Hello dear research friends, interested people and those who would like to become one!

Since April I am a PhD student at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and have the great pleasure to give you an introduction to the project “Music, Movement, Mood & Parkinson’s” with this article.

What is the aim of the project?

Through an international consultation process, we want to work with people with Parkinson’s, therapists, doctors and other researchers to develop a new programme that uses music to improve the quality of life of people with Parkinson’s. This programme is a neurodegenerative disease that affects people with Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease for which, unfortunately, there is still no cure and as its incidence continues to increase, it is imperative to find alternative therapies to medication or surgery that not only help with motor symptoms but also improve the mood and well-being of those affected. This is where music comes in! Music has been proven to have a positive influence on our mood, especially if we really like the music we listen to and associate it with fond memories (as a systematic musicologist, I can only confirm this ;-)).  Moreover, these music-induced effects do not fade away over time, no, quite the opposite in fact, one can constantly listen to new music and associate positive experiences with it, thus creating an ever-growing musical treasure.

How is the project structured?

The project has been running for four years (yes, that’s right, you can look forward to new blog entries for that long ;-)) and we are currently in the consultation phase. Since April, we have held workshops in England, Ticino and Lucerne, asking different Parkinson’s patients, therapists, doctors and other scientists about their experiences and opinions on the topic of music, movement, mood and Parkinson’s disease. The results of the workshops will again be used in consultation with all participants to develop the new music-based programme. It is important for us to find out whether there are contextual differences between the three sites or whether it is possible to actually design a universal programme that can be implemented everywhere with only minimal adjustments.

From 2023, this programme will be tested in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) at the three sites in London, Lucerne and Lugano. An RCT originates from the clinical field and describes an evaluation process in which participants are randomly assigned to an experimental group. In our case, the participants act as their own control subjects, which is why fewer participants are needed. In order to not only look at the qualitative assessment from the participants’ side, we will use motion capture measurements and gait analysis to make any physiological changes quantitatively measurable as well. For this purpose we are setting up a brand new laboratory at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, but more about that in another blog entry.

In addition, we are conducting a so-called mixed-method online study. This is an internet questionnaire that we want to use to find out how people with Parkinson’s in Switzerland already use music in their everyday lives. With the results of this questionnaire, we not only want to organise a concert next year (more information will be published here), but also develop a new online resource that will be available for people with Parkinson’s, therapists and researchers around the world to use music. The best part is that anyone, including you, can add to this online database. For example, if you always use the same song for driving (for me it’s Country Roads by John Denver), you can upload that song and share it with others.

Who is part of the team?

The project headquarters is at the Lucerne School of Music. Here I work as a PhD student together with the project leader Dr Dawn Rose and the post-doc Dr Sabrina Köchli, but of course there are many other and great project collaborators at all three locations who contribute to the success of this project with their expertise.

Firstly, there are Dr Caroline Whyatt and Dr Lucy Annett from the University of Hertfordshire, who are supervising me on my PhD alongside Dawn, and secondly, of course, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stephan Bolhater and PD Dr. phil. Tim Vanbellingen from the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital (LUKS), Dr. ssa. med. Daria Dinacci from the Clinica Hildebrand as well as Prof. Dr. med. Salvatore Galati at the Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC) and Paolo Paolantonio in Ticino.

How is the project financed?

A large part of the project is financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation and Parkinson Schweiz. But we are also very grateful to the Arnold Bentley New Initiatives Fund, as it enables us to disseminate our research results much more vividly through two live concerts than through purely academic publications. The programme for these two concerts is based on the results of online questionnaires on the use of music in the everyday lives of people with Parkinson’s in both the UK and Switzerland. The concerts are produced in collaboration with the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM, UK).

 

Thank you for reading this blog and feel very welcome to leave comments. I can’t wait to tell you about all the other exciting things and experiences.

Best wishes and see you next time!