DEATHWALKER'S GUIDE TO LIFE SEASON 4
EPISODE 1
Music to Die By
Zion National Park in southwest Utah, United States of America. Source: Creative Commons.
March 11, 2026
EPISODE 1
Music to Die By
Deathwalker’s Guide to Life host and producer Kerry Sunderland speaks with music thanatologist and harpist Catharine DeLong about her support for the dying.
'There is a beauty and a real majesty that you can bring to the bed of a person who's dying. It honors them. It tells them that they still matter. The music itself can calm the nervous system. And we will see respiration relax a little bit. We'll see a patient work less hard.'
- Catharine DeLong
- Catharine DeLong
KŌRERO / CONVERSATION
Meet Catharine DeLong
In this episode, Deathwalker's Guide to Life host Kerry Sunderland speaks with Utah-based Catharine DeLong during her recent visit to Aotearoa New Zealand.
Catharine is a certified music thanatologist, hospice chaplain, end-of-life educator, and harp teacher, who tends to the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of palliative patients in Salt Lake City with harp and voice.
Catharine is also a graduate and ordained minister affiliated with the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary. She is a core faculty member of the Art of Dying Institute in Manhattan, and the Accorda Music-Thanatology Institute. Her video performance with harp at the edge the Great Salt Lake brings awareness to climate thanatology.
Catharine is a certified music thanatologist, hospice chaplain, end-of-life educator, and harp teacher, who tends to the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of palliative patients in Salt Lake City with harp and voice.
Catharine is also a graduate and ordained minister affiliated with the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary. She is a core faculty member of the Art of Dying Institute in Manhattan, and the Accorda Music-Thanatology Institute. Her video performance with harp at the edge the Great Salt Lake brings awareness to climate thanatology.
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Above: Catharine DeLong
'Vibration reorganizes matter. And if anybody is interested, you can Google cymatics and see how waveforms react to different pitches. And our body reacts. In addition to hearing the sound, we feel it through our skin. And our bones are wonderful transmitters of sound because they're so hard.'
- Catharine DeLong
- Catharine DeLong
Artist-in-residence
Catch up on previous episodes
Deathwalker's Guide to Life kicked off in 2021. Catch up by browsing past episodes, which you can listen to on all the major podcast platforms.