Sing Out, Louise!

Sing Out, Louise!

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The Value of Singing to Combat Parkinson’s Disease

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Rosalind Russell urges one of her daughters to “Sing out!” in the movie Gypsy.  (Click on the image and see for yourself.)  If she were alive today, she could say the same thing to all of us who have Parkinson’s.  On the one hand, you may think that Parkinson’s is nothing to sing about.  But on the other hand, singing and related voice exercises can help you deal with a host of PD problems, especially as the disease progresses.

Let’s hear from a few fellow Parkies who took part in a group therapeutic singing program and were later interviewed about what they got from the experience.  Their comments are collected in a Journal of Music Therapy article, “Experiences of Person’s with Parkinson’s Disease Engaged in Group Therapeutic Singing.”

But first:  why singing?  According to the article, “There is as much as a 90% prevalence of voice and swallowing impairment in persons with PD, and neither medication nor deep brain stimulation surgery effectively treats such impairments….[Group singing] has the potential to target many symptoms of PD, particularly the non-motor symptoms (i.e., depression and anxiety) that do not readily respond to current pharmacological treatment.”

A little more background:  the researchers had the Parkies complete eight weeks of group singing lessons, taught by certified music therapists.  The sessions included more than just singing songs.  There were exercises in lip buzzing, sliding from one pitch to another, increasing the loudness while you sang, and increasing the length of your phrasing so that you repeatedly sang the same song but took fewer and fewer breaths.

Each participant was interviewed four to six moths after the group singing lessons.  So why don’t I shut up and let them speak for themselves!

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Why do it?

Betty:  “One of the very important things I think is most of the people who have Parkinson’s have trouble swallowing at the later stages and a lot of them choke to death.  That’s a hard fact, I guess.  That’s what they say.  So why wouldn’t you want to do whatever you could to keep from choking?”

Irene:  “You learn how to breathe correctly for the best benefit to make these muscles being used and gradually being stronger…It’s a fact, Parkinson’s patients have problems with swallowing, so the theory is if you can make those muscles stronger you would be able to lessen the bad effects of poor swallowing and choking.  Choking is frightening.”

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On how belonging to a singing group made people less lonely and isolated

Jane:  “[I would recommend the singing to a friend.]  Because it’s a wonderful thing for people with Parkinson’s.  We’re not too fond of having it.  We don’t know what’s coming next and stuff so it’s just good.  You don’t think of yourself quite as much.”

Ella:  “We have got to have fun when we’ve got Parkinson’s.  We can’t just dwell on it, ‘Oh dear!  Ain’t it awful!’”

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Do you need to have singing talent?

Ann:  I know I don’t have much musical talent, but we could sing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ and nobody really cared if you were on pitch or on key.  I think that’s what made it fun…We could make a joyful noise and nobody really cared about the quality of the noise.”

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What effect did it have on how you talk?

Betty:  “I had forgotten how many – it was three of four people – told me that I was talking louder.  They could understand me better…I was quite surprised.”

The researchers also added the following:  Other participants expressed how speaking loudly improved their communication with their spouses, who had complained about their inability to hear them; participants reported resulting stress and frustration in their marriages.  In addition to speaking louder and enunciating better, other participants recalled breathing better and more deeply, helping promote relaxation, reduce back pain, and minimize stress.

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Final note, from me:  If there’s no singing group near you, you can always play music at home and sing along to it, or sing to music while driving a car.  Make a playlist of songs that are the right pitch for you.  Then sing out, Louise!