{"id":77,"date":"2013-09-01T12:51:22","date_gmt":"2013-09-01T19:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parkinsonsrelief.com\/?p=77"},"modified":"2013-09-01T12:51:22","modified_gmt":"2013-09-01T19:51:22","slug":"effect-of-playing-music-on-parkinsons-disease-symptoms-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parkinsonsrelief.com\/effect-of-playing-music-on-parkinsons-disease-symptoms-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Effect of Playing Music on Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a much needed update to the blog.
\nIn 2007, I was given the news that I had more in common with Michael J. Fox than just being born and raised in Canada.\u00a0 I first noticed minor symptoms (such as a mild hand tremor) of an imminent medical problem as early as 2001.\u00a0 At the time I was a member of a country band in Alberta and was known on stage as Doc Holiday.\u00a0 The band leader was good at creating stage names; mine came from being the only musician he knew who had a Ph.D. in Materials Physics and a doctorate in holidays.\u00a0 It was an exaggeration because I don\u2019t have a doctorate in holidays; I only act as if I do.\u00a0 Early in 2002, I purchased my first midi accordion and was coined Doc Holiday and his elektrodion.\u00a0 I played in this and other bands until 2006.\u00a0 Between Parkinson\u2019s disease and escalating depression, I had to give up playing music and was not able to function as a scientist any longer.
\nIt took some time, along with considerable love and caring from my wife, before this downhill spiral started to turn around.\u00a0 The first step was the synchronistic discovery of some herbal products, that when used in conjunction with the prescription medication I was taking, lowered my mental stress level and allowed the depression to lift.\u00a0 ( www.ParkinsonsRelief.com<\/a>)\u00a0 Coincidentally we started going to southern Arizona for the winter to avoid the wet coastal weather of Vancouver Island.\u00a0 This helped reduce the depression also.
\nBy educating myself about this disease I learned that to alleviate some of\u00a0 its symptoms, I needed\u00a0 an hour a day of sweat generating exercise, to eat healthy with lots of vegetables and very little red meat, and to drink a lot of water.\u00a0 How much of this is responsible for allowing me to get well enough to join a country band in Arizona about three years ago, I can\u2019t say for sure.\u00a0 Last year we did about two dozen gigs over the nearly five months we were down south.\u00a0 I have also able to engage in scientific pursuits again, mostly in the area of numerical modelling of non-linear differential equations, and have authored and co-authored several papers with group of physicists in Europe (www.AIAS.us<\/a> ).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This summer, I started a family band on Vancouver Island called Tarnished Silver.\u00a0 My brother plays the guitar and is the lead male vocalist, Heather, a family friend is the lead female vocalist, my son Andrew plays back up and rhythm guitar, and I play a Roland FR-7x accordion (www.roland.ca<\/a> ), a five string banjo, and sing harmony.\u00a0 The band is backed with a Roland Bk-7m arranger (www.roland.ca<\/a> ) which is primarily used as a drummer.\u00a0 We recently played at my mother\u2019s 90th birthday celebration, and did a fundraising concert at a local church.
\nAs a kid I took accordion lessons starting at age twelve.\u00a0 By fifteen, I had progressed as far as the music school I went to could teach me.\u00a0 Having to change music schools, going into high school, and probably the fact that that the accordion was not cool at the time, prompted me to quit music lessons.<\/p>\n

Since purchasing the new Roland accordion about a year ago, I have started to conscientiously practice music again, averaging well over an hour daily.\u00a0 When I quit lessons fifty years ago I was just starting to learn the \u201cFlight of the Bumblebee\u201d by Rimsky-Korsakov.\u00a0 I hope to have this piece mastered before we head south again in the fall.\u00a0 Between exercise, music practice, and scientific commitments, I have no time for boredom. I do make sure to take time to rest; this is also vital.\u00a0 The neurologist I go to is amazed with how well I am doing and insists that I keep it up.<\/p>\n

I play the banjo and mandolin for fun although my wife says you can\u2019t tell because apparently I don\u2019t crack a smile when doing a fast banjo lick.\u00a0 Besides fun, the accordion however is therapy.\u00a0 The drill of doing scales and the repetitiveness of learning a difficult piece seems to cement pathways in my brain that want to disappear.\u00a0 I notice the difference if I miss a couple of days practice.\u00a0 I also make sure that every so often, I play in a manner that flushes emotions, especially if they are troubling.\u00a0 This usually results in a streak of slow waltzes with complex chord changes that lasts an hour or more.\u00a0 During this time I quite often shed a tear or two.\u00a0 When I stop playing, whatever I was dealing with seems to have been resolved because I feel much better.<\/p>\n

I am always on the lookout for activities and healthful products that aid in my battle against Parkinson\u2019s disease and often share my story with those who will lend an ear.\u00a0 My wife has found a new product ( www.PillsBeGone.zurvita.com<\/a> ) which she is excited about and claims will help me even more.\u00a0 I guess I am going to be guinea pig for a couple of months.\u00a0 She is also into quilting which means that there are bits of fabric everywhere.\u00a0 I suppose this or musical instruments; what can I say.<\/p>\n

August, 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a much needed update to the blog. In 2007, I was given the news that I had more in common with Michael J. Fox than just being born and raised in Canada.\u00a0 I first noticed minor symptoms (such as a mild hand tremor) of an imminent medical problem as early as 2001.\u00a0 At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkinsonsrelief.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkinsonsrelief.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkinsonsrelief.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkinsonsrelief.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkinsonsrelief.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parkinsonsrelief.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkinsonsrelief.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkinsonsrelief.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkinsonsrelief.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}