Music Helps

[PatrickW]

After going on disability I started playing music, a lot. I play 4 times a week in the afternoons and 3-4 nights a week - all with different bands and/or individual artists. It's amazing how well you can do things when you do them every day instead of once a year! LOL The main band I'm in is good. I just got us some good gigs some for charity and some for pay. If you live in the Moorestown, NJ area it would be great for you to come see  how well I am considering how long I've had PD. Let me know if you're interested and I'll tell you where we'll be playing. We have a gig on 4/16 in Moorestown and another one in Medford on 4/22. If any of you attend I'll bet you won't be able to guess who has PD! That's why I do it. If I'm having a bad day once I start playing it goes away usually by the 2nd song and that's why I play so much. 

[lind-ane]

I've found the same thing to be true.  What instrument do you play?

[PatrickW in reply to lind-ane]

harp

[whack-a-mole]

Hey, I might be able to bang a tambourine on my knee - think that'll do it for me?

[PatrickW in reply to whack-a-mole]

Can't hurt! All I have to do is hold it, I don't have to bang it against my knee - it makes it's sound all by itself.

[Dap1948]

What do you play? And how long since you were Dx?  I'm playing piano for an hour each day at the moment. I've only gone back to it recently and am already noticing my finger mobility and bradykinesia in general improving. I have been a school teacher, a piano teacher and an accompanist all my life. My inability to play fast passages was my first indication to me that something was wrong. I believe playing a musical instrument can produce brain neuroplasticity, which can benefit mobility generally.

[PatrickW in reply to Dap1948]

I agree 100%!

[lind-ane in reply to Dap1948]

You learn how to "cheat" the 16th notes if necessary!

[Dap1948 in reply to lind-ane]

That's what us Brits call 'semiquavers'! Or you can chose a slower tempo!

[Gwennie1]

Great to hear your story PatrickW.

[AmmieM]

 I can't play an instrument but I wonder if typing would work just as well

[PatrickW in reply to AmmieM]

I bet it would help your fine motor skills. If it does please post because my fine motor skills have greatly diminished. Now when I can't open a jar I have to ask my wife or daughters to help me - quite the role reversal, lol. I have a tough time with buttons, shoe laces, zippers - little piddly, stupid stuff until you can't do it, then it's not just stupid but frustrating. I now wear shoes that don't have laces as much as possible. If someone made shirts that had fixed buttons on them with velcro underneath they'd sell a bunch if marketed properly; I'd buy them!

[AmmieM in reply to PatrickW]

I will

[paddyfields in reply to PatrickW]

I am a touch typist and I wondered if that was helping my dexterity which is hardly affected and I certainly do much more typing than pre dx..  It certainly is a barometer of the levels of dopamine in my blood as when  I lose the ability to sequence my fingers/do repetitive strokes I realise I have missed my sinemet  dose.  I am also on 24 hour patches

[paddyfields in reply to PatrickW]

Try running laces, elastic or otherwise which have toggles so that you don't have to tie a knot, just pull the "knot" tight so to speak

[PatrickW in reply to paddyfields]

Thanks, never heard of that kind but will go to the shoe store and find out. Thanks for your help! I can't tie them tight enough so they always untie. 

[paddyfields in reply to PatrickW]

I am  in  rural part of the UK and had trouble recently tracking them down but the key words:  Sneaker-Locking-Shoe-Lacing-Elastic-Shoelaces-Running-Jogging-Sports-Fitness -Karrimor-Nathan Ebay or Amazon or a sports outlet should find them. 

[Beckey]

Harp as in blues harp or harp as in a harp?

[PatrickW in reply to Beckey]

Blues harp, but I play in any genre if I have the right key, not just the blues. Played a Whitney Houston song one night and an hour later played a Hendrix tune - both went great. Never played either one, never even heard of Houston's song.