Pat O'Brien as Healer The late Patrick O'Brien was well known for his ability to help musicians who had lost part or all of their ability to play guitar or lute. In the context of the memorial edition of JLSA for Patrick O'Brien now in preparation, the editors would like to hear from former students who had come to him with significant or career-ending disabilities of the hands, and whose playing ability was restored by the New York maestro.
How severe was the disability, what was its nature, and how did Patrick correct it? Unfortunately, Pat published no case studies of his successes that we know of, so this critical aspect of his career will remain almost totally obscure and lost to science unless his students step forward and tell their stories. The matter is particularly significant because recent articles on musicians' dystonia in neurology journals still seek solutions in brain wave studies, and state that the origins of the affliction are not well understood and that only a minority of patients ever regain normal ability. An article published in 2013 in a major medical journal declares in its abstract: "While the etiology and the neurological pathomechanism of the disease remain unknown, . . ." In other words, an awful lot of musicians have little hope of recovery. Wait a minute, we thought our Patrick figured out the origins decades ago and knew exactly how to get his students back on track. Please contact the Journal's Consulting Editor, Dr. Douglas Alton Smith, at: [1]renl...@yahoo.com -- Nancy Carlin Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA [2]http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org PO Box 6499 Concord, CA 94524 USA 925 / 686-5800 [3]www.groundsanddivisions.info [4]www.nancycarlinassociates.com -- References 1. mailto:renl...@yahoo.com 2. http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org/ 3. http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/ 4. http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
