Introducing The Musician's Mind: A Graphic Novel About Alzheimer's

 
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I've been working on an interactive graphic novel called The Musician's Mind.  The story is about Parker Sanningham, a concert pianist who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's and disappears at the height of his career.  That's Parker at the piano in the rehearsal room on the right above.

In the first installment, above, Parker Sanningham lingers backstage, while the conductor and orchestra wait to start a rehearsal.  It's the day before an important performance at Carnegie Hall in New York. For the first time, he's aware of having a memory problem -- he can't remember how a piano concerto movement starts. 

I'm calling the graphic novel interactive because I'd like readers' experiences and ideas to influence the story. 

Take a look at the story and the characters.  Would you be interested in following this story?    If so, please subscribe to email updates using the box on the top right of this page.

Would you like to influence the story?  You can do that by leaving comments on this post or on The Musician's mind page.  You can also talk with two of the [fictional] characters, Parker and his wife Vanessa Sanningham on Facebook.  Please "friend" them when you have time!

Comments

[Bradley H Hoke]

Mona - As you know my mother was a child prodigy who went on to be a brilliant pianist and organist. In later life her dementia was so bad she couldn't even remember my name, yet she performed an amazing and thought-provoking feat.
She was in a Nursing Home, and it was Christmastime. A local choir was to perform for the Residents, but that morning their pianist slipped on the ice and broke her ankle.
They felt they had no choice but to go on a capella. Then someone suggested Mom accompany them instead.
Needless to say, there was not unanimous agreement on that idea! But the Choir Director had marveled at her abilities for many years and decided to at least give it a try.
According to every report Mom completed the whole program flawlessly! Sadly, she then reassumed her previous state.
Intriguing questions remain. What, in her brain, gave her that rare gift in the first place? Even more interesting, how did that gift survive as her normal memory all but vanished?

[Mona Johnson]

Brad, thanks so much for your story! I know of several people with cognitive challenges who retained at least some of their musical ability. I hope that the story of The Musician's Mind and stories from readers like you will inspire people with memory loss to focus on remaining abilities, rather than what they've lost.

[Mona Johnson]

I received these comments from Alzheimer's "patient," advocate and musician Jay Smith, and am posting them with his permission:

Very interesting ideas here. I personally identify with the idea of the protagonist being both a musician and a perfectionist. But I'm struck by Parker's decision to get a divorce and live alone to spare his wife and family the pain of caregiving. Seems too draconian to me.

I've know of one man's getting a divorce to get medicare benefits, but don't know whether they actually severed their relationship after divorce and living separately. I know another whose ex-wife actually returned home to become his caregiver.... I also had a good friend who was divorced for many years and living with her grown son when she took her own life while still in early AD to spare herself and her son from the caregiving burden.

Personally, I love my wife and can't imagine myself being either brave enough or callous enough to leave my marriage to spare her the burden of Alzheimer's care. Parker's own motives weren't clear to me from the synopsis. It seems to me that the challenges of living with the effects of the disease within the marriage relationship should offer rich opportunity for development of the story -- and might be a much better avenue for generating reader interest in the story, as well as a foundation for rich interaction, given that the story of their relationship as the disease progresses could contain useful lessons for the readers (caregivers and patients and their families).

Another musician, Glen Campbell, serves as a model for someone who is continuing to perform, after going public with his AD, after its ravages began to become apparent to his audiences. For me, I use a music stand to remind me of the chord changes and lyrics of the songs I'm singing and playing with my family band, or performing at a vocal showcase.

I hope these thoughts are helpful.

Thanks,

Jay Smith