Overview
Thanks to a network grant from Parkinson’s UK in 2018, we assembled a team of people with Parkinson’s, scientists, and practitioners to develop an agenda for researching how music could help people with Parkinson’s. What people with Parkinson’s wanted to know was which music should we use, when, and for what purpose, and how?
Since 2022, when we received grants from Swiss National Science Foundation and Parkinson Schweiz, we have explored four main concepts in Parkinson’s care: i) music and identity, ii) ways of making music together, iii) how listening to (and sharing) music effects our emotions, and iv) how music can be used to motivate and manage movement.
Songlines for Parkinson’s is a new group-based music-and-movement course co-developed with people with Parkinson’s, practitioners, medical professionals and scientists. The course includes a range of music-based strategies such learning about rhythms and drumming, guided music and motor imagery, and movement to music that together reduce motor symptom severity for people with Parkinson’s. Each week, Songlines has a different music-based theme, including music for marching, music from Africa, Latin America, India, Asia and South Pacific (yes, everyone learns to do a Haka!). We also included music from the 50s all the way through to the 00s, and different styles such as Flamenco and Line Dancing. Each theme focuses on a different therapeutic approach to helping with symptoms of Parkinson’s, so marching helps people to learn to find the beat and walk in time, whereas the Haka focuses on facial expressions and vocal strength. Through trials conducted in Switzerland and the UK, we found evidence of reduced motor symptoms severity, improved functional, increased social connectedness and the desire to continue to use the new strategies to help improve living with Parkinson’s.
Playlists for Parkinson’s evolved from the surveys we conducted in Switzerland and the UK with over 200 people with Parkinson’s, investigating how Swiss and British people with Parkinson’s use music in their everyday lives. The information we discovered is the basis for a new website www.Playlist4Parkinsons.com This new web-based resource shares playlists of songs for movement and mood, including personal stories from people with Parkinson’s about music for motivation, music for relaxation, music for helping people through their diagnosis, music for walking, and music that helps people reconnect with their musical selves and find new ways of being. You can also find info on how to make your own playlists.
Music is always personal, and whilst we can’t prescribe specific songs, we can show you which types of songs will help - and how- and share with you how other people with Parkinson’s use music to improve their movement and mood.
