Two weeks ago we at MTMS shared about our new Rock’n’Roll history station, and we also brought in composition and a playlist station (which you’ll hear about next week).
This composition station is so popular with the students! We have a short bit of instructions, because mostly we need specific instruments in rock: vocals, electric guitar, electric bass, and drums. Note that we aren’t limited to just those, but that’s where we start.
I seem to only be able to link the song above, because it is public. Click the play button on the top of the sheet music. Enjoy this version, and I have a few screenshots of other pieces to share. I’m amazed at how many students have tried this already in the first week, and also how much creativity they bring to the songs. Ask your student about their rock’n’roll experiences and if they wrote or are going to write a song. Maybe they’ll share it with you, too!
With Parkinson’s Disease, one of the defining symptoms is bradykinesia. What’s that? Yeah, I asked the same thing. Bradykinesia is a slowness of movement that isn’t necessarily explainable with other known effects of PD but is definitely there.
Piano practice is one place where bradykinesia shows up for Michelle. It affects agility in vocal and instrumental play. After tremor, this was the first symptom Michelle noticed: She could no longer strum fast-paced rhythm guitar patterns at full tempo for more than a couple measures before her battery ran out. Since the symptoms started in 2021, she has had to adjust how she plays.
The good news is medication can lessen many of PD’s symptoms. Levodopa has restored much of the mobility that PD stole, but musical agility is still a struggle.
Since all songs need to be practiced at slowly before gradually speeding up, Michelle is able to tackle many pieces with her music. She’s been able to practice and feed her soul with her beloved music. However, at some point she would love to regain the ability to play quickly.
In typical Michelle style, she’s working out the kinks in her musical ability like everything else, with a methodical approach and taking data. She noticed Sunday, Nov 5, that she had trouble doing anything. She wanted to speed up a few short Bergmüller pieces to allegro, but after playing ten or twenty minutes, she crashed.
She tried to get on the exercise bike, because she’s learned it triggers dopamine production and that helps, but it was impossible to rotate her feet faster than they wanted to rotate. Period. So she sat there biking at a super slow speed for an hour in front of the TV until bedtime.
Monday was worse. While there was a girl’s trip and a time change happened on Sunday, she only lasted five minutes for practice. She’s working to understand she has a time limit on playing.
In her notes, musical agility requires more dopamine. Michelle is also determined, so of course she brought out the camera to see how her practice worked on Tuesday. The camera times out, so she started and stopped it after each run of an individual piece or passage.
Below are the videos where Michelle can play at some speed, and then when her battery ran out. After bradykinesia kicks in, she rests with her puppies.
This is a timeline from Tuesday, Nov 7: 8:00 am – morning Levodopa* 10:00ish am – 60 min on stationary bike 11:30 am – late morning Levodopa* 11:33 am – started practicing piano 12:08 pm – video 1 of 2 (the bottom one below) 12:11 pm – video 2 of 2 (the top one below) 1:30 – can move again
If you didn’t know, Michelle was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and Parkinson’s Disease in 2022. With those diagnoses she was able to get proper treatment and medication for both diseases. The year before was extremely difficult. Here is part of her struggle in her words, along with a glimpse into her recovery.
2021 was a difficult year. I lost 75 pounds without trying and spent most of the year binging on Netflix shows. I couldn’t even play games. I just stared at the TV. All. Year. Don’t get me wrong; I got the work done that needed to be done, but it was the bare minimum.
That’s the year I lost my voice. I lost the other instruments, too: piano, guitar, violin, drums. But I could still play slow songs, and piano was decent since the PD only affected my right side at first. My left hand picked up the burden. But I couldn’t sing.
I have a great support network, so I didn’t wallow in depression. But now that I’m medicated for both diseases and have regained maybe 90% of the mobility I lost in ’21, I’m working hard to get all the instruments back, including my beloved voice, which I didn’t realize was such a dear friend. Frankly, I’m pissed at PD for taking it away from me.
Quick side note: the doctors and all the literature blame the PD, and it’s well established that PD impacts the voice. But it was the T1D that stole my energy: my cells weren’t getting any fuel. That surely contributed to barely using my voice for a year.
Either way, the ENT shoved a camera up my nose and proclaimed: vocal fold atrophy.
So I saw a speech therapist for about six weeks, and I’ve been working hard to get my voice back. It’s so slow going that I decided to document the journey, maybe just to convince myself the progress is worth it. I took some earlier videos, but I need to dig through them to build the history.
