The music roars. My drumsticks smash a rock refrain known the world over.
My arms whirl in furious arcs, propelling the sticks to a perfect rhythm on the drumkit in front of me.
In my head, I’m on stage at Wembley. Live Aid 1985; 70,000 people screaming for more high hat.
Offstage, a who’s who of drumming legends look on proudly. Keith Moon, Cozy Powell, Dave Grohl. Behind them, Def Leppard’s Rick Allen raises his one arm and gives a huge thumbs up.
But it’s not Wembley. It’s not even Eden Court in Inverness. This is an activity room in the Moray Sports Centre in Elgin. My ‘drumkit’ is a balance ball anchored in a plastic bucket and the music is being piped in from a Spotify playlist.
Meanwhile, I’m not a rock legend. I’m the health reporter for the Press and Journal. I played second trombone in my high school orchestra.
But none of that matters right now. Ok, so I may not be a rock star. But I’m having so much fun it sure feels like it.
Drumming highs and personal lows at Parkinson’s Beats
I was warned this would happen.
I’d heard about a drumming class in Elgin created for people with Parkinson’s.
Called Parkinson’s Beats, it had only been running for about a year but was proving to be such as hit there was talk of expansion. The drumming not only was great way to boost co-ordination and balance, it was also a real community builder.
What I hadn’t realised was just how much fun it was going to be.
“I guarantee you are going to come out of this on a high,” Jo Holland tells me when I arrive for the class on a recent Monday morning.
It was Jo who invited me down to take part. A former finance manager for shortbread maker Walker’s in nearby Aberlour, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2017.
Since then, she’s had what she describes with great understatement as a “series of bad luck”.
She had a heart attack and later fell badly on her ankle. Then her husband was diagnosed with cancer.
Needing to take some exercise, she found Sharon Findley, the Royal Voluntary Service activity co-ordinator for Moray.
Sharon, an infectious ball of energy who specialises in seated activity programmes, had just started a drumming group at the behest of someone she was working with on another project.
“This person asked me if I could do drumming,” says Sharon, who joins me and Jo in the Moray Sports Centre lobby. “Of course, I said yes, and then I had to go home and Google it!”
The ‘workout for your brain’ that numbs Parkinson’s pain
What Jo discovered in Sharon’s drumming class was the outsized benefits it had for her condition.
“I’m just absolutely high because it takes the pain away,” she says. “People with Parkinson’s have pain. You wake up with pain and it’s with you all day. But when you’ve had your drumming session, it’s gone.”
Sharon chips in: “It’s really amazing. You’re getting a wee bit of a cardiovascular workout, because the music’s quite lively.
“But you’re also getting a workout for your brain. You’re remembering the routines, your count, and you’re getting your body and your brain to do the same thing at the same time.”
Spreading the word of Parkinson’s drumming
The project has been so successful, Jo is working on bigger plans.
A number of drummers already Zoom into the Monday classes from as far afield as Wick and Ipswich. But Jo envisions the drumming classes spreading around the country.
On the day I’m there, Jo is scheduled to do a presentation on the class for 21 people from Parkinson’s Scotland, the charity organisation.
She is also helping with a research project with RGU [Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen] to study the benefits of the classes. Though for the people that come, those benefits are already clear.
“We’ve noticed quite a big reduction in the tremor from when people come in to when they leave,” Sharon says.
The ‘feel-good factor’ for drummer Tony
The rest of the class at Parkinson’s Beats – there’s about 10 of us today – meanders in to the lobby and Jo and Sharon greet them like old friends.
Andy Read stops at the table for a chat. He’s brought some weights for his wrists to help him drum better.
“They stop the shakes, not 100% but they reduce it significantly,” he tells me.
The warmest welcome is for Tony Cardwell. Sharon gives him a huge hug and says it’s great to see him.
Tony is a drumming class stalwart – he even has his own personalised drumsticks given to him for his recent 80th birthday.
He’s been absent the past few weeks as he was in hospital, but he’s back for more.
“It’s the feel-good factor,” Tony tells me when I ask what he gets out of the class. Drumming to music, he says, is much more fun that the usual physio Parkinson’s patients have to endure. And it triggers a dopamine rush.
“I just feel great,” Tony explains.
Rocking all over the world at Parkinson’s Beats
Finally, it’s my turn.
The class starts with a few warm-up drills to get the arms loose. But we soon get right into it with Queen’s We Will Rock You.
Sharon, who never stops encouraging us for the whole one-hour session, demonstrates the rhythms she wants us to follow before pressing play on her Spotify playlist.
I’m soon pounding away on my balance ball like I’m Queen drummer Roger Taylor. Boom, Boom, SNAP! Boom, Boom, SNAP!
Next up it’s Status Quo’s Rocking All Over the World.
This is one of the picks from Jo, who clearly likes her rock and roll.
“Stand up for the Quo!” she shouts with glee and a few of us, me included, get to our feet. I even know the words to this one, so sing along like it’s drumming karaoke.
Am I Ringo Starr or Johnny Cash?
I’m a little out of breath now, but there’s no time to stop as it’s Sweet Caroline, followed by Tony’s favourite, Reuben James by Kenny Rogers.
Next to me, Tony expertly drills the rhythm onto his balance ball, personalised drum sticks flashing in the sunlight.
In comparison I’m flailing like a fish, but I get the feeling there no judgement inhere, so keep on drumming.
Yellow Submarine is up next. It might be the worst Beatles song but it’s great for drumming. Maybe because it’s one of Ringo’s? Hmmm.
Before I have time to dwell on that thought, we’re into Folsom Prison Blues, those distinct tones informing us that “This is Johnny Cash”.
We run through more songs. Deeply Dippy by Right Said Fred (my favourite), Delilah by Tom Jones (more complicated), Lou Bega’s Mambo No. 5 and I Love to Boogie by T-Rex (a crowd-pleasure).
Finally, we warm down, and take a well deserved breather.
The end of the class – or is it?
As we file out, thanking Sharon for a great class, I see I’m not the only person who enjoyed themselves.
Everyone’s smiling as they say goodbye, thoughts already on next week’s class.
Jo is waving goodbye to the people on Zoom, looking flushed from the effort but pleased with the outcome.
“This type of exercise should be on prescription,” she says, a huge smile on her face.
I head out to the car park.
As I walk down the stairwell I hear Whigfield’s Saturday Night playing on the sports centre speakers.
Before I even know what I’m doing, my hands beat out a rhythm on the bannister…
The drumming class is on every Monday at 11am at the Moray Sports Centre in Elgin. Contact Jo Holland for more details at jhollandparkinsons@gmail.com or check out the Parkinson’s Beats Facebook page here.
