RSM People: David Chivers
Multi-instrumentalist David Chivers first started noticing the signs of focal dystonia decades ago, but it was a long time before he would get a diagnosis and start to see improvements. Find out how he has coped and what it’s like to adapt to the condition.
David (right) performing on keyboard
What first interested you in music and learning to play? When did you decide you wanted to take it up professionally?
We always had a piano in the house and like most people, you can’t walk past a piano without trying to touch it! I always fiddled around on it; it was just one of those things. Dad also had an accordion in the loft, no idea where he got it from. This accordion fascinated me, I used to drag it out and play with it a bit as well. I kept saying I wanted to learn how to play it, and when I must have been about nine, a Saturday morning music school opened up a few miles away. So, I got taken along with my sister on day one, she started the piano and I started the accordion. It grew from there. A year later we swapped, so we both now doing both piano and accordion.
The accordion world is much like the brass band world in that it is heavily competition oriented, so you have local and national championships. I did those and managed to win, then I moved on to orchestral stuff. I took up the clarinet and not long after, my sister tried the oboe. From there, because I clearly liked to try different things, I got into playing some percussion. Any music style, just give me a chance at it, I was willing to try anything.
I thought to myself, I could make a career out of this, so went off to college, but didn’t end up finishing my course. I kept pushing the accordion as a principal instrument, but kept getting pushed back, so ended up not finishing. The irony is that the Royal Academy of Music ended up launching their accordion course a couple of years later.
From there, I thought to myself I’m going to earn some money from it. I was born and brought up in Clacton-on-Sea and the music opportunities were good. Lots of summer seasons at holiday camps, so I was doing that for several years. In the winter, in a part of the industry that has now disappeared completely, two or three nights a week we would do dinner dances all the way up to Norwich and down as far as the outskirts of London. It was great, our little four-piece band did all sorts of music in all sorts of venues, you had to adapt very quickly night by night. I played organ and keyboards. I was earning a good living.
Even today, while just occasionally I will be asked to play bass/third clarinet in an orchestra, I’m much more regularly called up for percussion. Many orchestras may have a permanent timpanist, but less often a permanent percussionist, so I will get called in as and when I’m needed. It’s great, it keeps you on your toes as you don’t normally see the music until the first day of rehearsal!
When did you first notice your health impacting your ability to play and what was it like to receive the diagnosis of focal dystonia?
I suspect it could be more than 30 years ago, but the deterioration was very slight and very slow. It was just over time I began to feel my left arm and left hand just didn’t seem to want to cooperate. The fingers just wanted to gently try and pull in.
But I’ve managed to get the double whammy; as well as affecting my hands, it’s also affected around my mouth. It has affected the music dramatically; I wouldn’t dream of accompanying an exam anymore. Can I play the Brahm’s clarinet accompaniment? No, I can’t anymore. The brain can do it, but the hands can’t. It’s got to the stage now where I only play a little bit of bass clarinet, just for the fun of it, but the mental health component of all this has been huge, it has really got me down at times.
Early on, it was just one of those things, I didn’t fully understand it and thought that maybe I should just be practising more. There was nobody to ask, but eventually I mentioned something to my GP, who sent me to my local neurologist. He said there was something there, but as musicians we’re so finely attuned to what our body is doing, he wasn’t able to say much more.
I eventually saw something on dystonia, more than 15 years ago now, in one of the MU magazines. I came across BAPAM and they were brilliant. I had a couple of sessions in London with them looking at neurology and they told me to go back to my doctor in Colchester, which allowed BAPAM to then name their own neurologist. He was able to do more specialist tests, where they ruled out things like Parkinson’s, MS, Motor-Neurone Disease or anything like that. It was Mark Philips from BAPAM who recommended Katherine Butler for hand therapy. And that’s where I’m at now.
How was the process of applying for support from RSM? What did the treatment entail and has it helped?
I knew of the Society, but hadn’t really had any dealings with you before, until someone at BAPAM suggested I apply to you for support. My application just sailed through, I must have hit it at the right time of the month, and so it was approved very quickly.
Katherine Butler has been absolutely brilliant. RSM has paid for four sessions so far and there are definite signs of improvement. It’s sometimes a case of two steps forward, one step back, but overall, there is progress. As I find I’ve got more time through the winter, I’ll be able to devote plenty of time to the exercises and practice she has given me.
I’m still playing the piano but much more Big Band stuff now, as much of it is just chords. Love doing it, I’ve learnt to adapt. Am I going to get back to how I used to be? I have no idea. Katherine doesn’t know either, but she hopes given another year or two, I’ll be getting much better, but perhaps never back to full professional level. But let’s be honest, the invites to play full piano concertos are fairly slim, so I’m going to be practical about it as well! If I could get back to almost there, that would be wonderful.
What would you say to other performers who might also be suffering and in need of support?
Do it now, do it early, if you think anything is up. Especially if you’re at the beginning of your career, do not wait. There is help out there.
If you need RSM’s support, contact us on grants@rsmgb.org or 020 7629 6137.
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