The Musicians Brain oleh Carol Shively Mizes

This book describes the incredible recovery stories of five musicians who all suffered different traumatic brain injuries; a car accident, two bicycle accidents, a ruptured brain aneurysm and a fall from the fourth story of a building. Their riveting journeys from horrific injuries, through intensive care treatment and rehabilitation accounts for what many trauma patients and their families endure. These stories especially focus on rehabilitation through the use of their musical skills as well as physical, cognitive, speech and language abilities. It is well documented that the brain of a musician is quite different than the brain of a non-musician from hours and years of practicing their instrument. Playing an instrument and reading music recruits many brain regions at one time. This book describes the differences between a musicians brain and that of a non-musicians. It cites research in that area and also begins to demonstrate some evidence that musicians may recover more efficiently than non-musicians who suffer brain injuries, because they have more neuro-networks in many brain regions acting as a scaffolding for the brain and helps compensate for injured areas. My goal is that this book will help to begin a discussion between clinicians and researchers, connecting musicians, neuro-scientists, rehabilitation therapists, music therapists, music teachers and medical personnel working with people who have acquired brain injuries.