Musicophillia - Oliver Sacks

Today I finished the book Musicophillia by Oliver Sacks.  Oliver Sacks is a physician - in particular neuroscience and psychiatry.  Basically, he is really smart.  So smart at times I didn't really understand a lot of the terms used in the book.  What I did get out of the book were some answers to hypothesis about music and a deeper understanding of how truly powerful the use of music can be.  For instance, I didn't know there was a disorder called William's disorder which is a disorder that occurs when 15-25 genes are missing on a chromosome.  The brain is also less developed leaving people with this disorder with smaller IQ's less than 60.  The frontal lobes of the brain and the creative-music part of the brain are rather large and can be super sized.  William's syndrome patients LOVE music and are extremely sociable and outgoing.  One lady in particular, had 2,000 different operas and musical arrangements memorized. However, not all people with William's disorder are that advanced in music but they still love music such as creating, performing, and singing.  Basically when it comes to the social aspect of this disorder, it is completely the opposite of people who have Autism.  People suffering from Autism have flat affect, do not display emotions, and are not typically sociable.  William's disorder is a rare disorder with only 1 out of 10,000 people having it.  Every year in Massachusetts, a camp is arranged for people with William's disorder to come together and do what they do best - play music.

Another interesting area I found was that the brain has the same activity when using musical imagery or replaying songs in our heads when music is not being played by us with an instrument or being listened to on the radio (or any other means of listening to music).  The book gave an example of a cyclist who always listened to music when they were training, and during their time trials for the Olympics they listened to the music in their head even though it wasn't playing and had the best time they ever received while doing so.  I believe music has a huge impact on athletes and can help athletes train or do better when racing.  In my personal life, I have witnessed this impact and effect.  I always run my best while listening to music.

Alzheimer's disease is always one of the saddest, scariest disorders that I feel can happen to people.  The loss of self and memories of past events in particular are what scare me the most.  In the book, it said that music is one of the only ways that Alzheimer's patients can bring back their self that has been lost.  For some reason, the part of the brain that has emotions evoked by music does not deteriorate in Alzheimer's patients while everything else does.  That is why music therapy is so important to this group of patients because they will hear a song or a lyric that can bring back a memory or emotion that they have lost about themselves.  When they hear the music, that sense of self is triggered and in that instant they can remember who they are.

The book was a great read - especially if you are a counseling student getting your masters and are thinking about writing your capstone on music therapy :P)  - oh that would be me!