It’s piano lessons designed for adults living with Multiple Sclerosis, who want to improve their hand function and sensation. It is a research-based program designed for your needs and interests, with a side-effect of improving your quality of life and bringing back some, and possibly all normal hand function (strength, coordination and agility) and sensation. It is a dynamic program, meaning that the order of exercises is determined by your current hand function. As such, one student’s course of study won’t be identical to any other’s.

This approach has been evaluated successfully with 9 students living with secondary-progressive MS and primary-progressive MS, in Milan. None of them could read music before they tried this, and none of them had studied music, let alone piano. All of the subjects in that study who received the training experienced significant improvements to their quality of life from restored hand function, after only 3 weeks of practice.

One student in the U.S. living with relapsing-remitting MS has studied my program based on this approach for 8 months, and reports improved quality of life attributed to improved hand function, as well as near-total normalization of hand sensation, and elimination of nearly all numbness and tingling, with further improvements anticipated.

So far, this program has helped 10 people. That is not many people yet, but every one of them experienced improvements to their daily lives because they studied a program geared towards their needs, and from the reports, chose to continue to study piano, to continue improving their hands.

I can’t tell you it’s going to work for you, because nobody knows that yet. But I can tell you it’s worked for everyone who’s tried. None of them read music before they started this study, and all of them succeeded. Please read further to learn more.

This approach has not yet been evaluated with students living with progressive-relapsing MS. If that is your current diagnosis, please contact me through the link to the left of this page and let me know, and we’ll talk about what is possible, however you prefer to proceed.

This is not a therapy, and this is not a guarantee of restoration of hand function and sensation. We don’t yet know enough about neural reconfiguration, let alone how to achieve it, to make those promises. And this is not something insurance will pay for, because it’s not a medical therapy.

This is a new hobby, a skill that needs a little homework every day. Learning that skill is the therapy itself, the daily exercise is what causes the changes in your brain that restore your hands. That’s the theory.

This is a keyboard training program, designed and delivered by a piano teacher who is also trained as a Speech Language Pathologist, with advanced knowledge of the effects and progression of MS. The program is specifically designed for adult learners without musical experience, addressing the needs of hands that are compromised by the effects of MS. The side-effect of the skill of playing the piano, developed through study and practice, is regaining partial or total hand function, as well as normalizing sensation, and eliminating some or all numbness and tingling, and nerve pain.

We don’t really know how this works yet, but I have some ideas based on peer-reviewed published research from scholars, doctors and researchers studying MS, the treatment of MS, and also research from neuroscience scholars in St. Louis studying movement and the brain. I think I understand some of the “mechanism” for how this works, but we’re all still building and trying theories.

To learn more, message me by clicking “Contact” on this site. In the meantime, you can read more about the research here.

We know that hand function improvements are caused by hearing the music you make with your hands on the piano keyboard; if you don’t hear the music your fingers make, moving them doesn’t help the process of neural reconfiguration, the “rewiring” of your brain, to help your hands move better. In 2014, scholars researching MS treatments in Milan studied two groups who did the same piano exercises every day, but one group did them on a keyboard with no sound. The group who heard the music they made reported significant increases in their quality of life, and the group with the keyboard sound turned off achieved much less improvement. This is why typing isn’t helping sustain hand function, let alone improve it, but playing a piano has for all 10 people who have tried this approach.

And anyone can play a piano, with the right teacher. If anyone told you that you couldn’t, they were simply wrong. I have the research and experience to prove it.

Research and Program are based on Gatti, R., Tettamanti, A., Lambiase, S., Rossi, P., Comola, M. Improving hand functional use in subjects with Multiple Sclerosis using a musical keyboard: A randomized controlled trial. Physiotherapy Research International (2015) 20, 100-107.

and other sources.

Full bibliography available.

For more information, click here.

This program was born from a question: my piano student, an adult living with MS, asked me once: “I know you didn’t know me before MS, but can you tell my hands were ***** compared to what they were before?”

He asked me the right question at the right time.

In my home studio, I’m only a piano teacher, but I’m also trained as a Speech Language Pathologist, and my impulse to research and solve the problem always kicks in when a student presents me a challenge. Working with this student, I developed a flexible program that trains you to read music and play the instrument, based on your individual needs, and using music you enjoy. In fact, it works best when we use the music you love as part of learning to play.

