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Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements (2019)
RALPH LAUREN: I never thought
I was in the fashion business. If someone said, "Are you a fashion designer?" No, I hate fashion. ANNA WINTOUR: Fashion has to be desirable, and Ralph sees that. RALPH: I think it's important people express who they are. (MUSIC PLAYS, CONCLUDES) [ music score: Beethoven medley ] [Jonas] Mom, are you-- Is it filming? [Irene] Uh, now. Yep. Is this still okay? [attempting notes of Moonlight Sonata] [sustained chord] [Irene] Pssssst... Jonas. [Irene voice-over] When my son Jonas was born doctors told me he could hear. [tapping bongo drum] [clicking toy] [clapping] [Matt] Hey! Jonas, look at this. Want to walk over here? [silent movies] [Irene voice-over] Family genes have a way of arriving unannounced. They might skip a generation or two. But often they catch up. [babbling and singing] Around the time he should've been learning to talk, Jonas' voice was the first clue. [Matt] H-- Hello. Hello. [Jonas] Hello. Hello to the trapezoid Hold on. Hold on. What's that one? -What is it? -Apoctagon. Yeah, it's the octagon. - [strumming chords] - Hello to the octagon So glad to see you [Matt] What else should we say hello to? Hello... [unclear] - To what? - Hello... [unclear] To the piano? [playing scale] [Matt] Piano? Can you say piano? Twinkle, twinkle little star How I wonder what you are Up above the world... - [laughing and babbling] - [wind chimes rattling] - [muffled underwater sounds] - [Jonas] Twinkle twinkle, little... How I wonder what you... [Jonas laughing and chattering] [Audiologist #1] Where's the cowboy? [Audiologist #2] Cowboy. Very good. [Audiologist #1] 30-35 in the left. Where's the football? [Irene voice-over] Every month we would get a new hearing test. [Audiologist #2] Not sure on that one. [Irene voice-over] Sound was slipping away. [Audiologist] Sss... Sss... Sss... [Irene voice-over] Letters, entire words, were disappearing. [Audiologist] Sss... No, I don't believe that one. [Audiologist #1] Could you play 115 decibels through the right insert? [warbling sound] [Audiologist #2] And he's not even acknowledging that. [warbling sound continues] - [crying] - [Matt] ...that shiny ring won't shine Daddy's gonna give you some fishing line [Irene voice-over] We tried hearing aids to amp up what little was left. Daddy's gonna show you a hummingbird [soft piano chords] [Irene voice-over] This deafness? It's a hand-me-down. I can hear. And so can my brother and sister. But my parents, both of them, are deaf. They adapted well to the hearing world. Our world. And they gave us things they couldn't enjoy. Music lessons. Record players. Movies. In return, we were their interpreters. We were their ears. Jonas was my first child. And now Mom and Dad had my back. [Jonas laughing] [Paul] Okay. Okay. [Jonas] Mommy. [Jonas] Daddy. [Jonas] Kiss. [exclaiming] [drill whirring] [drill whirring softly] [drill whirring loudly] - [drill whirring] - [indistinct chatter] [laughing] [Irene voice-over] A year before he was born, Mom and Dad had surgery to get cochlear implants, devices that would allow them to hear. [Irene voice-over] But their brains were so shaped by a lifetime of silence, that when they finally heard sound... - [laughing] - Okay. [Irene voice-over] ...it turned out not to be that meaningful. [warbling sound] [Audiologist] And this is 2000 hertz. - 80. - [warbling] - 95. - [louder warbling] [wind chimes tinkling] - 105. - [drill whirring loudly] - 110. - [train clanking] [muffled ambient sound] [Irene voice-over] When he turned four... the audible world for Jonas... finally closed shut. [loud train clanking] [Irene] So Jonas, tomorrow night we're going to have a happy birthday dinner for Nana. We're also going to have a happy surgery dinner for you. So what should we have for dinner? Well, what else? [monitor beeping] [Irene] Why are you getting a cochlear implant? [sniffles] [crying softly] [Irene] Is he going to put it in your mouth? - Oh. But-- But Jonas, you're going to-- - [babbling] Jonas, you