MALFUNCTION AND THE MERRY WIDOW

MALFUNCTION AND THE MERRY WIDOW
There are a myriad of means with which to communicate. Only one of them is verbal. My grandmother in the story above communicated with touch (caress) and with song, two very power means of communication. In 1997, as the Utah Festival Opera was rehearsing Lehar’s The Merry Widow, I was walking through the hallway of the rehearsal space when I heard someone singing some very complex lines from Act II. I assumed someone had left the rehearsal, hence I followed the sound to investigate. I came upon a young man who was mopping the floors in an adjacent room. I tried to speak with him but could elicit no response. I went to the office to inquire about the young man, and found that he was a severely disabled student who was helping out in the care of the building. According to the secretary in the office, he was unable to communicate on any level. I thought deeply about his profound gift (savant nature) relating to melodic understanding and replication. He could only have heard those portions of the opera for about a day, and yet he was able to store them in memory and repeat them with astounding accuracy. I recounted my fascination with his skill to one of his counselors who did not seem to be impressed by it at all. It is an extremely complex mind that can codify, replicate and remember such complex melodic patterns. I wonder if that area of skill in the brain could be transferred to other parts of the brain and enhance his ability to function in normal society.