Drumming For Parkinson's
You may be wondering what's with these four guys. Here's the connection....Ginger Baker and Jim Keltner are drummers. John Stamos and me are wanna-be's.
You may also be wondering what's the deal with you and the drums? It's therapy....really...and it kind of works....on a few levels.
Here's the thing....Parkinson's affects people in many different ways. One of my problems is my hand freezes. It mostly affects me when I'm writing. Doesn't sound like much of a problem but I write almost all these blog pieces in longhand before typing them up. If I let it sit a couple of days, I can't read what I wrote. That's a problem.
For about the last month, I've been going to a local Guitar Center and they've let me bang away on an electronic drum kit. I do about ten songs and I'm done. It's a pretty physical workout, too. I'm sweating when it's over.
The nice thing is no one can hear it but me. The kit has headphones and I plug in the earbuds of my Ipod under them and the suddenly I'm Ringo, Well maybe not Ringo, but I can play side two of Abbey Road, including his famous drum solo.
Does this really work? I don't know for sure, but I do feel better when I'm done. I've done some writing afterwards and it goes smoother. Maybe it's coincidence, maybe not. It's whatever works for you.
One other thing, it works your mind, too. I know most of the songs on my Ipod...especially since the same ones have been on there for eight years...sigh. I listen carefully to the beat and all the patterns...the fills and drum rolls, See I know the drum lingo HA!! But I'm thinking about what the real drummers are playing and I'm trying to duplicate it. It's a lot of work....keeps your mind active.
They say percussion is good for the brain, especially for people with neurological problems. I believe it on a couple different levels. Check out this story about Mickey Hart, former drummer for the Grateful Dead, and his grandmother who had an advanced case of Alzheimer's. Strange but true.
Like I said earlier....WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU!
Your final question is "hey, when are we gonna get to hear you play?"
Yeah.....that's not gonna happen. I'm not even good enough to play with a junior high band...yet. Uncle Jessie is a lot...I mean a real lot better than me. But give it another couple of months and we'll see.
Ginger and I are working on something now...."In the white roon, with black curtains, near the station..."