Matthew Whitaker is a jazz pianist who is blind. He grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey. His parents said Matthew had an ear for music before he could even talk. "When he was three years old, he played nursery songs with both hands and played the chords (和音) and the melody of the songs at the same time, but most kids didn't do that. Matthew hadn't had a lesson or anything," said Matthew's parents.
The great pianist can now play anything he hears. His performance is really remarkable. Less than 20 years old, Matthew has toured in the headlined famous venues from Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center, and won a number of music awards.
That drew the attention of Dr. Charles Limb, a neurologist (神经病学家). He uses MRI brain scans to better understand how extremely creative people do what they do. Specifically, Limb wants to know why the, brains of certain artists could better give rise to new ideas. So far, several artists have taken the exams. Dr. Limb also approached Matthew, and made him undergo two MRI exams — first while he was in different conditions, including music, and then while he was playing on a keyboard.
Dr. Limb found that Matthew's brain seemed to have reused its disused visual cortex (视觉皮层) to build other spirit pathways. Even when -Matthew was simply listening to one of his favorite bands, his entire visual cortex lit up. "It seems like his brain is taking that part of the tissue that's not being activated by sight and using it to feel music, which is beyond our expectation," said Dr. Limb.
Matthew's teacher, Dalia Sakas, wants to make sure Matthew isn't just a flash in the music world. She thinks he needs to learn to read braille (盲文) music, which is a Slow process. Matthew does not like to slow down. He just wants to play music. At the piano, what he feels is just joy.
