Therese Schroeder-Sheker is a musician, educator, clinician, and academic dean of the School of Music-Thanatology, which was housed at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Montana from 1992 to 2002.
Schroeder-Sheker, using voice and harp, works as a music-thanatologist, a relatively new discipline, where the practitioner works with those who are actively dying (24–48 hours) or have received a terminal diagnosis with a life expectancy of less than six months. The goals of music-thanatology include reduction of physical as well as emotional pain, creation of a supportive environment while dying, helping the patient become more conscious of their own death process, and changing the approach to death within established structures (hospices, hospitals, etc.). Schroeder-Sheker was honored by the New York Open Center [1] in 1997 for her "Music Thanatology". Her music has been used in documentaries and released commercially.
Schroeder-Sheker has produced numerous recorded works. Among those works are:
Hollis, Jennifer L. (April 2010). Music at the End of Life: Easing the Pain and Preparing the Passage. Praeger. ISBN .
"I Heard the Call of the Seraph", essay in the anthology So That You May be One: From the Visions of Joa Bolendas, Lindisfarne Books, 1997.
Transitus: A Blessed Death in the Modern World monograph, St. Dunstan's Press, 2001.
1991 – The Chalice of Repose at St. Thomas, television video documentary, Jim Phelan Productions, Denver, Colorado.
1993 – “Music for the Dying: The New Field of Music-Thanatology,” in Advances, Journal of Mind/Body Health, Volume 9, Number 1, John E. Fetzer Institute.
1994-2000 Chalice of Repose Project Clinical Handbook, 1st-4th editions. St. Dunstan’s Press.
1994 – “Music for the Dying, “ in Noetic Sciences Review, Number 31
1994 – “Music for the Dying,” in Caduceus, Issue 23, London
1994 – “Music for the Dying: A Personal Account of the New Field of Music-Thanatology – History, Theories, and Clinical Narratives,” in Journal of Holistic Nursing, Volume 12, No. 1, Sage Periodicals Press.