So that’s what we have done. His hand function improved, and is still improving, as the patients in the Milan study experienced. However, the Milan study only looked at the patients for 3 weeks. My student, after 8 months of practice, has regained total normal sensation in one hand, and near-total normal sensation in the other, with improvements still anticipated, as well as improvements to hand function and quality of life.

Teaching piano to an adult is very different from teaching a child. With a child, you teach the student, and the dynamic resembles school. With the adult, you work together to train the skill, like a personal trainer choosing the exercises your body needs to grow, and making sure it’s enjoyable. In therapy, we call it saliency: the music has to matter to you, or it doesn’t work as well. So in this program, you’ll play exercises I assign, because the trainer charts a plan to help you reach your goal. And then, we’ll find music you like and learn that too. That could be Billboard charted music, game scores, film scores, the classics… it’s yours to decide, and that’s what makes it effective for restoring your hands.

I will walk you through the steps you need to make starting and doing this as easy as possible. That begins with helping you choose a keyboard to use, and if you are in the NYC Metro Area, helping you set-up for practice if needed. I also provide most of the printed materials you need, though finding sheet music will become part of the course of study…when we’re ready.

Sessions are 30 minutes, on a regular weekly schedule. Sessions occur at my home in Jersey City, NJ, or online. Students outside the New York Metro area are welcome as online students.

We’ll use a color-coding system to teach you to read the music (it’s easier than you might think, and there’s no rush or pressure to do it quickly), and we’ll do keyboard exercises. The second part of the session is where we work on a piece I choose for you, and a piece you choose for yourself. If you like Bob Marley, we’ll do that. If you want to play a Lumineers song, great. Film scores, or music from games? Absolutely. Music emblematic of your beliefs, welcomed. If you really want to learn Chopin, we’ll work up to it. Part of my process involves working together to find the music you want, and using it to increase your skills. In the process, I’ll incorporate other musical skills you find interesting, and we can talk about that further.

I’m continuing reviewing what other doctors, researchers, and therapists have published about helping you, so that I can publish my own account of how this program helps others. I hope to also publish the program itself, so that other people living with MS can benefit from this work. Additionally, I have developed a 5-phase study to research this training approach further. Phase 1 is nearly complete, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

In the coming years, I hope to build this into a community. I hope to host a monthly or bi-monthly online group of students, a place for you to talk about your hands with others living a similar experience, and to hear from others about what is and isn’t working for them. And maybe, an annual recital for those ready to perform their music in front of friends and loved ones.

When he was diagnosed, my friend was told this doesn’t get better, and we found a way to change that for him, and I think I can do it for you, too.

Contact me, let’s talk about what we can do for your hands together.

I use a standard questionnaire that asks you to rate things you do with your hands, to let me know how easy or how difficult each item is. We do this before you start lessons, and again at intervals beyond as needed. I also make digital recordings of some exercises, so that I can compare your timing as you move from note-to-note, to measure improvements over time. And finally, I look at your hands and how your ability to move them changes over time.

With permission, I also collaborate with your healthcare team to compile data on your progress, hopefully to help others get the opportunity to try this approach too.

Practice every day, as best you can, and keep a log. I know, you have a busy life; if you only have 5 minutes to sit at the keyboard and run through 2 exercises, that’s fine. If fatigue says no, that’s fine. Every day is different, we work with and through what we have.

But we always remember: the best results will come the fastest if we can practice 30 minutes every day. It’s not a requirement, it’s a target. If life says no, we do what life requires, and it’s fine. There is no guilt, there is no pressure, or shame, there isn’t even a standard here. This is about helping you get better.

This isn’t a 6-month-and-done course of study. What we are achieving is called neural reconfiguration: we’re re-wiring your brain around the damaged wires, hijacking other wires that are laying around your brain, and teaching them to do what the damaged wires no longer can. If you stop practicing, learning, and making music, we don’t know if the improvements hold, or decline.

We don’t know much about this, except that it’s possible, which is why it’s my job to make this something you want to do, to make it enjoyable, so that we can continue to maintain and improve your hands and your quality of life.

Send me a message here. When you’re ready, we’ll set-up an initial free consultation (in person or online) to discuss what you need for practicing, what you need to mitigate other challenges, session rates, and other matters. I’ll answer any questions you have, and we’ll proceed however you prefer.

This page is intended for medical providers, or anyone who wants more information on the research base of this approach. To discuss this information further, click Contact and send me a message, and thank you for taking the time to learn more about this new area of research and potential “treatment” (because, this is piano lessons, not a treatment).

www.kevincummines.com/more-information-ms-approach