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Parkinson’s Disease and Music
Parkinson’s Disease and Music
In this post, I want to examine whether music has any effects on Parkinson’s disease. Can playing an instrument, listening to music, and/or dancing to music improve motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease and improve our quality of life? Let’s begin our journey.
My Musical Journey
I always loved music when I was growing up. Okay, I’ll be honest (after all, honesty is the best policy, Isn’t it?). I LOVED Rock Music! I mean who didn’t wish they were Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen) or Angus Young of AC/DC playing those classic guitar riffs in arenas in front of thousands of cheering fans?
I could envision myself in front of a packed arena or stadium wailing on my Gibson SG electric (Gibson Guitar Co.) guitar playing Shook Me All Night Long like AC/DC, or playing Eruption and Ain’t Talkin Bout Love on my Fender Stratocaster (Fender Co.) like Eddie Van Halen.
Okay, I’ll make a confession, I might have once (okay all the time) played air guitar or a broom to the music dreaming I was in an arena with screaming fans yelling ENCORE! Honestly, who hasn’t played a little air guitar? Maybe I just took it to another level.
Fast forward 45 years to age 54, about 7 years after I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, I decided to sit down and write a bucket list of goals that I wanted to achieve. One of those goals was to actually learn how to play guitar. Yes, an actual guitar with 6 strings instead of the stiff-bristled broom.
Well, I can honestly say that it was a great decision. Not only has it been great for my finger dexterity and fine motor skills, but it’s helped my mental capacity (limited as it may be) as well by helping build muscle memory and focus.
I’m now able to play most of the songs I dreamt of playing as a young lad like:
- Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC
- Highway To Hell – AC/DC
- Thunderstruck – AC/DC
- Enter Sandman – Metallica
- Stairway To Heaven – Led Zepplin (although it has been a while and the solo is challenging)
- I love Rock and Roll (Joann Jett and The Blackhearts)
I now own 4 guitars – 2 Acoustic (both Martin Guitars) and 2 Electric – an Epiphone SG and a Squier Stratocaster.
I tend to focus more on the acoustic guitar lately and it has allowed me to expand my musical repertoire to other genres, Country, Pop, Christian, and Blues.
Some of the artists and songs I like to play are listed below.
- Let Her Cry – Hootie and the Blowfish
- I can only Imagine – Mercy Me
- Drink a Beer, Play It Again, Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset, Huntin Fishin Lovin Every Day – Luke Bryan
- Things My Father Said – Black Stone Cherry
- Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen and Jeff Buckley versions
- Wherever You May Go – The Calling
- Far Behind, Miss You, and Cover Me – Candlebox
I also like to play Zac Brown Songs, Ed Sheeran, Reo Speedwagon, Chris Stapleton
Memorable Guitar Performances
I’ve had two memorable guitar performances since I learned how to play guitar.
The first and most memorable was to play the song my son Derek and Daughter-in-law Molly danced to on their wedding day. They wanted to dance to the song Millionaire by Chris Stapleton. So I spent two months meticulously learning how to play the song.
Unfortunately because of COVID, we were unable to travel to the UK for the wedding so our in-laws Penny and Graham were kind enough to Zoom the wedding so we could watch it live. Later in the evening, we did a group call with my side of family in the US and the UK extended family.
Since my singing abilities are limited my best friends Scott and Lisa Konkle (read my blog on – Life Changers – Who Are They? for more information) are in the church choir, I enlisted them and their son Josh to do the singing.
I was able to play the song Millionaire by Chris Stapleton for them and watch while they danced to their wedding song. That is a memory that will last a lifetime and my proudest moment on guitar.
The second most memorable guitar performance occurred in Bradenton, FL on a trip in 2023. My wife Mary, purchased tickets to a brunch with live music at a Cotton Mouth Southern Soul Kitchen.
