The Life and Music of Clive Wearing

In Musicophilia, Dr. Oliver Sacks’ writes of Clive Wearing a man who became an amnesiac following an infection. His hippocampi, structures in the brain that serves as our management system for memories were destroyed by an infection (for more information, see this TED-Ed. Clive no longer had access to much of his past and could not create new memories. He lived in the moment and every moment was new and could be quite scary.

Thankfully there are very few people who experience this type of dense and comprehensive amnesia. The most famous amnesic was known as HM, later identified as Henry Molaison. His case significantly advanced scientific understanding of memory formation, motor skill learning, spatial memories and memory consolidation. But Clive has something entirely new to teach us about amnesia and brain damage. 

He worked at the highest levels of music, as a master keyboardist, conductor and musicologist. He presents as did HM, unattached to time, devoid of memories that mark the passages of much of his life. But he can still play music he knows and sight read music he doesn’t know. He can sing his tenor part, conduct and play the accompaniment on piano. How could this be so? 

Music is a temporal art, based in time. One note leads to another and one phrase leads to the next, building a cohesive aesthetic experience. Music is the only time where Clive experiences a past (the phrases that went before) and a future (the phrases that will come). When he stops playing, as seen in this film clip, he is belching and jolting, thrown back into what Sacks describes as the ‘abyss.’. It’s as if being released from time is physically wrenching. 

In my long career, I have seen the most neurologically impaired people maintain their musicality and musicianship as Clive has. When so much can fail us- speech, language, memory and movement, music remains robust. I highly recommend reading his wife Deborah’s book entitled ‘Forever today’ and celebrate the love and the music that lives on in and for Clive.