know you're going to have to go to sleep. Did you know that? - [Jonas crying] - [Matt] Shh. [Irene] Who else has a cochlear implant? [Irene] You see it? Can you feel it? Here, feel up here, honey. The magnet's right in there. [Irene] No. What goes on your eye is glasses. What went back here is an implant. [Matt] Okay. Okay. Okay, buddy. Okay. Okay. It looks pretty clean, huh? [Irene voice-over] I learned from my parents' experience, it would take a lot of work to learn how to hear. - But Jonas had an advantage. - [Matt] See that? He was young. [seagulls calling] [Irene] Maybe the battery's low. What does it sound like, Jonas? [Jonas mimics static] That's what happened. [Irene voice-over] At first, the world of sound came at him in a storm of beeps and unintelligible clicks. [trilling] [Speech Therapist] Sss... - Sss...kunk. - Skunk. You did it! Whoa! All right. - [Irene] Tell me what you are. - [Jonas] An astronaut. And why do you need boots? That's because, um, the ground is so hot that I can't even step. Where? On Mars or the moon? Um, on-- on Mars. [Irene voice-over] Slowly, he started to understand sound. [Jonas] And this is the countdown. That's the countdown, right there. [Irene voice-over] His voice changed... because he could hear it now. He got his words back. [Irene] I see. What does the countdown sound like? Five, four, three, two, one, zero, blastoff. Just like that. [Irene voice-over] And that little boy who used to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"? He was getting music back, too. - [man] Whoo! - [cheers and applause] [playing piano] [Irene voice-over] Jonas told us he wanted to take piano lessons. [Colleen] So our very first performer has had five lessons, and what an adventure. [cheers and applause] [Irene voice-over] His piano teacher Colleen helped him distinguish a C from a G. And when a note sounded sharp or flat. [plays mistake] It got messy sometimes. [playing Beethoven's "F r Elise"] But all that music was helping Jonas navigate sound. - [male voice on recording] Say the word "wreck." - Wreck. - Say the word "waste." - Wist. - "Knee." - Knee. - "Camp." - Cap. - "Fresh." - Fresh. - "Fair." - Fair. [Audiologist] Okay. This time it's going to sound like there are a lot of other people talking in the room. A lot of other conversations happening. Just do your best to-- [Jonas] Is it-- Is it going to sound like "blah-blah-blah"? [Audiologist] Yeah. Kind of. - But you have to pick out the words in all that blah-blah. - Okay. Okay, here we go. [voice speaking in background noise] We wanted to stay at Cassie's tonight. - We wanted to stay at Cathy's the night. - [overlapping conversations] He checked out three books from the school library. - He checked out s-- School-- - [multiple voices talking louder] School books or three books from the school library. I forgot to put my lunchbox in the classroom. I forgot to put my lunchbox in the classroom locker? -[background noise getting louder] -Okay, wait. It's just interrupting me. I can't-- [silence] [music score] [Irene voice-over] When Jonas was 11, he told his piano teacher he wanted to learn a piece he had fallen love with... the Moonlight Sonata. Her first response was to tell him it was too hard. She gave him other pieces, but he wouldn't practice. So he went online and found the sheet music for it. [Moonlight Sonata playing] Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata when he was going deaf. Some people call deafness a cosmic mistake in our human condition. [Irene voice-over] But how could this be a mistake? Where did Beethoven find this melody? Where did he find his voice? Eventually, Jonas' teacher relented and agreed to teach him the Moonlight Sonata. They set a goal for him to play a recital in seven months. - [dissonant chords] - [Colleen] Oops. [Jonas] Sorry. Have you practiced a lot this week? - [Jonas] Yes. - [stammers] Okay. [Colleen] Like I said, Beethoven doesn't want you to put a retard at the end. He wants you to keep the tempo exactly the same. And he said "Sonata kind of like a fantasy." [playing piano] That's wrong, