, and it was during rehearsals that she first really listened to the music of the A Harmony of Harps group. There was something about that sound that touched her soul, Niles remembered. With a power to resonate through the entire human body, playing the harp -- the oldest known stringed instrument in the world -- quickly became a goal for Niles to learn.
With a borrowed harp and the book “Teach Yourself to Play FolkHarp,” Niles set about learning to recreate those inspiring sounds she heard at the church. Joining A Harmony of Harps also became a big motivator in her nascent months. Even as she learned how to play, Niles knewshewanted to go further with it than simply recreating music by plucking the strings. A registered nurse, she decided to study through the International Harp Therapy Program to find ways to bring the harp to people with physical and emotional needs.
Niles was certified as a therapeutic harp practitioner in January 2000.
“I studied how to bring music to individuals and be sensitive to what those individuals might like,” she said. “I also learned how not to bring my stuff to the clients, nor take away anything negative.”
Harp therapy is offered to patients before, during, and after surgery in hospitals; to residents of nursing homes; to patients receiving Hospice care; to those living with Alzheimer’s; and to people suffering from depression. She is contracting with four nursing homes in the area, visiting each once a month. Niles also plays for Hospice patients twice a month, she said.
“I studied how to bringmusic to individuals and be sensitive towhat those individualsmight like. I also learned how not to bringmy stuff to the clients, nor take away anything negative.”
— Bambi Niles
She has four harps at home, and each one has a name and a distinct personality. “Miss Kavanaugh” is a vintage 1914 model previously owned by a kindergarten teacher of the same name. “Piamani” is named for the Thai goddess of music, and was brought home from Thailand by Rex. “Tina” is the newest harp, made from a carbon fiber and wood hybrid. “Maura” is her therapy harp -- one she says looks small but has a voice that is very big so nobody can miss her.
Niles recorded a CD last year with local Grammy Award winner Joanne Shenandoah. The album -called “One World Christmas“-- features classic seasonal pieces and originals as well, she said. It is available online at CDBaby.com, although thanks to modern download technology Niles admits she doesn’t actually have physical copies of the disc to sell.
Niles is a board member for Senior Companions in Syracuse, a group anticipated to expand more into Madison County over the next year, she said. She is a volunteer RN at the Mary Rose Clinic in Oneida, where they offer medical services for the un- and underinsured persons of the area.
“I love seeing clients and working with the other volunteers,” she said. “It is pure medicine and I am glad to be a part of it.”
She also has spearheaded the annual coat giveaway for the last nine years at the First United Methodist Church, which returned last weekend to a big response partly fueled by temperatures in their teens. That outreach has grown substantially since she has been running it -- both in donations coming in, and the need for more coats going out, she said.
“It’s just a really neat local outreach mission,” Niles said. “It’s developed some huge support and is really something to see. Every year the ripples go out a lit- tle further.”
But this year was her final time to lead the giveaway, Niles intimated. It’s time for someone else to have that fun, she said, although she will still be very involved in activities at the church. She truly loves her church family, and feels the things they do for the community are very important, Niles said. It is her extended family, with lifelong friends there, and the church has been a great place to bring up her children, Niles said.
She and Rex have three grown children and 10 grandchildren, located in a triangle from Fayetteville to Boston to Philadelphia. Grandkids are “exhausting, but so much fun,” she said. They all make a concerted effort to get together at least once a year, often at their camp on Sixth Lake in Inlet.
“It’s so noisy, and there is so much food consumed,” Niles said of those family get-togethers by the lake.
Today, she has become a mentor herself for a student currently in the International Harp Therapy Program. And her knowledge of the harp has even lead to the ability to answer a tough question on an episode of a television game show -- when the question was looking to identify the finger not used when playing the harp, Niles immediately knew the right answer was the pinky.
The best part of playing the harp, even without the pinkies, is being right in the moment with the music and finding a sense of peace and wholeness, Niles said. And she is always looking to improve and expand her abilities.
“I’m always learning new songs, and building my repertoire,” she said. “I’m always looking for something new and fresh. And all of my music is in my head, so it’s a good brain exercise as well.”
For more information on Niles’ harp therapy outreach, email bambi.niles@ gmail.com or visit: www. harpfully.com