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July 4, 2008 - Friday Derek’s Interview with Heather Wallace in Vancouver. I Bumped My Head, Couldn't Go To Bed, But Could Play Piano In The Morning Derek Amato , USA Date Posted: 07/03/08 Up until my accident I was in Corporate America for many years. I had never even touched a piano. I still can't read music or tell you where the notes are. All I know is that the black keys are flat. I don't even know what I'm going to play each time I sit down...but since my accident, the notes just pour out of me. When I was 40 years old something happened that changed everything. I went to visit my mother October 27th, 2006. I had gotten together with a few guys I went to high school with. We were all throwing the football around in the swimming pool of course, because that's what boys do. I decided to dive in after the football, and I hit the very bottom of the pool headfirst. I've always been an athlete, so I thought I could dive in and not bounce off anything. I think I was watching the football a little too closely. I didn't see the "No Shallow Diving" sign, so that was that. It all happened pretty quick. I wasn't knocked unconscious immediately. I remember hitting my head and coming up out of the water. Then I basically collapsed and was taken to the hospital. I don't really remember much after collapsing. Right at the time of my injury they knew something was seriously wrong. I had some brain swelling and was basically diagnosed with a massive concussion. I lost some memory and about 35 per cent of my hearing. I recovered about four days afterwards. I felt healthy, my body felt physically fine. That fourth day after the accident I went over to my best friend's house, who is a musician and who was there the day of the accident. He has a little home studio, and he was recording when I went over to visit him. For some unknown reason I sat down at his piano and started to play. There was no progression; it's not like I started playing Mary Had A Little Lamb. I just started to play classically structured music - full compositions, if you will. I ripped off immediately into a very long piece, and I sat there playing for about seven hours straight. Neither of us knew what to think; we were in awe. My friend has known me his whole life, so he just kind of sat there almost in tears. We both were. I was just as shocked as he was. It was exciting, and I just wanted to get back to my mother's house so I could tell her. I had to tell somebody! I said to my mother, "You're never going to believe this!" The next morning I took her to a local music store and sat down at a piano and played. She just sat there and cried. Knocked Into A Brand New World When I'm playing, I'm really in another world. I couldn't even tell you if there were two people sitting next to me or 10,000. The best way for me to explain it is that I see these black and white structures - like little blocks or squares – and that's what I play. I play with my eyes shut; I don't even have to look at the keys, and I have no idea what's coming next. Now that I've been playing a while, I still don't know how to read and write music. My girlfriend Jennifer, who plays piano, has been trying to get me to learn how, but I just can't seem to grasp it. She's tried to teach me really simple stuff, but it's almost like I have some kind of learning disability. (laughs) I can play it, but I can't read it. I would like to learn how to read it in the future. Learning to read music could very well disturb my gift, who knows…but at the same time, I would hope it would expand my abilities. I rehearse every day, unless I'm traveling, and it seems like my playing is progressing. I'm becoming a player…a musician. My mind races all day and all night long. From the moment I get up to the moment I go to bed, I think music. I have what they call 'total notation recall,' so I can play something, not play it for four months, and then sit down and play exactly as I did the first time. If I'm out in public and I get something in my head, I gotta go to a music store, sit down at a piano real quick, and play a little piece so it sticks with me. I'm not quite sure how it works, but it's there. Music On His Sleeve I've got my children's names tattooed on my arms as musical notes. Those tattoos were a gift from a very good friend of mine after the accident. Tattoos are kind of a bad habit; I can't quite get enough of them. In case I ever have to get a regular job, I try to get them in places where if I wear a shirt and tie, I just look like a regular guy. I think I had a moment in my life where I decided that if this accident is a vehicle for me to touch people, then I would do anything and everything possible to display my experience. You can't work a job and be a musician in today's world. It's a full-time thing. I decided I needed to walk away from my regular job and attempt music full-time for as long as I could financially afford it and not negatively affect my family or personal life. So far so good. In 2007 I was selected by a Japanese company to do some soundtrack work. I did a couple other ones for some independent films. Several songs on the instrumental album were voted Best in Genre, and then shortly after that I was flown out to Los Angeles and nominated Independent Artist of the Year by the Association of Independent Artists. It's one of those little trophies you get to carry around in your pocket and feel pretty good about. Explaining The Inexplicable I believe that the God I believe in gave me a gift at a certain time in my life, which gave me the opportunity to go a different direction. I think I've been put here to touch people. I have such a passion doing what I do now – making music – that I don't think I could have another job. I like to say it is my gift from God, but I'm cautious when I say that because I don't want to offend anyone else who has a different belief. I just don't know how else to look at it. I've talked to many doctors in reference to it, and from my understanding there's like 11 or 12 documented cases of people who had head traumas and went on to compose music. I just happen to be one of those people. Maybe I just bumped a certain part of my brain, and we all have this gift. Maybe we all have the possibility of making music. I got a beautiful helmet from Jennifer on Father's Day that says, "No Diving." I'm not really scared to hit my head again. I'm still active; I still play sports and dive off cliffs...I'm one of those adrenalin people. I think as long as I don't do anything way out of line, I'll be alright. Heather Wallace www.orato.com