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Musician · Music Therapist · Sound Healer · Lisbon & Online

Hello,
I'm Holly Shirra.

I use music to help people heal, play, and reconnect with themselves — through sound healing, community music events, and therapeutic piano teaching.

My Story My Music
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"I believe music has the capacity to take us somewhere words alone can't always reach."

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Who I am

Musician,
therapist,
fellow human.

I'm Holly — a music therapist, sound healer, and musician based in Lisbon, Portugal. I've been playing piano for 25 years and working therapeutically with music for 15.

Much of my adult life has been spent learning to move past self-suppression — figuring out what I actually feel, what I need, and how to let myself express it. That journey is the foundation of everything I do.

I hold a Master's in Music Therapy and work with people in-person in Lisbon and online around the world.

My full biography →
MA Music Therapy 25 yrs Piano Sound Healer Lisbon & Online
My Music

Original music
& sheet scores

Listen on Spotify → Music page →
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MA Music Therapy 25 yrs Piano Sound Healer Lisbon, Portugal

Music has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.

I started classical piano as a child, fell in love with it completely, and went on to major in it as an undergraduate. Later, I completed a Master's in Music Therapy in 2020. For 15 years I've been using music therapeutically — with children, adults, elders, and groups — across the UK and Portugal.


But behind the credentials is something more personal. Much of my adult life has been spent learning to move past self-suppression — figuring out what I actually feel, what I need, and how to let myself express it. That journey is what brought me to this work. I know the terrain because I've walked it myself.


My path to becoming a music therapist wasn't straightforward. I spent years hiding behind technical perfection — playing the right notes, getting the right grades — while slowly disconnecting from the joy that made me fall in love with music in the first place. The process of finding my way back to that joy, and understanding how music could be a vehicle for emotional healing, changed everything.


When I work with someone, I bring my clinical training, my musical instincts, and years of deep inner work. I believe music has the capacity to take us somewhere words alone can't always reach — into the body, into the subconscious, into pure, unguarded expression.


I'm based in Lisbon, Portugal, and work with people in-person and online around the world. I offer individual sound healing sessions, musical improvisation and play sessions, monthly community events in Lisbon, and therapeutic piano teaching.

The journey

Chapters of
the story

Early

Classical beginnings

Piano from age four. Classical training, grade exams, the conservatoire pathway. I loved it — and also felt the weight of needing to perform perfectly. Music was my world, but also sometimes a place of pressure.

20s

Finding music therapy

An undergraduate music degree led me towards music therapy — the idea that music could be used deliberately to help people heal felt like a revelation. I began working with children and adults, and saw firsthand the transformative power of sound.

2020

Master's in Music Therapy

Completed my Master's degree — deepening both my clinical skills and my understanding of the psychological and physiological dimensions of music. A period of intense personal inner work alongside the academic training.

Now

Lisbon & the world

Based in Lisbon, Portugal — working with people 1:1 and in groups, running monthly community music events, and continuing to write and release my own music. Joyful, grounded, and deeply committed to this work.

How I work

Spiritual, but
grounded.

Clinically trained

A Master's in Music Therapy means the work is grounded in evidence-based therapeutic principles — not just intuition. I know how to hold safe space for deep emotional material.

Deeply personal

I've done — and continue to do — the inner work myself. My own journey through self-suppression and creative recovery is the foundation of everything I offer.

Joyful & alive

This work doesn't have to be heavy. Some of the most transformative moments I've facilitated have been filled with laughter, surprise, and sheer delight in the music we make together.

What people say

Words from the journey

"Holly is a music therapist, wonderfully skilled and very pastorally minded. The biggest endorsement came from my daughter, who cried when we told her Holly was moving."

Matthew W.
Father of piano students

"She connects sensitively, intuitively, and inspirationally to help people express their Soul-felt feelings."

Susan B.
Music therapy client

"Holly's voice is a portal to another realm."

Aida R.
Workshop participant

"Working with Holly felt safe in a way I hadn't expected. She held the space beautifully and the music she created felt entirely personal to me."

James T.
Sound healing client
Ready to connect?

Find your way in

Whether you're drawn to sound healing, music play, or learning the piano — there's a place for you here.

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Stream

Listen to
my music

Spotify

Stream all my music on Spotify — original piano compositions, vocal pieces, and sound healing recordings. Follow me to be notified when new music drops.

Listen on Spotify →
YouTube

Videos, live recordings, and longer-form listening experiences on YouTube — including improvisations, sound healing sessions, and behind-the-scenes musical moments.

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latest release
Latest Release

Title of
latest album / EP

A description of what this release is about — the feeling you were going for, the process of creating it, what you hope people take from it when they listen.

Support my work

Buy my
sheet music

Download and play my original compositions at home. Each piece comes with full notation and personal performance notes.

Piano Solo

Piece Title One

A short description of this piece — its feel, difficulty level, and what inspired it. Something personal and specific to this composition.

Intermediate Solo Piano
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Piano Solo

Piece Title Two

A short description of this piece — its feel, difficulty level, and what inspired it. Something personal and specific to this composition.

Beginner Solo Piano
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Piano & Voice

Piece Title Three

A short description of this piece — its feel, difficulty level, and what inspired it. Something personal and specific to this composition.

Advanced Piano + Voice
Buy sheet music →

All purchases directly support my work as an independent musician and music therapist. Thank you.

View all sheet music →
About my music

Music made
from feeling

I write music the same way I work therapeutically — from a place of genuine feeling, without forcing it. Most of my compositions begin as improvisations: moments of musical honesty at the piano that slowly become something more formed.

My sound is rooted in classical piano, but reaches towards something freer and more emotionally raw. I'm drawn to the space between composed and improvised — music that feels alive because it carries a pulse of human feeling inside it.

When people listen to my music, my hope is simply that they feel a little less alone.

Format
Colour ● Editing

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