Stephie Rae Grenier: Soothing with Harmonic Frequencies 

By Kathy Pate, National Music Chair

Music has always been central to Stephie Rae Grenier’s life. She has been singing since she began talking; took up piano at 7, clarinet at 10, guitar at 12, and sax in high school and college; and majored in voice performance at University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. She also played clarinet and percussion in the orchestra, and clarinet and tenor sax in the marching band and the alumni band. 

Grenier began writing songs at 18 when her 17-year-old brother and his girlfriend died tragically in an accident the night before their oldest sister’s wedding. She spent time in college with the River City Bluegrass Band and played some upright bass with friends in the Great Northern Bluegrass Band. 

These performing years taught Grenier about jam etiquette and giving back. She started playing in nursing homes in her early 20s, and was blessed to get past her stage fright as she learned to laugh and have fun when she realized how forgiving audiences could be. 

Grenier co-founded two bands, Pool Mountain Bluegrass Band and Moonlight Riders, and since 2012 has mostly played solo acoustic for hospice. Music is a very powerful tool in engaging the memories of the elderly. 

“They love both their old music and my new, original music, an Americana soul-folk style with a beachy bluegrass groove and positive feel-good vibe,” she says.

She first became interested in music therapy in college while working in a habilitation institute for developmentally disabled, but it wasn’t until later that Grenier learned about sound healing through the International Sound Therapy Association in Atlanta, where she studied sonic healing. She started a family and became a doctor of chiropractic in the ‘90s, enjoying the miracles of natural-healing arts as a family chiropractor with certifications in pediatrics, pregnancy, and nutrition. 

Grenier explains that for the last several years, she has tuned to A=432Hz to apply natural universal resonant healing frequencies in her guitar playing, recording, and performances. 

“The 432Hz frequency is scientifically attuned to make our body and the organic world around it resonate in a natural way because it is a pure tone fundamental to nature, harmonically and mathematically consistent with 8Hz (the frequency of the heartbeat of planet Earth), our DNA replication, and our brain activation with harmonious synchronized flow between both hemispheres,” she says.

She says that playing in 432Hz is more relaxing to sing, gently soothing her audiences. Starting at 8Hz and doubling it five times, moving up five octaves to middle C, equals 256Hz. Thus A equals 432Hz — used in ancient cultures, Stradivarius violins, and monks’ bowls and chants. 

She believes that aligning with harmonic frequencies, A=432Hz benefits our brain, body, spirit, and the entire planet as we vibrate together, attuning with the universal frequency, releasing blockages, and expanding consciousness. In contrast, the disharmonic frequency of A=440Hz, standard concert pitch since 1953, impacts everything by causing “nervous system blockages, stress, negative behaviors, and unstable emotions.” Music truly can change the world, for better or for worse. 

Many musicians — like Verdi; Mozart; Prince; and Earth, Wind & Fire — have preferred tuning to 432Hz to facilitate music’s optimal integrity. While many instruments can microtune down 8Hz or 44 cents digitally, some must be built to specific tuning, especially conical and reed instruments, woodwinds, harmonicas, and pipe organs. (More about 432Hz can be found at attunedvibrations.com.)

Currently, Grenier is working on the preplanning and funding of a debut album, expected to release in 2019. She is the founder of Harmonious Heart, Inc., a nonprofit organization that delivers positive messages to schools, the military, and prisons. Topics include success principles, holistic health, and healing music. She is a long-term board of directors member with the Georgia Music Industry Association, a nonprofit that began as the Atlanta Songwriters Association in 1978 to help songwriters and musicians succeed in the entertainment industry. 

Grenier lives on a small, humble cabin-cruiser yacht on Lake Lanier in North Georgia, a wonderfully inspiring place to write music in peace and nature, heavily influencing the topics of her songs. She remains a family chiropractor, practicing at Quality of Life Chiropractic in Sugar Hill. She enjoys watching performances by her son, a guitarist and singer in the bands Burn For Effect and Big City Rhythm. 

Her music, videos, and merchandise can be found at StephieRae.com.