“Parkinson’s patients have a special interest in art and have creative hobbies incompatible with their physical limitations.”
-Professor Rivka Inzelberg
A few years ago, Rivka Inzelberg of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sagol Neuroscience Center, noticed something: people with Parkinson disease seemed to have an outsized imagination and capacity for creativity. She and her colleagues devised a study to find out if it was true.
The results were clear: people with Parkinson’s responded to abstract pictures with a wider range of interpretations and more symbolic meaning than those without the disease. They were brimming with creativity.
Some theories suggest the surge in creativity is due to medication: there’s a well-established link between dopamine and creativity, and it’s possible the dopamine boost provided by drugs like levodopa propel people with Parkinson’s to uncharacteristic artistic heights. Or perhaps the answer is more subtle: receiving a movement disorder diagnosis may stir the soul to deeper reflection and a profound sense of time, which is the ripe ground for creation.
Whatever the cause, we believe everyone impacted by a movement disorder not only holds within them the power to create, but the power to find joy, beauty, and a good time in the creations of others, and that includes swaying to the beat of great music or singing along in the shower.
1. Linda Ronstadt
2. Ozzy Osbourne
Mama I’m Coming Home and Flying High Again
3. Neil Diamond
Sweet Caroline and Cracklin Rosie
4. Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire
5. Benny Mardones
6. Jean Shepard
7. Jimmy Giuffre
8. Jerney Kaagman of Earth & Fire
9. Martha Johnson of Martha and the Muffins
10. Glenn Tipton – Judas Priest
Victim of Changes and Breaking the Law
11. Jeff Cook – Alabama
12. Jimmy Knepper
13. Johnny Cash (13)
I Walk the Line and Folsom Prison Blues
14. Daryl Dragon – Captain & Tennille
If the music has you feeling inspired, check out our Watch List, too, featuring replays of our top music-themed online programs:
- Advanced Technology and Music for Gait Training with Hope Young, MT-BC
- Music and the PD Brain – wHolistic!™ with Matthew Brodsky, MD –
- Live Life Out Loud! About Music Therapy for PD – Therapy Break™ with Lindsay Zehren
- Music, Rhythm, and the Parkinson’s Brain – Lunch with Docs PD
- I’ve Got Rhythm – Therapy Break™
- Tremble Clefs Voice Therapy – Therapy Break™ wotj SunJoo Lee (MT-BC) –
I found this subject very interesting, as a veteran harmonica player (50 years+) and with 21 years of living with my Parkinson’s. I have recently started using the typical PD hand tremor I have as a positive distinction to my playing. Having tremor only in one hand, my right, I will hold the microphone with my right hand and the harmonica with my left. The tremor while I play is “allowed” to go wild, not held back. This causes a great vibrato effect that is sought after on many songs (the wah wah sound). It also helps disguise my stage-fright, or simple nervousness I often have when playing before an audience. A shaky right hand is often a sign of that nervousness. But when I use it on stage, people can hear that sound and see the cause, my shaking microphone. Not many use this “technique”, so I think I am using my “disease” to make my sound distinctive. In short, I use the lemons I’m handed (PD) and make delicious lemonade out of them. I am now calling this move my “lemon-squeeze” movement. Now this may or may not be useful to other harmonica players with PD, as some don’t have much control over the hand shaking frequency, or they cannot voluntarily stop the tremor by directing the mind. Right now I can do it, and it works well for me.
Thanks for this cool article. And thanks for your comment John Giannico. I was just diagnosed with Parkinson’s on Tuesday. I play bass and keys and just built a home recording studio last year as my retirement gig. https://edgetonestudios.com
It’s still so early for me that I don’t even know if I’ll be able to play bass properly again, even for a period of time. I guess this article gives me some hope that I can still pursue music with this diagnosis.