Playing The Concertina After Stroke

[Nanette Hooker]

After my stroke, my right hand has been very weak and I have found it impossible to play my English Concertina. Recently I had a very encouraging email from Chris Timson and decided to have another attempt at playing my instrument and discovered I can play a few tunes. They are very ragged with pauses where I try to find the correct button but the tunes are recognisable - to me anyway. Sometimes my fingers droop and I press down buttons unintenionally which sounds awful, but I feel with practice I will get better. The D above middle C is a hard one to play.

 

This has made me very happy and given me hope - something which has been lacking in my life for the last 6 weeks.

 

[Animaterra]

Good for you for trying! It must be so frustrating- much harder than when you first were learning. But keep at it, and know that we're rooting and cheering for you all over the globe! (three cheers!

[Henk van Aalten]

Good for you for trying! It must be so frustrating- much harder than when you first were learning. But keep at it, and know that we're rooting and cheering for you all over the globe!     (three  cheers!

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Nanette, I join Allison from this part of the globe!!!

All the best for you and your concertina playing.

[bigsqueezergeezer]

Me too from the UK, Nanette, we really are rooting for you! Your courage is admirable!

 

Derek

[Mark Evans]

Dear Nanette,

 

I firmly believe that for us who need to play the concertina to complete our sense of self, this wonderful instrument is the River of Life. This is going to sound whacky, but it is a healer. Keep playing it and holding it.

 

Thank you.

[Ashkettle]

After my stroke, my right hand has been very weak and I have found it impossible to play my English Concertina.  Recently I had a very encouraging email from Chris Timson and decided to have another attempt at playing my instrument and discovered I can play a few tunes.  They are very ragged with pauses where I try to find the correct button but the tunes are recognisable - to me anyway.  Sometimes my fingers droop and I press down buttons unintenionally which sounds awful, but I feel with practice I will get better.  The D above middle C is a hard one to play.

 

This has made me very happy and given me hope - something which has been lacking in my life for the last 6 weeks.

 

       

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And here I've been crotchety because I got a nasty gash in my palm yesterday and can't play until it heals some. It's all about perspective.

 

I'm very happy to hear that it's starting to work out. Keep at it, it's good for the body and soul.

[Greg Jowaisas]

Hi Nanette,

 

We are all rooting for you. Keep after it.

 

You may want to bring your concertina to your therapy and show it to your therapist. I've found physical therapists to be very creative and insightful people.

They may build a whole series of exercises and create a therapy regime to help get you playing again.

 

I wish you all the best in your journey to recover.

 

Greg

[Robert Booth]

Nanette:

May your strength continue to grow. One of the many wonderful things about this forum is the wide community that it provides, and the world of encouragement and good will that it allows. A strong will can triumph over adversity, I am sure of it. Keep on.

Rob

[Bob Tedrow]

Speaking as a retired occupational therapist and concertina player, I say keep it up. Music is good for body and soul.

 

 

 

very best wishes,

Bob Tedrow

[Chris Timson]

I find I care about this forum and its members a good deal. I value highly the way we support each other in adversity, as is shown for Dave Prebble and Nanette, and indeed myself after my stroke. There are some good people here.

 

Playing the concertina after my stroke was hard work, but I firmly believe possibly the best exercise I could have done. I've said before, but it's true: physiotherapists love stroke survivors who are musicians! Nanette will make it back, with our support and with that of her friends in Oz. Ask her about the Gummers.

 

Let's hear it for c.net and Poaceae!

 

Chris

[Helen]

Hi Nanette,

 

Thank you for sharing with us and letting us know how you are getting on.

 

Three cheers for you. We are all pulling for you (and us anglo players are also pushing for you)! Okay that's it, I can't think of any more analogies.

 

Good for you. Keep on keeping on. And please keep us informed.

 

The best to you.

