THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602230183
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
An elderly woman just couldn't help tapping her feet on the pads of her wheelchair.
She clapped her hands and dipped her torso in time to ``Too Fat Polka,'' and when the mournful strains of ``Tennessee Waltz'' began, she swayed in her seat.
Most of the 30 or so residents of the Lynn Shores Manor nursing home attending the music session did much the same as they listened to tunes performed on harmonica by members of the Cardinal State Harmonica Club Sunday at the home off Lynn Shores Drive.
This session was just to entertain, something the dedicated group of mouth organ musicians does a lot of. But two members of the musical ensemble also work to improve life for hundreds of Parkinson's disease patients by teaching them the breathing techniques used to play the harmonica.
Keith Potter of Virginia Beach and Buddy Wakefield of Newport News, members of the harmonica club that meets in Portsmouth, started teaching groups of Parkinson's sufferers around the country after Wakefield's brother was diagnosed with the disease. It was Fred Wakefield of Houston, Texas, who fostered the idea that the deep breaths - the blow and draw - needed to play harmonica tunes could be beneficial to Parkinson's sufferers.
One of the tests for diagnosing Parkinson's is blowing a candle, said Buddy Wakefield. It was his brother's idea that, because harmonica playing requires inhaling as well as exhaling through the instrument to make sound, it might help increase breathing ability.
``All the other instruments just require exhaling,'' Wakefield said.
Buddy Wakefield thought his brother may be was right and went to Texas to teach him how to play. At the same time, he began coaching Parkinson's support groups in Houston. He discovered that playing the harmonica does indeed improve breathing for those afflicted. When he returned to Hampton Roads, he enlisted the support of the Hohner Company of Ashland, which manufactures the mouth organs, and began teaching a Parkinson's support group at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News.
Wakefield and Potter have traveled to 15 states, Mexico and Canada to meet with Parkinson's disease support groups. They pass out books and harmonicas supplied by Hohner, then teach the blow and draw technique of making music. More than 800 harmonicas have been distributed since Wakefield and Potter began their project about two years ago.
``It helps them in two ways,'' explained Potter. ``It helps them breathe - they tend to forget how - and the music and the playing helps their mood. It's surprising how much brighter they seem'' after a session on the harmonica.
Parkinson's disease victims experience difficulty in speaking and breathing because of the progressive rigidity of muscles. Learning to play helps strengthen muscles used to speak and breathe and can also alleviate the depression that frequently afflicts sufferers as control over muscles and movement deteriorates.
To encourage them in their work with Parkinson's victims, Potter and Wakefield have received grants from the Tidewater Chapter of the General Electric Elfun Society and the Amocare division of the Amoco Corporation. They also raise money from performances at local malls.
Four of the group - Frank Deans, Wakefield, George Eide and Charlie Peterson - form a professional quartet called ``The Harmonicords.'' by CNB