After the Brunch, they had live music from Chad Hollister and Primo from the Chad Hollister Band. Chad is the lead vocalist and plays Rhythm Guitar and Primo is the lead guitarist. They had a special guest Stumpy Joe, who played a bass designed from a metal tub and boat oar connected to an amp that sounded just like a 4 string Bass guitar.
During a break, Mary told Chad and Primo that I had Parkinson’s Disease but was learning and playing guitar. They asked me if I would play a song with them. Since I had not played in front of so many people before I was a little apprehensive, to say the least.
They asked me what songs I knew how to play and if I sang. I used my standard joke and said “No I don’t sing, I spent the money my mom gave me for singing lessons on snacks”.
Since they didn’t know the lyrics to many of the songs I knew, they asked me what chords I knew and I said I knew about 100 chords. We decided on the song Stir It Up, by Bob Marley. The song used the G, C, and D chords which made transitioning chords easier.
After the second song, they called me up to play. I admittedly was nervous playing in front of all those people and did manage to drop the pick once during the performance. However, the music sounded great and the audience was very supportive and cheered for all of us. It was a great moment I will always remember on my guitar journey.
A picture of me playing my Martin Guitar for our Soul Fusion Class
Benefits of Music with Parkinson’s
Learnings from My Guitar Journey
Has my guitar journey always been smooth sailing? Absolutely not! Anytime we are learning something new, we are always going to have challenges, but with challenges come great breakthroughs.
Remember, you can’t have success without failure. In fact, I recently saw an interview with Ed Sheeran. You may know him from some of his well-known songs, Perfect, Castle on the Hill, and Afterglow. Ed Sheeran is a great singer, songwriter, and performer.
During the interview, he was asked about having such great natural ability. He commented, “That’s actually not true, when I first started, I was terrible. But, after failing hundreds of times and working hard, I was able to learn a great deal and had my first hit record when I was 18 or 19.” He went on to say, “We learn absolutely nothing from success, we learn everything from failure, so don’t be afraid to fail”.
I can say, I’ve had lots of failures during my guitar journey, but it’s taught me 3 major concepts; Persistence, Attitude, and Perseverance.
Let’s have a closer look at all three.
Persistence
Picking up the guitar taught me the ability to press on, even though it was difficult at times. I thought I would never be able to do the dreaded C chord shape.
However, I was determined to be able to make a C chord shape, play a C chord, and then transition to another chord. After all, a vast majority of popular songs use a C chord as part of the song’s arrangement. Many songs are written in the key of C with the major chords being played being C, F, and G.
The same holds as well for songs written in other popular scales as well. So, if I didn’t want to exclude ¾ of the music catalog, there was no way around learning to play the C chord.
So, I focused on learning as much as I could to help me with my challenge. I watched videos on how to make and switch to a C chord when playing a song. I asked other more experienced guitarists for suggestions on making and playing a C chord and then took what I had learned and faced the challenge.
I spent 15 minutes every night forming the C chord on the guitar to build muscle memory in my fingers and build neural connections in my brain. Once I felt confident in making the shape with all three fingers at the same time without placing one finger down at a time.
It was time to face the next part of the C chord challenge which was transitioning to other chords in time with the music. No one wants to listen to a song that has a 5 to 10-second pause between chord changes.
Only after I was completely confident that I learned the shape correctly and could do it consistently, without errors did I move to the next step. I want to emphasize this key learning when learning something new or facing something challenging.
“Practice so slowly, that feels painfully slow, but make sure it is done correctly! It is harder to go back and correct bad habits because you practiced something too fast and incorrectly than if you went slowly with the sole purpose of doing it correctly every time.
Gradually increase the speed of learning until you reach your goal.” I have used this process with learning new skills outside of music with great success as well, for instance when tying flies for fly fishing.
So after about 2 weeks,
I felt confident I could form the shape with all three fingers at the same time, I turned my attention to transitioning between chords. Again, I used the tortoise and hare approach and picked one chord to transition between. I picked the D chord and practiced very slowly gradually increasing my speed but ensuring I was forming the chords correctly as well.
