Movers and Shakers: Music and Movement

The Notting Hill pub where we record Movers and Shakers. has got used to our antics over the last 18 months. Sitting cramped around a table in a narrow space at the back we are largely ignored. But at one point in the recording of this week’s episode about the benefits of music and movement for people with Parkinson’s, the pub first fell silent, then delivered a standing ovation for one contributor.

Sadly, it was not the singing talents of the movers and shakers as revealed in our “We Will Survive” video that sparked this reaction but a performance by one of our guests, an opera singer. Bibi Heal had come along to talk to us about the work she does with pianist Stephen Barlow, crafting songs, that as her website puts it, “move body and brain with an accent on Parkinson’s.”

We had all heard of Parkinson’s choirs and had a vague idea that singing was good for you but Bibi told us why that might be true:

“The benefits of singing for people with Parkinson's are, posturally, you learn about breathing., you learn to open yourself out, the euphoria of joint endeavour, and it's incredibly good for speech.”

That’s the view from a singer but it was echoed by Professor Grenville Hancock, a conductor and academic who has done great work on the therapeutical benefits of music, including campaigning to get singing available for prescription on the NHS:

“Unlike other mammals, we are put apart from the mother - and the baby in the first perhaps 13 months of its life depends entirely upon modulation of sound to elicit the responses for survival. So it's no surprise, then that in our physical and neurological development as human beings, singing is absolutely fundamental to the way we feel.”

Mark Mardell, who curated this episode, then asks us what our attitude to singing is. Most of us have enjoyed singing in choirs but long ago, although Jeremy Paxman says he was in a choir until quite recently, and only stopped because Parkinson’s had affected his vision, making it impossible to read a score.

Bibi talked us through various songs and how they could be appropriate for soothing Parkinson’s symptoms - including Sleep by Ivor Gurney, described as paracetamol for insomnia, which you can see her perform in the video above. She then puts several of us through various vocal exercises illustrating how learning to improve your singing voice is a good way of combating the speech problems that often come with Parkinson’s.

But it is the combination of music and exercise which seems to offer one really effective way of quietening down those Parkinson’s symptoms. Bibi works with an organisation called Neuro Heroes, specialist physiotherapists like Anna Kharin who joined us in the pub. Anna had a broader definition of Nuro Heroes as “people with neurological conditions, with Parkinson's, that know or realize the benefits of exercise. Whether they like it or not, they get up, they participate in that exercise, and they try their best.”

Anna and another neuro physiotherapist Laura Douglas started what they describe as the UK’s first online gym for Parkinson’s four years ago and now offer 22 classes a week live on Zoom:

“This isn't just an ordinary exercise class. They're designed to make sure you meet the guidelines for your Parkinson's, but they're unique. We use music, we use playful interactions to make sure that you're working hard, but hopefully you're having fun and you're enjoying it, so you're not looking at the clock, and you come back and you want to do more and more.”

Not looking at the clock during an exercise class and willing it to be over? That would be a first for me. We are also introduced to the concept of exercise snacks, sadly not crisps or chocolate bars, but short bursts of activity which you can fit around your daily routines.

We end by coming back to music and the vital role it can play in making an exercise regime more effective and enjoyable:”Music is really important,” says Anna Kharin, “because it really helps us take tempo up and down. It's really good for distraction and motivation..” She stresses however that it has to be fun for everyone. ”Make it playful, keep it varied, and hopefully somebody finds a song that they like.”

UPDATE

Last week’s episode featured an item on the frustration felt by some participants about slow progress in the phase 3 trial of Exenatide, a drug that could be the first to slow the progress of Parkinson’s. Alison Elkin told us that a lack of communication meant she felt she was being left in the dark long after the trial had ended, not knowing for instance. whether she had been on the drug or a placebo.

Well, now there has been some good news.Alison and a number of other participants have told me they have been contacted and informed about what they had been given during the trial - in Alison’s case she was delighted to hear it was Exenatide. They have also been invited to an online meeting in mid-October where they will be given the results of the trial. That will, of course, be a very big moment for the Parkinson’s community and we will endeavour to bring you the news as soon as that is possible.