PROFILE
PROFILE
MATT SAVAGE:
Another Mozart?
By Prof. Talaat I. Farag
Matt
Savage, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of three, gave a stellar
performance with his
jazz trio at Royal York Hotel in Toronto last November. The young boy, who will
celebrate his 13th birthday next May, shows talents similar to those of Mozart, the
boy wonder from Salzburg. He seems to absorb and generate musical ideas
effortlessly. He practices the piano an hour every day and takes lessons once a week, which
leaves him with plenty of time for learning about his favorite subjects: math, science,
geography and roller coasters. News of Matt's gifts have gone traveled through the jazz
world and he
has been invited to play at the landmark Birdland club in New York around the time of his birthday.
Autism is a mysterious and increasingly common
brain disorder that appears in early childhood. A study published in November
2004 in Annals of Neurology, linked autism to an overactive immune system
with symptoms varying broadly from mild to disabling. Generally speaking,
children with autism have a difficulty with social
interaction and communication, can display repetitive behaviors,
and develop unusual attachments to objects and routines. It is estimated that
between 2-5 in every 1,000 children born will develop the illness before reaching
school age.
The Autism Society of Canada estimates the incidence rate in the country to be 1 in every 286 births. The condition is about four times more likely in boys than girls and currently there are no medicinal treatments for autism. Rather, children are treated with intense cognitive therapies, but this is often very costly.
In California, a Norwegian-born psychologist, Dr. Iver Lovaas, succeeded in developing a program to treat autistic persons, called "ABA/IBI" treatment, which breaks down language, mental and physical tasks into components that are repeated until an autistic child masters them. This program is proven to be most effective when children are young, but requires long hours of supervision (at least 30 hours weekly) and can cost up to $60,000 every year for each child since it is based on intensive one-on-one therapy.
Matt Savage, the genius autistic musician, before entering a special program for autistic children at the age of four, he had difficulty communicating easily, coping with the presence of other children, or withstanding noises. He could not even sit with another child next to him. Nonetheless, today, he is the first child to be signed as a Bosendorfer Artist, which means he gets to have one of the world's best grand piano's at home, and wherever he plays in public.
Savage and Mozart
Interestingly, in an article in the Sunday Telegraph, the British composer James McConnel, who is a Tourette's sufferer, mentioned that he suspects "Mozart did not have physical jerks as much as me. But there is definite evidence of his grimacing and feet-tapping. We also know a lot about his inability to rein in impulses, the sudden boredom, his sense of mischief and his scatological obsession, which all point to Tourette's. He even had a morbid fear of the trumpet until he was nine. Seriously! He would lie down and scream if he heard one." Another study mentioned that Mozart may have had Asperger's sydrome like Einstein and Newton. People with this disease exhibit normal intelligence and language development, but demonstrate autistic-like behaviors and marked deficiencies in both social and communication skills.
If scientists could prove these assertions, it would conclude that Matt Savage, the genius autistic jazz musician, may not be the only musical celebrity to be afflicted with a neurological disorder.
