matthew.gruman.org

‘His fascination with abstract patterns of sound, those thousands of hours spent simply listening during the first 20 months of his life, largely uncontaminated by understanding, had caused millions of special neuronal connections to form,’ says Professor Ockelford. ‘And it was those connections that now lay behind the emergence of a precocious musicality.’

— Derek Paravicini is blind, autistic, and echolalic. He can also pick out every note of a 10-note chord, replay a song after hearing it once, and shift keys/tempo/styles at will.