Playing piano with Parkinson’s

Lucien Leinfelder is making music to please his ears and to calm his nerves.

Leinfelder, 82, has been playing piano since he was 3 years old. He was a soloist for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Now he plays piano for patients weekly at Texas Health Dallas.

Doctors are amazed as Leinfelder’s fingers dance over the ivory keys because, well, they shouldn’t. Leinfelder has Parkinson’s disease. He has trouble sitting still and maintaining his balance. He’s fallen and broken his hip three times.

“His fingers almost take on a life of their own, where they remember the notes he’s played so well throughout his life,” says his neurologist Anna Tseng to local TV affiliate Fox 4. “It’s almost like they come out and take off by themselves. Muscle memory is there in his fingers. That’s why he can go. He’s told me if he tries to think about the music, he stumbles more.”

Nicole Stempak

Nicole was Senior Editor at I Advance Senior Care and Long Term Living Magazine 2015-2017. She has a Journalism degree from Kent State University and is finalizing a master’s degree in Information Architecture and Management. She has extensive studies in the digital user experience and in branding online media. She has worked as an editor and writer for various B2B publications, including Business Finance.