Newton man shifts focus after hearing challenges, sharing music in a new way

NEWTON, Kan. (KSNW) — Chuck Neufeld has been a musician nearly his whole life.

“As a child, we sang as a family, and then as I grew into young adulthood, I found myself really intrigued with the idea of being a singer-songwriter,” Neufeld said. “And so that’s what I did for most of my adult life – recorded 12 albums have sung countless concerts throughout the US and Canada.”

He retired in 2015 and noticed his hearing changed.

“It wasn’t just hearing loss. It was a shift of something,” Neufeld said. “So I had a hard time hearing pitch. It’s really hard to sing if you don’t know what pitch you’re at, so that was easy to realize I need to quit. And then my hands, I played guitar, so I was a singer-songwriter with the guitar, and arthritis has made it almost impossible to play the guitar.”

Neufeld prayed about where to go next since his abilities were changing.

“A prayer that I’ve often prayed for big things and small things is ‘Lord, if this should be established in my life, increase my desire for it, and if not decrease my desire,'” Neufeld said. “I faced these problems. That was my prayer, that something that had been so much a part of my life, singer-songwriter, performing, touring and stuff like that, and I love that, and then I couldn’t do it. And I thought, well, if I’m supposed to do it, maybe I can regain my abilities. I could do whatever needs doing. And I prayed that prayer, and I noticed that my desire for doing that really subsided. And my desire for building instruments that could be life-giving to other people really skyrocketed, and I’ve just loved that.”

He leaned into another talent of his, sharing music in a different way.

“I realized that I was able to use my skills of woodworking and my love of instruments, love of design, so I’ve been designing all kinds of instruments that are rather obscure,” Neufeld said.

He redesigns instruments, giving credit to what inspired him. The instruments are more for personal enrichment rather than performance.

“I take this from Psalm 131. There’s a verse that says, ‘I have quieted my spirit. I’m like a weaned child with its mother,'” Neufeld said. “That’s a beautiful, a beautiful thought, and it inspired me to make instruments that people could use even if they’re not musicians. They’re all tuned sometimes in a jumbled kind of way to the pentatonic scale, which in lay language means you can hardly play a wrong note. They all sound good to each other. So, for instance, a dying person might have the harp laid on her chest, and they can play it, and the vibrations are calming and soothing.”

He makes quieting bowls, quieting harps, and now quieting cradles.

“I love the word enjoy,” Neufeld said. “Surely, the instruments are meant to be enjoyed, but I see myself as wanting to enjoy other people, like to transfer that word into a verb. How can I give my joy to someone else? My hope and prayer is that these instruments will calm people, will allow people to really feel their spirits lifted and quieted.”

Many of his instruments are gifts to others, but he also sells them. He’s made 25 quieting harps, around 12 quieting bowls, and three quieting cradles, which take about five months to build. Neufeld is down in his workshop six days a week.

One recipient of a quieting cradle is New Creation Preschool.

“It’s been used as something that children have access to any time that they come to our program,” Program Director Kristin Neifeld said. “And it’s something that children seem to gravitate to most when they’re looking for a place to calm down or to regulate. It’s also been a place where small groups of children find each other. And so they’re also nurturing that connection with themselves and with each other, and often a teacher can be involved in helping create the sound or do some of the rocking motion for them.”

They once had an experience where a student who was nonverbal was inside the cradle, felt the vibrations and said, “Sleep.”

“We’ve seen children who are looking for a place to be calm and quiet, have a place to go to,” Kristin said. “We’ve also seen it be a place where children get more expressive.”

“I think contentment is an amazing gift because it allows us to approach days that are not easily dealt with, with some depth of staying power because, at the core, one is indeed content,” Neufeld said. “So I’m hoping my instruments can contribute to the contentment of humanity in some tiny, tiny way.”

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