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Ray, it's interesting that the thing you were a whiz at, typing, is the thing you can still do ok. Some aspects of my playing are well-ingrained and when I can get warmed up, these things that are in my regular bag of tricks flow pretty easily. I've been doing some of my old college workouts at the piano. There's a lot of exaggerated lifting of fingers while other fingers play loud notes. Alternating this kind of exercise with sets of scales gets me warmed up, and at the end of the warm-ups, if I don't have the 'dysses' (dyskenesia) too bad, I might be able to play something pretty. It ain't like it used to be. It's really essential that I keep up what remains of my once highly developed technique, or else I might as well sell Grandma's piano. And honey, at this point, I don't worry about mistakes! When the band gets into it, and I'm concentrating on the groove, that makes me relax and start to actually enjoy myself. After all, the thing that draws us to music is not the fact that we can immediately learn to play perfectly, it's the enjoyment we get out of making the tones. I think if you leave the critiquing to the critics and focus on the process of learning, it might be real good therapy for your fine motor, and it probably would improve your typing as well. Rick -----Original Message----- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of rayilynlee Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 4:51 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: piano music Rick, my problem is that my fine motor skills are shot and a piano, unlike a computer, cannot be corrected. also, if I stay at any task where I have to use my hands for a prolonged length of time I'm in pain. In my early PD days I could write and flunked the cursive writing test for PD a weasely social security doctor gave me to deny me disability the first time around. Printing is a little easier. After my DBSs in 2003 my PD symptoms, except for my voice seemed to stabilize and I understand they've found DBS to have that anti-progression effect. I was a typist/computer whiz in my pre-PD days, so what I have left over gets me by. it's interesting, though, how emotion affects our symptoms. I will try the piano again. Thanks, Ray Rayilyn Brown Director AZNPF Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rick McGirr" <[log in to unmask]> To: "'rayilynlee'" <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2008 1:18 PM Subject: RE: piano music > Ray, it's good to talk to you again. I see several aspects to the > "emotional component" in music performance. Of course, there's the > emotional power of the music. This tends to make me forget about the > tremors, etc, as I get into listening. But the pre-performance > butterflies > always make me shake more, and the more tense I am, the more trouble I > have > getting my fingers to jump around like I want them to. > > If you're not shaking any more, you should sit at the piano when no one's > around, to see if you could get back into it! I'm always advocating for > more music in the world. > > Enjoy! > Rick McGirr > > -----Original Message----- > From: rayilynlee [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2008 12:26 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: piano music > > Rick, I used to play the piano and in the early stages of PD I used to > shake > > more due to the emotional component of the music. I can't play at all now > and had DBS to stop the shaking so I can't test it. I don't take PD meds > and only took Sinemet for a year. > Ray > Rayilyn Brown > Director AZNPF > Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation > [log in to unmask] > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Rick McGirr" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 8:50 AM > Subject: piano music > > >> The conversation eluded me. What did anyone say about piano music? I'm >> interested because I'm a professional piano player. Currently I'm >> experiencing more and more difficulty at work (no, I don't consider >> playing >> rock n roll on the piano "work"). Simply getting through everything >> that's >> a part of doing a gig has become the necessary focus of my entire day. >> Compared to the ton of stuff I handled daily in the past, well, the gig >> was >> less than a third of it. I simply don't have the energy to handle more. >> Besides chronic fatigue, I'm also experiencing that my intentions in >> playing >> sometimes don't make it all the way to my fingers by the time I need to >> execute the figure I was intending. Becoming more and more disabled, in >> short. >> >> >> >> Does anyone know about research involving the specialized skills that a >> high-level musical artist must have, especially when affected by PD? And >> would any such study shed light on the things that happen to us as we go >> through the years with our mutual friend? >> >> >> >> Enjoy! >> >> Rick McGirr >> >> >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: >> mailto:[log in to unmask] >> In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn