For musician Liza Bec, being diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy was devastating. “It was like my whole dream was really coming apart in my hands,” they say.

In their case, this musicogenic epilepsy, an epilepsy that can be triggered by musical stimulus, was induced by complex hand movements when playing the recorder. It left Bec feeling “as if my hands were carrying on without me”. It is estimated that 1 in 10 million people experience musicogenic epilepsy, and within that small group, each person can have a different trigger that can cause seizures. According to the Epilepsy Society, some people have it triggered by playing, listening, or even dreaming of music. “For me, it’s just to do with the way I’m moving my hands. Any complex finger movements can do it.”

Determined to continue playing, Bec completely changed musical styles, designed a digitally enhanced recorder called the Roborecorder, and began writing music that expressed their disability. “Having that limitation gives you your abilities to do something different and do something unusual and do something that is really amazing and no one else can do.”

Liza Bec’s story is part of Turn It Up: The power of music, an exhibition at the Science and Industry Museum, Manchester, UK

Topics:

music /
epilepsy