Volume 7 of Harp Escape features two traditional Irish songs in a therapeutic harp style: Banish Misfortune and The Parting Glass. Therapeutic music is an art based on the science of sound. It it typically slow and simple, for easy listening. For the past decade, I’ve been focusing much of my time on soothing music of this nature. As a Certified Clinical Musician, I have played music at the bedside for over 500 patients in outpatient dialysis clinics; general hospital; skilled nursing facilities; and for hospice.

Harp Escape is a series of videos and recordings dedicated to relaxing music. Therapeutic music is preferably played in-person (to adjust to in-the-moment responses of patients and caregivers). However, remote harp therapy can still be enjoyable! The Harp Escape series is calming harp music stylized to: relieve pain, release anxiety, diminish nausea, and stabilize heart rate. Healing harp music has also been shown to improve sleep and calm the environment. 

In this volume, I’ve slowed down a traditional Irish jig, Banish Misfortune. (Jigs are typically an upbeat dance tune in 6/8.) Here, the song has been slowed down in the therapeutic style and partnered with another Irish tune, The Parting Glass. Fun fact (according to thesession.org): Banish Misfortune has other names: The Horse Under The Stairs, The Little Bag Of Meal, Mammy’s Horse Is Dying, The Mangled Badger, The Stoat That Ate Me Sandals, and my favorite: The Whore Amongst The Nettles Roaring.

I was originally called to play this song because of its well-known name, rather than its melody. Though I had heard it before, I really got into playing Banish Misfortune during lockdown of the pandemic. I thought that by playing a song of this name I could dispel some of the negative things happening in the outer world. It gave me some personal power while playing it, and made me feel hopeful.

I invite you as well to meditate on good fortune as you listen to this version.

For the musician out there, this tune is in D Mixolydian mode. So, it is in the key of D with two sharps; however, the root is not on do (D). Instead, the root is on sol (G). Starting on the fifth of the scale (sol) would be called Mixolydian mode. The result is upbeat and refreshing sounding. I like to play Banish Misfortune syncopated, so it has a sort of Grateful Dead feel.

Goodwill in this recording extends into the second song, The Parting Glass, which has lyrics that reflect a night well-spent with friends. The first stanza is:

Oh all the money that ever I had, I spent it in good company
And all the harm that ever I’ve done, alas, it was to none but me
And all I’ve done for want of wit to memory now I can’t recall
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

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