These recommended artists feature restful and uplifting music suitable for caregiving environments. Some of our selections are specifically designed for use with the dying. To learn more about the use of music in care of the sick, check our overview page for music thanatology. You can support our work by buying music here, by the way. We receive a small commission on sales to help us keep afloat. Click any CD to hear more clips or to place an order.
| Fairy of the Woods |
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Celtic legends and myths of Fairy folk come to life in gentle and evocative melodies. These enchanted compostions feature piano and orchestral instruments.
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| Blissful Journey |
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Marina Raye combines heartfelt flute melodies with restful keyboard arrangements and some nature sounds in this CD. Like other CDs by Marina, the tracks blend together so perfectly that the CD is appropriate for 62 minutes of continuous play.
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| Liquid Silk |
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Gentle harmonies on Lakota-style native flutes blend with sounds of nature to take you on a meditative journey. Marina Raye's music communicates deep love for the earth and a desire to bring peace. The eight tracks blend together so perfectly that the CD is appropriate for 60 minutes of continuous play.
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| Lullabies |
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Calming favorites of lullaby music include delightful harp performances by the Boston Ballet's harpist, Cynthia Price-Glynn.
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| You Can Relax Now |
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Calming, spiritually-oriented vocals, affirming the presence of the Divine in all things, with non-denominational language. Each of Shaina Noll's songs, in its own way, addresses the question: "Could you relax now, if you believed this was true?" Some tell a story, some weave a chant, some offer a new look at familiar spiritual concepts. Each of the songs can help us make the transition from a life based in fear, to a life based in trust.
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| The Ladder of the Soul |
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Improvisational Celtic harp music suitable for meditation and relaxation. The CD comes with suggested meditations for each track, inspired by the soul's pilgrimage through life and its transformation toward light.
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| The Blessings of Music |
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Designed specifically for caregiving use, this package includes two music CDs with restful solo Celtic harp and solo acoustic guitar music by James Schaller. There's also an instructional booklet on the use of music in caregiving, how to choose recorded music, ideas for musicians, an overview of therapeutic music training programs, tips on how to conduct a compassionate visit to the sick, and related matters. You can read the full Growth House review. |
| Balance of Nature |
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Classic New Age music by Michael Dulin is complemented by Chuck Offutt's wooden flute.
Leisurely tempo and careful avoidance of strong melodic lines make this a winner for background play to promote relaxation. The clarity of the foreground flute provides just enough energy to take this CD out of the purely ambient category. Think peaceful walk in the woods.
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| Full Hearts, Empty Mind |
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Restful harp music with gentle strings, flutes and more. Linda Kahandro creates beautiful harp music primarily for hospital and hospice patients, but also performs for general audiences. She was a founding member of the World Meditation Ensemble, which performs meditative, ambient music in the Seattle area.
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| Beneath the Moon |
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Peaceful and evocative creations by Magical Strings include original lullabies showing Celtic and world music influences.
These arrangements have a colorful tonal range with Celtic harps, hammered dulcimers, pennywhistles, concertina, and nature sounds.
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| Joliet Hospice: Providence |
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A collection of comforting and inspirational Christian folk music and devotional readings produced by the Joliet Area Community Hospice. This CD was designed for support of Christians faced with serious illness or bereavement.
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| Liquid Mind VI: Spirit |
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The sixth in Liquid Mind's soothing series of relaxation music albums. A tranquil flow of gentle music and the absence of regular rhythm helps the listener calm down in ways not achievable by more active music.
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| Liquid Mind V: Serenity |
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This peaceful and soothing music is specifically designed to promote relaxation and relieve stress. This CD is also used by parents to help quiet hyperactive children, or to assist themselves in going back to sleep in the middle of a difficult night.
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| Graceful Passages |
 | Graceful Passages is a unique combination of music and reading with a focus on care for the dying. Messages spoken by spiritual leaders such as Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and others are accompanied by uplifting music by Emmy award winning composer Gary Remal Malkin. You can listen to an eight-minute interview with Michael Stillwater, co-producer of Graceful Passages, conducted on 3 September 2002 by Les Morgan, the President of Growth House. Read the full Growth House review.
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| Gentle Vespers: Golden Cradle |
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These gentle melodies from around the world feature harp music, one of the most common instruments used in hospice music. Magical sounds such as crickets, bells, wind chimes, rain and distant thunder weave between the songs.
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| Voces Novae: Meditations on Life - Death |
 | This two-CD collection of music and contemplative readings is designed for bedside support of the dying. You can read the full Growth House review.
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| Peace |
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Harpist Joanna Mell provides bedside musical care at St. Luke's Hospice and Grandview Hospice in Pennsylvania. This CD features harp improvisations and arrangements of familiar Christian hymns. Joanna's gift for music helps ease the suffering of those who are in the transition from life to eternity. |
| My Peace I Give You |
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Harpist Tami Briggs studied at the International Harp Therapy Program in Burlington, Vermont, where participants learn how to take the harp into hospitals, hospices, and nursing homes. Upon returning to Minnesota, Tami eventually overcame her life-long fear of hospitals and began playing at the bedside. She currently works with a hospital chaplain and specializes in playing harp music for patients in Intensive Care Units. This CD features restful harp arrangements of familiar Christian hymns with some flute and violin accents. |
| David McCarthy: EveryOne 432 |
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Electronic layers of sound interweave with flute and nature sounds to create an inviting and lyrical sound poem. |
| The Light Within III: Guided Pathways to the Soul |
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Guided meditations for releasing and renewal, with restful New Age music and sounds of nature.
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| Ancient Echoes |
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Stephen Halpern is a prolific producer of recordings for "sound health." This CD, co-composed by Halpern and harpist Georgia Kelly, evokes the magic and mystery of ancient Egypt and Greece. Harp, keyboards, flute, and ceremonial chant flow gently to create a "relaxation response" following Steven Halpern's well-regarded principles of music design for meditation and caregiving. |
| Dawn |
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A delicate tapestry of silver flute, grand piano, Lyricon and electric piano on this soothing recording brings you into a relaxed and uplifted state. The gently flowing music becomes "transparent" following Steven Halpern's well-regarded principles of music design for meditation and caregiving. |
| Transitions: Harp and Soul |
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Steven Halpern's CD "Transitions" was specifically designed to provide music for comfort and solace in times of loss and grief. This "new age" music is appropriate for soft, continuous play in the background of home, hospice, or hospital room. |
| Late Night Guitar |
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Winner of the 2002 Children's Music Web Award, these restful lullabies feature guitar, cello, flute, and other instruments. Guitarist Tom Salvatori dedicated the lead song on this album to the memory of Tucker Baer, and to the Baer family, with proceeds to benefit SIDS research. |
| Seasons |
 | In the audio CD Seasons Dillon Woods uses song to help work through the bereavement that he felt following the loss of his mother. You read a lot of abstract theory about "gender-specific" reactions to loss, but here's something more down to earth. Like many people, Dillon experienced this death as a life-changing event. He now does hospice education by lecturing and singing across the United States. |
