How singing is helping those who suffer from Parkinson’s disease

August 2, 2019   By By Robbie Sequeira, Staff Writer

Despite being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, Paul Ennis’ love for music and singing hasn’t dimmed.

Through music therapy classes on every Wednesday afternoon at First Baptist Church of Ames, he gets to sing a favorite song of his.

It’s a Perry Como classic: “Catch a Falling Star,” a song that reminds him to hold onto precious things life has to offer.

“We all have our struggles. We all are having a hard time,” Ennis said. “But the song, to me, means catch a happy feeling or moment and keep it in your pocket. It helps during the rough days.”

Ennis, along with 20 others in the class, who are also affected by Parkinson’s, will be performing in the third-annual Parkinson’s Disease Singing Festival at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10, at First Baptist Church of Ames.

Elizabeth Stegemöller, assistant professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University and the festival’s organizer, leads the Ames group, but she also has conducted studies on how singing and vocal exercises can improve functions for those with Parkinson’s.

“We do a lot of vocal exercises in classes that focus on those muscles,” Stegemöller said. “We also talk about proper breath support, posture and how we use the muscles involved with the vocal cords, which requires them to intricately coordinate good, strong muscle activity.”

Parkinson’s Disease is an incurable and neurodegenerative disorder that, as the disease progresses, includes a host of deteriorating motor functions for those diagnosed.

“We often associate Parkinson’s Disease with tremors, or shaking, but there is also a gradual and progressive toll being taken on those who suffer from it,” Stegemöller said.

Age is often a factor in susceptibility to the disease, according to the National Institute of Health. An estimated 10 million people are living with Parkinson’s worldwide, and the average age of onset is 60 years old.

Some of the findings from Stegemöller’s study have already been published in Medical and Rehabilitation Journals for Parkinson’s Disease.

However, through music as means of therapy, Stegemöller has seen a link between singing and improvement in motor functions for Parkinson’s patients.

In 2017, she headed research at ISU, and data from that study found that singing can improve patients’ breathing, allowing them strength in their muscles to speak and swallow

Singing requires the use of the same muscles associated with swallowing and respiratory control, two functions complicated by Parkinson’s that can lead to death.

Motivated by her research, Stegemöller has been holding music therapy classes in Ames, Waverly and Des Moines over the past three years, with the goal to improve patients’ muscle activity and coordination through song.

“Music has a therapeutic link for many people — they way we hear certain notes, the way we connect with sound,” Stegemoeller said. “For the people I’ve been working with, seeing the improvement over each week with their breathing is always encouraging. It’s what make all of this so rewarding.”On Aug. 10, Parkinson’s Disease singing groups from across the country will come together united by an afflicting and degenerative disease, but a motivation to not let Parkinson’s define them.

Ennis, himself, will continue to participate in the classes, because they have become in a sense — a falling star.

On Aug. 10, Parkinson’s Disease singing groups from across the country will come together united by an afflicting and degenerative disease, but a motivation to not let Parkinson’s define them.Ennis, himself, will continue to participate in the classes, because they have become in a sense — a falling star.

“Every day can be different with (Parkinson’s) but things like this, and being in a group with others who are going through similar struggles — makes you appreciate moments like this,” he said.

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