I play the piano. In the past I've been a church organist and/or pianist at small churches. Currently attending a larger church and play piano as part of a rotating group of pianists. Have sung in church and community choirs - only the no auditions required types ;). I love to play and would be very very sad if I couldn't. Before diagnosis I was always sweating it out, worrying that I would wake up with the dreaded painful "claw hand" on a day I was scheduled to play. I don't have that problem anymore but am currently transitioning to another med and hope it will also keep the hands working!

I was a piano major and voice minor at university (early 70s). I taught private piano lessons for a number of years and played acoustic guitar through college and for 10 years or so after, with friends and at church. Haven't played guitar in a lot of years. I have sung since I was 10 with one group or another, starting with church choir, then HS glee club, college glee club and a capella groups, and Sweet Adelines (our group placed 7th in Internationals). I'm hoping piano playing will keep my hands limber. My aunt had RA and started knitting, crocheting and doing cross-stitch at the advice of her doctor. It worked for her... or maybe she was just lucky! :)

Hi, RA friends-- I too was a piano major. I taught music for 30+ years, but had to leave that when my hands became too painful to manage all the playing and accompanying it required daily. Then I taught preschool for three years, loved it, but had to retire because the RA affected my mobility too much to keep up with 3 yr.-olds. Boo! I am still playing piano at church and at a community children's choir, which is enough to keep me happy but not too demanding on hands and wrists. I'm adjusting to the whole idea of retirement in general. Wow, Altoclef-- sackbut and krumhorn??!! How cool was that!!

Jen, your post on the other thread was what gave me the idea to start this one.

Lynne, I'm with you on keeping the hands as limber as possible for as long as I can. My right hand is much, much worse than my left. I have a hunch that playing has kept the left one functioning better. It's good encouragement to keep working on the scales and etudes.

Come on, everyone: tuba in a oom-pah band? countertenor at the Met? klezmer clarinet? banjo in a Celtic bar band? Fess up!

I WANT to learn banjo!! I just had no idea they are so expensive...

I am also looking to learn the banjo before my fingers won't allow it.

Lynne, check out Banjo Hut.com . You can buy a banjo starter kit for about 250.00. The banjo I bought seems nice for the money.

I sing and play the Alto Saxophone and Violin (still learning this one) when I can. But my hands rarely allow playing so I'm not very good. I also play around w/the piano when I see one.

Singing is by far my strong suit. But due to depression and really bad allergies, I don't do it as much as I should (or as much as would make me happy). I used to sing all the time when I went to church, but now I am without a singing group/outlet. Still looking for something but I'm worried about commitment because with my RA, I don't know how I'll feel from one day to the next and I can't perform if I have a bad day... :/

I taught myself to play the ukulele. I love to sing. It's been very fun.

I'm a fully degreed concert pianist who doesn't do the heavy stuff anymore. My secondary instrument is oboe and I've played in orchestras there too.

I teach band to middle schools in a non-competitive state. I've also taught band and orchestra in a very competitive state. As such, I play all the instruments a little bit, Mostly I'll play trumpet in class since it's the fastest one to get out and rolling on short notice.

I have a good eye for sight reading, so I pick up a lot of last minute work for accompaniment stuff, In the praise band at church, I play electric bass and sing alto. When the main pianist is gone, I'll fill in for her. It's a lot of fun. I try not to worry about playing at church figuring that it God brought me to it, he'll bring me through it. Before I was diagnosed, there were days that my husband would carry everything and do all the lifting. Now he just does it during flares or when he is feeling particularly romantic.

(I didn't marry a hearts and flowers guy, but he would slay dragons for me if needed. Sometimes he just isn't sure how to help me fight all this).

Like I said in a previous post, I told my rheumy that it was very important for me to continue to play somehow and to remain musical, It's my whole identity. I'm even married to an army musician. Although I'll point out that we met while in the same symphony and that we were professional before he enlisted.

I played several instruments for fun/ stress relief I find it's hard to play the stringed instruments that I loved. Piano is a little easier but I find my self substituting my chord selection since reaching and stretching are a major issue for me. I've kind of dumbed it down a bit so I can still play. I hope to get past this and be able to play again. I've got a lot of stress and I'd love to be able to close some doors and get it out in some music :-) In the mean time I've just been singing a lot more.

Nipper, thanks for the link! We hadn't looked online and everything around here runs closer to $750-1000. We want to get two, as my hubby wants to learn it, too. I should probably check around to see if I can find him a left-handed player/teacher, as he is very dominantly left-handed. :)

i played clarinet through high school and still dabble in it occasionally. Though lately i find it hard to get my fingers to move at the right tempo. There are some songs that do not make good slow paced marches no matter what.

The last time i saw Bob Dylan in concert he had an accompanist playing guitar. He could no longer play because of arthritis.

Oh how sad, Warrior Gal. I've been lucky so far. While my aunt kept her hands limber up until the end, my uncle could no way have played strings. His RA was much more severe than hers, but he kept golfing until about 5 years before he passed.

I play ukulele like sunvalleygirl! I started a little over a year ago. It's the happiest instrument ever. It can be hard to play especially since I want to get better and practice every day.