Music and the mind

I just received a copy of __The Strangest Song__, a linkurl:book;http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781591024781&itm=1 about Gloria Lenhoff, a 51 year old woman with William?s Syndrome whose father Howard left the biochemistry bench to study cognitive neuroscience and foster his daughter?s remarkable musical abilities. I wrote about linkurl:Howard?s work in 2001,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/12726 and I remember how driven he was in getting his message out. Williams is a rare genetic disorder, a 20-gene deletion on chromosome 7 leaves individuals with puckish facial features, heart problems, and an average IQ of about 60. While Gloria and many like her struggle with many simple mental tasks, they have extremely gregarious personalities and in some cases an uncanny aptitude for music. I haven?t read the book, yet, but something in the release notes certainly piqued my curiosity. It speaks of ?the extremely single-minded, perhaps manipulative, campaign of Howard Lenhoff,? indicating this work by Orange County Register journalist Teri Sforza...