Once I could switch between the C and D chords effortlessly. I slowly added additional chords until I could transition between all of the other major chords. Only after I felt comfortable with all my chord transitions did I feel I was ready to try learning a new song.
This process probably took to months of daily practice until I felt confident in attempting to learn a song.
I selected the song Let Her Cry by Hootie and the Blowfish (Hootie and the Blowfish (1994). Rear View [CD]. Atlantic Records, North Hollywood, USA.) because I enjoy their music and Darius Rucker’s vocals.
The song has three major chords G, C, and D. After listening to the song first at least 5 times in a row, I began to learn a measure at a time, then continually added another measure until I could play the song. I was able to do it and felt a great sense of accomplishment.
My suggestion is when learning something new, recognize and embrace the challenges. Start slowly and break it down into its smallest components, learn a component and slowly build on what you learned and you will reach your goal.
Enjoy the journey and celebrate the successes you experiences along the way. Just be persistent and don’t give in to the frustrations you experience, they are just part of the learning process.
Attitude
Let me be honest here. Sometimes challenges frustrate me because I have high expectations for myself. I’m competitive and don’t like to lose at something I set out to do. Don’t get me wrong, I‘m not a sore loser when playing board or card games with family and friends, but I always give my best to win.
I get frustrated when I am struggling to be able to complete a task, especially things I used to do with ease before Parkinson’s.
For example, at the gym during a personal training session, I may be asked to do a series of consecutive steps in an exercise to help with balance. Some days, my balance is off and I struggle with completing the task or remembering the multiple steps that were part of the exercise.
I’m learning to be happy with the accomplishments I achieved rather than being frustrated that I wasn’t able to do it perfectly as described.
While I always keep a positive outlook on life, this is one area in which Parkinson’s has caused me to re-evaluate and change my attitude from frustration to acceptance. Some days things will be easier than other days. I’m learning to be grateful on my off days for what I can accomplish rather than be frustrated.
So, how does this relate to my musical journey? Sometimes more complex songs caused frustration because of my symptoms, but I just learned to take a breath and practice slowly and in small steps and I was soon able to play the songs.
We need to celebrate the journey and realize there is always going to be a balance between success and “failure”. Without one we cannot experience the other; both are necessary to grow and learn.
Attitude is the driver of how enjoyable our life’s journey is going to be. Why not choose to be positive and show yourself and others that attitude can be a catalyst to achieving great things?
Acknowledge frustration and negative thoughts because they are part of the process but let them go quickly and learn from them. Remember it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile. Smile and enjoy the ride.
Perseverance
Sure, there were times when it was very difficult because of my Parkinson’s symptoms, but I kept pressing on and was proud of myself for the accomplishments I have made on the guitar. I enjoy learning new songs, although I think I drive my family crazy when I pull out the guitar. I ask, is it okay to play a few songs for you?
Their mouths say yes, but the eye roll and glances at each other tell the real story.
To digress from music for a moment, I wanted to give another example of persevering through Parkinson’s symptoms. I’ve always been an avid fly fisherman and flier tier. Both take skills that require the use of fine motor skills.
Fly fishing requires you to be able to tie some complex knots to attach tippets to leaders and to tie flies onto the leader. Imagine trying to put a piece of fine thread through an eyelet of a hook and then tying a Double Surgeon’s Knot to secure the fly to the leader while your hand is shaking.
While there are times I can do it on the first or second attempt in less than 3 min, there are other times it takes me 15 minutes to complete the task. Can you see where perseverance might be required so you don’t throw your fly rod in the water and walk away?
Fly tying presents similar but often more complex challenges. The first challenge is to pick up a hook in my fly boxes and put it into the vice as part of the tying process. It’s often hard to pick on up without dropping at least one on the floor so I can step on it later in my stocking feet.
Sometimes these small hooks require you to put a bead on the hook to make a bead head nymph. With shaky hands, and after dropping two or three on the floor I can successfully get the bead on the hook.