 

Helen

[Alan Day]

I must thank you Nannette and you Chris for sharing your stroke experiances with us.I know it must help you both to discuss this problem with someone and we appreciate that.It is also hard to imagine that one day you are fine and the next day part of you is not working properly.Many of us who play the concertina and are as addicted to playing as you both are, cannot begin to think what it must be like to not play to the standard you were at, or even worse not play at all.At least your hard work and experiences are recorded for future players who may suffer this problem and may gain encouragement by your progress and help.

Thanks again

Al

[John Nixon]

Hi Nanette,

I have just read your news and am sorry you are going to experience a TEMPORARY discomfort when playing your E nglish Concertina.

I can asure you that you will find , albut slowly , that you will regain your favourite pastime .

Back in 1981 I suffered 2 massive heart attacks and died twice. After I started to recover, I had no interest in music for several months, and was aprehensive to even touch any of my instruments. Then one day , my wife set up my concertina ,music & stand in a spare room. She had also invited a musician friend to visit and they soon encouraged me to play again.

I soon regained confidence and within a year was performing in Jazz Clubs and for reco rding sessions etc.,

I told the above to Chris Timson after his Stroke & more recently to Neil Wayne, & hope that it helped a little. Good Luck & Best Wishes. JOHN NIXON.

[Robin Madge]

Best wishes from me as well.

 

I am curious about how the brain recovers/reprograms itself and how musicians cope better.

Could it be that it is easier to endlessly repeat a movement, to relearn it, when it has some immediate positive purpose, as in depressing a button and playing a tune. If so, then some tunes should have different aspects of learning "built in" to them.

Some will have a particular note repeated more than others, some will have a particular sequence repeated. Some will be restricted to certain fingers while others will have an almost random use of fingers.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for tunes with different trends that could be of use in reinforcing the brain/muscle connection in different ways?

Of course, if you hate a particular tune it won't be much use in positive reinforcement!

 

Robin Madge

[Nanette Hooker]

Best wishes from me as well.

 

I am curious about how the brain recovers/reprograms itself and how musicians cope better.

Could it be that it is easier to endlessly repeat a movement, to relearn it, when it has some immediate positive purpose, as in depressing a button and playing a tune. If so, then some tunes should have different aspects of learning "built in" to them.

Some will have a particular note repeated more than others, some will have a particular sequence repeated. Some will be restricted to certain fingers while others will have an almost random use of fingers.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for tunes with different trends that could be of use in reinforcing the brain/muscle connection in different ways?

Of course, if you hate a particular tune it won't be much use in positive reinforcement!

 

Robin Madge

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I think that would be difficult to generalise and each musician would fiind tunes which suited them. In my case I have found "Clare Jig" (in G) a good one to play at the moment because there are no low D notes in it and the repeated note sequence DED occurs a quite number of times.

 

BTW "Clare Jig" is also called "The Old Favourite" see here

[John Wild]

I too humbly add my best wishes for a full recovery.

 

In a piece of lateral thinking, I wondered if the points made here about relearning movements and patterns could have some relevance in the separate thread on memorising music.

 

Best wishes,

 

John Wild

[greenferry]

Nannette,

 

I hope you're still playing! I felt some courage reading about your efforts to get back into playing. I used to play tenor recorder and then had an accident that badly busted up my right hand some years ago. I couldn't do anything with my right hand for a long time, and couldn't make the reach anymore for the tenor recorder, it was just too painful. My hand is still recovering, and I decided to try concertina because it doesn't require a stretch like that. It's still a challenge to get the agility back into my fingers, even with the smaller range of motion. I enjoyed reading about yours and others' experiences after a setback.

[greenferry]

this might helpyou,rest your fingers ,pretend you are going to play the piano. these are exercises given to pianists to strengthen the fingers.lift your first finger,up while keepingthe other three as if they were restingon the piano ivories. i n turn do this with all your different fingers.alternatively have you tried a grip master .best wishes Dick Miles.

Dick, those are all very helpful comments, and I will try them out! Thanks for your suggestions.

 

Edited just to say that the gripmaster is a great idea. I ordered a medium-strength red one!

Edited March 29, 2006 by greenferry