26 Oct 2023
Great work, Michelle! Keep singing. We’re going to join in on the next verse.
Did you guess a cappella? This form of music includes singing without instruments. Categories within a cappella include bass, tenor, alto, soprano, and beatbox. In the lab you’ll be asked to create your own version of an a cappella song. In music history you’ll learn a lot more information about a cappella music and how it came to be.
Our instructors help keep their skills sharp with training and discussion about different aspects of music and teaching. This month’s discussion centers around this podcast about playing multiple instruments.
Walt says he has often run into sentiments of “lack of focus” or “not being serious” by playing multiple instruments (even by those who play multiples. However, his personal experience with multiple instruments has been fulfilling and adds perspective to different group musical settings. It’s also a great way to keep up interest by learning so many different things.
Leann wishes she’d learned an instrument besides the piano. (She’s also a vocalist.) Her academic schedule didn’t allow for more instruments and she wasn’t encouraged to take others. She resonated with the idea that each instrument provides a different perception and teaches something new and adds to the sensitivity of phrasing, melody, and understanding chordal relationships. It just makes you a better musician on all levels, when you can incorporate what you learn in one instrument to translate that to your primary instrument.
Andrew really resonates with this podcast in many ways. Like Walt he’s encountered the idea that playing multiple instruments shows a lack of commitment and focus. Even some teachers in the past who would say that learning multiple instruments is detrimental to playing both properly (ex. sax and trumpet). There are so many different musicians who play multiple at high levels such as Joey Defrancesco, Dave Grohl, etc. His experience learning multiple instruments has expanded understanding of theory, musicality and even the physicality of playing music. Each one has taught him something about how to create good music and how the roles of each instrument in different settings change. This learning has also given him a new appreciation for styles of music he wouldn’t regularly consume. While he will say that he can understand that if you don’t treat each instrument with a similar level of attention while a beginner at both may become confusing and slow one down, he believes that learning multiple at a time has a lot of benefits, especially picking up other instruments after years of learning one’s primary and context for what music is. Finally, while it was a smaller part he liked when they brought up the focus we have in the Western world on perfecting one’s instrument as quickly as possible. While that can make one very good in a short amount of time, this singular focus he’s found often leads to eventual burnout and a narrow understanding of one’s role in the broader ensemble.
Kristen says it’s really interesting thinking about your instrument with the whole ensemble and not just what your instrument plays. While you can always learn more instruments but she thinks you either need a goal in mind before switching instruments or keep playing all instruments regularly. She started with piano then flute and then voice. She was able to take note reading, rhythms, and some musicality with her to each instrument. Singing with vibrato helped her flute vibrato and also her tonality. She was able to hear on flute when she was in the center of the pitch as I do not have perfect pitch. She did also start learning clarinet. Right away she could tell if she was in tune with notes played before. She also had a great sense of whether the tone quality was good.
Sarah agrees that it is a very positive growth experience and good for overall musicality to learn more than one instrument. It gives you a different perspective for ensemble playing and a more complete understanding of how instruments work and sound together. If you are switching to a different type of instrument, it can even help you develop a completely different musical technique than what you had learned before. When she was learning music, she chose percussion in elementary school band class. So, just starting out, she had to learn two instruments from the beginning. Mallets, or the Glockenspiel, and the snare drum. It took more time and dedication to devote practice time to both instruments as a ten year old; but it was definitely doable, especially since she enjoyed it. She believes that if a student asks about learning a second instrument, the response should really be individualized for every learner. Are they devoted to practicing and learning? Do they have the time in their life to learn a second instrument? Are they doing well in their other school classes? Are they doing well on their first instrument? If not, it may lead to discouragement or lack of progress, and the student may give up on learning music altogether. It is definitely a careful balance; but worth it if the musician is determined.
I learned piano first. When band started, I picked up the trumpet. Eventually I’ve worked up to the guitar. Michelle gave me my first guitar lesson before MTMS existed. It may have helped me to only play piano for the first couple years playing music. My daughter started with the violin, also tried trumpet, and is now working on her vocal skills.
My son has always had a single-minded approach to music: he’s a drummer and he hasn’t expressed interest in any other instrument so far. When asked what he liked about piano, he answered “In two years I can play the drums.” (It was a school district requirement.) When he got to take lessons with Michelle- he’s been very happy. Also, in a related sense, he is a dancer who prefers tap above all else – think of it as drumming with your feet.
So, readers, what are your opinions and experiences with single or multiple instruments?
