Technology helps brain damaged musician create music for the first time in 27 years

'...we were in tears. We could feel the joy coming from her at being able to make music.'

After a car crash that left her with a serious brain injury, violinist Rosemary Johnson was unable to play her beautiful music again - until now.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to Telegraph, Johnson's accident put her in a 7-month coma and left her unable to speak and with limited physical movement.

She was once a member of the Welsh national Opera Orchestra but was reduced to playing a few chords on a piano with help from her mother.

A computer program created by Plymouth University and the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in London has successfully provided a means for people like Johnson to compose music that is performed by live musicians.

The technology allows people connected to a computer, through Brain Computer Music Interfacing software, to focus on different-colored lights on a computer screen and to choose notes and phrases. Depending on the intensity of the focus, the volume and speed of the piece can also be controlled.

Though people who have lost the ability to physically play, the technology provides opportunities for them to hear their compositions performed by real players.

Patients wear an EEG cap that can read electronic information from their brains. They are then paired with a musician who plays the notes provided by the patients in real-time.

When scientists saw Johnson's reaction to creating music for the first time in nearly three decades, they admitted it was a touching experience.

"It was really very moving," Professor Eduardo Miranda, the composer and Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research, stated.

"The first time we tried with Rosemary we were in tears. We could feel the joy coming from her at being able to make music. it was perfect because she can read music very well and make a very informed choice.

"The great achievement of this project is that it is possible to perform music without being able to actually move. She is essentially controlling another musician to play it for her. It's not yet possible to read thoughts but we can train people to use brain signals to control things."

Johnson's mother, Mary, described the role the tech played in her daughter's life: "Music is really her only motivation. I take her to the grand piano in the hospital and she can only really play a few chords, but that was the only time she shows any interest.

She doesn't really enjoy anything else. But this has been so good for her. I can tell she has really enjoyed it. When she performed I went to the hospital and that is the first time I have heard her make music, other than the piano chords for [sic] a long, long time."

Three other disabled patients, Clive Wells, Richard Bennett and Steve Thomas, were trained to use the technology and joined Johnson to create the Paramusical Ensemble.

Research Fellow at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, Julian O'Kelly, stated: "This is a great means of transcending disability to offer individuals a unique experience of creating music with each other, and interacting with skilled musicians to create original compositions.

"In the case of Rosemary, the project illustrated the great potential this innovation could have for participants who may have once been gifted musicians, but now lack the physical abilities to engage in music making. You could clearly see in her broad smile during the performance how much she enjoyed the experience."

The Paramusical Ensemble hopes the tech can one day help them express their feelings.

With help from an automated voice machine, Thomas said, "I like music and am very interested in the Brain Computer Music Interface. It's more interactive with people actually getting my instructions. It was great to hear the musician play the phrase I selected. I tried to select music that was harmonious with the others. It's very cool."

The Paramusical Ensemble has been working with musicians from the Bergersen String Quartet, and they recorded a piece titled Activating Memory, which will debut at the Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival later in February.

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