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'Acquired savant' Derek Amato becomes musical prodigy after hitting his head hard diving into shallow end of pool
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of New York Daily News
Posted: March 20th, 2017
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/acquired-savant-der...
Derek Amato is one of just 30 acquired savants worldwide. Each discovered an inexplicable ability that was unleashed after an incident. Amato was 40 years old [when he hit his head hard after diving into the shallow end of a pool]. I remember the impact being really loud. I knew I was hurt badly, he described in a Science Channel documentary. He was taken to the hospital with a serious concussion, and suffered some memory loss and hearing loss. After the accident, Amato visited a friend who had a keyboard and felt inexplicably drawn to the instrument. He sat down to play and beautiful, fully structured, original music flowed from his hands. He played until 2 a.m. I could not only play and compose, but I would later discover that I could recall a prior played piece of music as if it had been etched in my minds eye, [Amato said]. Though he had dabbled in the guitar before, hed never touched a piano. Rare cases like this open up a whole new realm of scientific exploration, as scientists investigate how this can happen. The big question is: do we all have this superhuman ability built in, if we could just tap into it and release it? Amato [reported] that though he still gets painful migraines and has lost 35% of his hearing, its well worth it. Amato left his corporate job and became a professional musician.
Note: Watch a fascinating video of Derek's story.
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