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Here is a bold statement. Although I have listened to more than 1,200 holiday albums over the years, I can honestly say that I have never, ever heard one quite like Diane Schneider's "Harp of Christmas Peace." The unabashed theme of this delicate recording is therapeutic. Seriously.

Don't look so surprised. No "voodoo magic" is involved. Dr. Schneider (she has a Ph.D. in Theology, and serves as both a theology professor and chaplain) is a vibration medicine specialist, which means that she uses harp vibrations to resonate with a patient's own rhythms to help release tension and control pain. Hogwash, you say? Don't be a closed-minded ninny! If you scoff at the possibility that beautifully crafted music can work physiological changes, then you have never viscerally enjoyed the pleasurable respite that truly calming songs can bring, and you should just stop reading this review right now. Go listen to heavy metal and keep your headaches to yourself.

"Harp of Christmas Peace" contains 14 elegant holiday standards and one Schneider original. This is instrumental music by solo harp; the presentations are breathtakingly pure and simple, and the pace is intentionally thoughtful. Schneider arranged these beautiful, old carols at 60-80 beats per minute, with the rate gradually decreasing over the album's course; this approach is designed to calm and stabilize heart, pulse, blood pressure and respiration rates...... Huh? Oh, sorry--the impossibly lovely intonations of "Huron Carol" nearly lulled me right off my chair. Schneider's "Snow Angels" is the creative flash on this CD, and it really does engender images of bright flakes falling from the night sky on Christmas Eve.

All kidding aside, this is a wonderful CD with a meaningful niche in the holiday music market. Many of us suffer from chronic pain or, at the very least, chronic tension during the final quarter of the year. How marvelous to have this straightforward Christmas CD lift us from the turmoil, transporting us to a more restful and comfortable place! Think about it--such an experience is truly a tremendous gift.

Want to stimulate your endorphins? Quick--I prescribe Diane Schneider's "Harp of Christmas Peace" for immediate relief. The prognosis for a wonderfully calm holiday season is excellent.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2004)

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From the liner notes:

Christmas peace is the theme of this recording, because we have never needed peace more: peace inour world, especially since the tragedies of September 11, 2001; peace in our minds and bodies, if we are ill; and peace in our hearts, which begins with the Great Love which Christmas celebrates.

Peace of body, mind, and spirit is also the purpose of my clinical work and research as Therapeutic Harpist at Franciscan Skemp Medical Center, a Mayo Systems hospital and clinic in LaCrosse, WI. I use certain harp vibrations to resonate with, or "entrain," a patient's own cellular rhythms to help release tense muscle tissue, calm anxiety, improve digestion, induce restful sleep, increase endorphins for pain management--to aid the body's own efforts to heal itself. Similarly, I have arranged and performed these beautiful, old Christmas songs at 60-80 beats per minute in gradually decreasing order, to calm and stabilize heart, pulse, blood pressure and respiration rates. For more information about these songs, especially the Shaker and Huron Carols, visit my website at harpist1.tripod.com.

The Bonus Track, "Snow Angels," a 7-minute floating improvisation, was composed for all creatures everywhere who are in need of healing and peace. It reminds me of the sparkle and fall of first snowflakes from the night sky& may it fall upon your tired or needy spirit as God's healing touch& the way we used to catch snowflakes on our tongues as children. Peace to us all!

Diane Schneider

Harp of Christmas Peace

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Track List