Then comes the tails, bodies, wings, and hackles most of which are made using feathers, except for the bodies which use dubbing. It’s a funny sight trying to watch as I hold down tail feathers, or tie wings on. It can be a humbling experience if you let it.
I realized several years ago that I need to break things down into smaller steps and go slowly and I can accomplish a task. The same is true for fly tying. Nice and slow like the tortoise in the tortoise and rabbit fable. If I’m struggling I just get up and walk around and come back a few minutes later when I feel I can focus better.
These examples taught me if you persevere through a challenging time, you can be successful at whatever endeavor you set out to accomplish. Don’t give up just keep attacking the problem and eventually you will get the personal satisfaction of having achieved your goal.
Music and Parkinson’s Disease
So, can music really benefit people with Parkinson’s Disease? Let’s look at what some of the research says.
Learning to play an instrument can help with motor skills and help with mental cognition but can music provide benefits to Parkinson’s patients who are not interested in learning to play an instrument? Can you still use music to help with your Parkinson’s symptoms or to improve your quality of life? The answer is “absolutely”!
Music is used by clinicians as a complementary therapy for people with Parkinson’s Disease. What does this mean?
Essentially, music is combined and used with medications to help PD patients with both their motor and non-motor symptoms. Music has been shown to improve walking (gait), balance, freezing, and cognitive abilities.
In addition, it has been shown to improve mood and improve a Parkinson’s patient’s quality of life. (Music Therapy and Parkinson’s Disease: A Systematic Review From 2015-2020, Sotomayor, et.al, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Nov.2021).
According to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, music can provide direct benefits to improving Parkinson’s symptoms. They discuss how music therapy can be used to help improve both motor and non-motor symptoms.
For example, dancing is used to help a person’s gait when walking and can help with freezing issues. Singing can help with a Parkinson’s patient’s speech to help improve the loudness of their voice and finally, music can help ease a patient’s anxiety.
Yes, the science to support music as a complementary therapy is great but you’re thinking to yourself “How does this help me”? “I don’t know anything about music!” If this is your circumstance, it’s time to step to the edge of your comfort zone.
It’s time to challenge yourself so that you’ll not only be helping your non-motor symptoms but can make new friends and build social relationships. So, don’t be afraid to sign-up for a dance class with your spouse or significant other. Join the choir or just sing with family and friends.
Use music to give you a sense of calm. Make a playlist of some of your favorite mellow songs and sit quietly and focus on your breathing. Allow the beat of the music to wash away your anxiety.
By learning to dance, sing, write music, or play an instrument, you are helping to develop neural pathways which can help ease your motor symptoms. Learning something new in music will give you a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. You will be able to share your new skill with friends and family.
In summary, music has played a key role in my Parkinson’s journey. Learning to play guitar helped me learn patience, persistence, and most of all to maintain a positive attitude and enjoy the learning process. I encourage you to make music an integral part of your Parkinson’s journey. I can guarantee you’ll be glad you did!
Chris Kustanbauter – June 2023
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the connection between Parkinson’s and Music?
Parkinson’s and music share a unique relationship. Research suggests that engaging in music therapy can have positive effects on individuals with Parkinson’s. Music can improve motor skills, enhance mood, and even alleviate some symptoms of the disease.
How does music therapy benefit people with Parkinson’s?
Music therapy offers various benefits for individuals with Parkinson’s. It can help improve movement and coordination, enhance speech and voice control, reduce stress and anxiety, and provide a creative outlet for self-expression. Additionally, music therapy sessions often involve social interaction, fostering a sense of community and emotional support.
Are there specific types of music that are more beneficial for Parkinson’s patients?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as music preferences can vary among individuals. However, research suggests that rhythmic and repetitive music, such as drumming or dancing to beat-based music, can be particularly beneficial for motor coordination and movement. It is important to consult with a music therapist or healthcare professional to determine the most suitable music for an individual with Parkinson’s.