Brain damaged violinist makes music for first time in 27 years with mind-reading technology

Violinist Rosemary Johnson has spent the last 27
years coming to terms with the reality she would
never make music again, following a devastating
car crash. A member of the Welsh National Opera
Orchestra she was destined to become a world
class musician before the road accident in 1988,
which left her in a coma for seven months.
Miss Johnson suffered a devastating head injury,
robbing her of speech and movement which
meant she could only pick out a few chords on
the piano with the help of her mother Mary.
But now, thanks to cutting edge technology, she
is creating music again, using just the power of
her mind.
In an extraordinary 10-year project led by the
Plymouth University and the Royal Hospital for
Neuro-disability in London, her brain has been
wired up to a computer using Brain Computer
Music Interfacing software.
By focusing on different coloured lights on a
computer screen she can select notes and
phrases to be played and alter a composition as
it is performed by live musicians. The intensity of
her mental focus can even change the volume and
speed of the piece.
It is the first time Miss Johnson, 50, has been
able to create music in decades and has been an
emotional experience for the her, and the
scientists involved in the programme.
“It was really very moving,” said Professor
Eduardo Miranda, Composer and Director of
the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer
Music Research at Plymouth University.
“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.”
“Music is really her only motivation,” she
said. “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 a long, long
time.”
Miss Johnson’s mother Mary, 80, of Hounslow,
West London said the project had given her
daughter new hope.