biography

Norine Stewart

For Norine Stewart, the road to Bedside Harp's Certification Program began with a lifelong interest in music. After thirty-three years as a bassist with The New Jersey Symphony, Norine recently retired. She feels she was meant to be part of Bedside Harp because of how the pieces of her life and her love for music fell into place so easily.

Some years ago, Norine took up the piano. It was an instrument she had enjoyed and for some time she had accompanied the musicians on her bass, following along and playing the familiar songs by ear. When the woman who led the worship left, there was no one to play keyboard and, missing the music, Norine offered to take it on. It was a crash course in piano for her, learning four or five songs a week, but it was a wonderful experience. In addition to following and accompanying the singer, she would improvise pieces on the piano during the quiet parts of the service. This soon led to her thinking of playing in a hospital or nursing home setting.

At about that time, Norine received a copy of The Rose, a publication of the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Rahway. Her home is near the hospital and she receives the publication as part of their neighborhood outreach. That issue had a cover story about Edie Elkan and the Bedside Harp program. Intrigued, Norine called Edie for more information. She was disappointed at first to learn that no instruments other than the harp were used in the program. Edie explained to her about the special qualities unique to the harp that make it so valuable in a healing setting. She sent Norine information about the classes, but Norine was reluctant to take up another new instrument.

Soon after, a visiting pastor came to Norine's church and in the course of a conversation he mentioned his mother's recent death in a hospital. He described how a woman came to her room playing the harp and how the presence of God was powerful when she was playing. In fact, the experience was so incredible and awesome that his wife had to leave the room. His story was the second she had heard about the impression the harp had made and it inspired Norine to explore the idea of a music ministry, where she could use her music as a positive force for healing. She called Edie again and arranged to meet her at Rahway to discuss the program further. She signed up and took her first class that evening.

In August 2005, she was awarded the Hospital-Certified Master of Harp Therapy designation following her internship at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Rahway. She began teaching instructional folk harp for Bedside Harp in 2006 and now delivers professional harp therapy to patients and teaches at two of our host hospitals: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Rahway and The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ.