Tony Pederson: the music thanatologist who plays harp at the bedside of dying patients

Music thanatology is a practice that uses live harp music and voice to help manage pain, restlessness and anxiety in patients approaching the end of life. Tony Pederson is one of a very small number of practitioners worldwide, and he paces the music in real time to match a patient's breathing, adjusting moment by moment as those rhythms change. He came to it while working in an Alzheimer's unit, watched two musicians play harp for a dying patient, went to check on her afterwards, and found all the tension had gone from her body. He chased them down the hallway and asked what they'd done. He joins Culture 101 with his harp and plays a live demonstration.