Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Musicophilia is an exploration of the power of music to heal, to encourage and support in adaptation, and to inspire resilience in the most challenging of circumstances. Many of Oliver Sacks’s patients and correspondents are musicians compelled to fight for their talents and abilities because of a neurological condition. One man named Jacob, who was slowly losing the ability to hear higher octaves, adapted by learning to compose in lower octaves and then transpose them. He noted, “You work with the ears you have, not the ears you want” (147). Another neurologist named Dr. Jorgensen trained himself to perceive stereo music with one ear by using visual cues and the memory of how it sounded; Sacks referred to this as a “reconstruction of function” (157).

Musical memory is both procedural and emotional, and these types of memory tend to be stronger and outlast other forms. They are, seemingly, among the most important aspects of being human. Thus, when a person’s neurology has left them feeling as though their humanity is slipping away, either as the result of memory loss, debilitating seizures, or otherwise, music brings them back to themselves and to their humanity. The fixed action patterns which are learned when one plays music become imprinted in the motor cortex and remain there, and although many of these patients will forget about music when it is not present, they only need to sit in front of a piano to begin playing as they once did.