Rock’n’Roll Playlist

We’ve been talking about the three stations in the Rock’n’Roll space in the lab. Last week was the compositions in NoteFlight and the first week of December we talked about the music history of Rock’n’Roll.

The third station that rounds this all out is the listening station. We compiled a playlist of Rock’n’roll for students to take time out and just listen. Everyone gains benefits listening to music, whether it is stress relief or lowering blood pressure or simply activating both sides of the brain for better studying. This station is set for learning about Rock’n’Roll, though, so buckle up for some great music.

Would you like to listen? Click here. I’m listening to it today. There are some great songs!

Keep On Rockin’

Two weeks ago we at MTMS shared about our new Rock’n’Roll history station, and we also brought in composition and a playlist station (which you’ll hear about next week).

This composition station is so popular with the students! We have a short bit of instructions, because mostly we need specific instruments in rock: vocals, electric guitar, electric bass, and drums. Note that we aren’t limited to just those, but that’s where we start.

https://www.noteflight.com/music/titles/8b4c78e1-bc0f-4b64-9412-e28fd4835493

I seem to only be able to link the song above, because it is public. Click the play button on the top of the sheet music. Enjoy this version, and I have a few screenshots of other pieces to share. I’m amazed at how many students have tried this already in the first week, and also how much creativity they bring to the songs. Ask your student about their rock’n’roll experiences and if they wrote or are going to write a song. Maybe they’ll share it with you, too!

Let’s Learn About Rock’n’Roll

Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets was the first famous rock and roll song, released in 1954. Rock existed before; it existed as African American blues and added speed and electricity, and then bass and drums. It became a new genre and caught on quickly with African American and then white musicians, too.

There are many options in the lab to learn about rock’n’roll for MTMS students. We have a slide show of musical history about rock’n’roll, there’s an active listening station with a great playlist to discover new music, and there are templates in Noteflight to create your own rock’n’roll. This is also a great time to bring it to your teacher’s attention that you want to learn to play one or more of these rock’n’roll songs, whether it’s one from the playlist or something you discovered on your own time.

Rock’n’roll is our lab focus in December. We can’t wait to see what all of our students do with this fun genre.

Piano Practice and Bradykinesia

With Parkinson’s Disease, one of the defining symptoms is bradykinesia. What’s that? Yeah, I asked the same thing. Bradykinesia is a slowness of movement that isn’t necessarily explainable with other known effects of PD but is definitely there.

Piano practice is one place where bradykinesia shows up for Michelle. It affects agility in vocal and instrumental play. After tremor, this was the first symptom Michelle noticed: She could no longer strum fast-paced rhythm guitar patterns at full tempo for more than a couple measures before her battery ran out. Since the symptoms started in 2021, she has had to adjust how she plays.

The good news is medication can lessen many of PD’s symptoms. Levodopa has restored much of the mobility that PD stole, but musical agility is still a struggle.

Since all songs need to be practiced at slowly before gradually speeding up, Michelle is able to tackle many pieces with her music. She’s been able to practice and feed her soul with her beloved music. However, at some point she would love to regain the ability to play quickly.

In typical Michelle style, she’s working out the kinks in her musical ability like everything else, with a methodical approach and taking data. She noticed Sunday, Nov 5, that she had trouble doing anything. She wanted to speed up a few short Bergmüller pieces to allegro, but after playing ten or twenty minutes, she crashed.

She tried to get on the exercise bike, because she’s learned it triggers dopamine production and that helps, but it was impossible to rotate her feet faster than they wanted to rotate. Period. So she sat there biking at a super slow speed for an hour in front of the TV until bedtime.

Monday was worse. While there was a girl’s trip and a time change happened on Sunday, she only lasted five minutes for practice. She’s working to understand she has a time limit on playing.

In her notes, musical agility requires more dopamine. Michelle is also determined, so of course she brought out the camera to see how her practice worked on Tuesday. The camera times out, so she started and stopped it after each run of an individual piece or passage.

Below are the videos where Michelle can play at some speed, and then when her battery ran out. After bradykinesia kicks in, she rests with her puppies.

This is a timeline from Tuesday, Nov 7:
8:00 am – morning Levodopa*
10:00ish am – 60 min on stationary bike
11:30 am – late morning Levodopa*
11:33 am – started practicing piano
12:08 pm – video 1 of 2 (the bottom one below)
12:11 pm – video 2 of 2 (the top one below)
1:30 – can move again

*carbidopa/levodopa 25/100 x 2 both times