Cochlear Implants and MUSIC : The case of Zuzanna Moczydłowska
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Cochlear implantation: right ear 04.09.2002
‘In the rhythm of drums’
Zuzanna: "For two years I had been playing piano. Now it has been two years since I started playing percussion. My teacher is Konrad Ciesielski from the Blindead. I listen to the Gorillaz, AC/DC, 30 Seconds to Mars, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and The White Stripes. My idols are Shannon Leto and Chad Smith as well as Phil Collins. Presently I play solo, but I have a plan to start a band.
Dreams come true, you only need to help them a little …"
When 2,5 year-old Zuzanna received a cochlear implant, her parents have hoped that she will finally start developing speech. They did not expect that their child will develop a passion for music.
Zuzanna’s parents did not play any instruments, but they liked to listen to music. Soon they discovered that their little daughter shared their interests. When Zuzanna was 7, she started to insist on her parents to let her learn playing percussion. Parents tried to redirect her interests to other areas – sports, arts. They thought that hearing loss, even compensated with a cochlear implant, would be an obstacle to her dream. They wanted to save her disappointment and distress, so each year they put off implementing this idea. In 5th grade, Zuzanna, almost resigned, suggested : ‘OK, if not percussion then maybe a piano?’. They accepted under a condition that she will find a teacher herself – they thought that difficulties will cool down her eagerness. But Zuzanna persisted. She found on the Internet contact to a music student who gave piano lessons and thus her adventure begun. After one month she already could read sheet music on a basic level, which allowed her to play songs of her favourite artists. Every morning, before school she did her piano exercises. After two years she again asked her parents for percussion. As they have already seen that music gives her a lot of fun, they relented and she received an electronic percussion as a surprise birthday gift.
Author: Małgorzata Jeruzalska, World Hearing Center, Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw/Kajetany, Poland