I have two big fears when it comes to Parkinson’s disease: losing my memory and losing my ability to type. Fortunately, dementia is rare in early-onset patients. But my motor symptoms have already arrived and are, so far, largely left-sided. I can tell that I’ve lost typing speed in that hand, which is maddening, and eventually my right side will also deteriorate. In an effort to regain some of what I’ve lost, or hold onto what remains, I’ve decided to learn how to play the piano. (Additionally, I’m taking up HIIT and boxing exercises, as recommended by most Parkinson’s experts.)
In elementary school I attended mandatory violin lessons for a couple years, and in middle school I was a second-chair flautist, but I never learned how to play anything more than “Chopsticks” or the Jaws theme on my grandma’s piano. Setting up my new Yamaha keyboard last week, I naturally imagined playing “What’d I Say, Pt. 1 & 2” and the piano coda to “Layla” (with visions of Goodfellas dancing through my head) right out of the gate. But I’m a Gershwin, Arlen, Rodgers and Hart gal at heart (not to mention Mercer, Kern and Porter) and will probably mostly focus on songs I already croon in the shower.
Here’s an unofficial top 10 list of what I expect to try to learn first:
- “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (Fred Astaire)
- “The Very Thought of You” (Nat ‘King’ Cole)
- “Our Love is Here to Stay” (Dinah Washington)
- “I Only Have Eyes for You” (Doris Day)
- “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” (The Shirelles)
- “All the Things You Are” (Ella Fitzgerald)
- “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart” (Judy Garland)
- “Unchained Melody” (The Righteous Brothers)
- “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (The Platters)
- “Save the Last Dance for Me” (The Drifters)
I doubt I’ll be very good at any of it, but it’s never too late to start teaching your dog some of your favorite Tin Pan Alley classics.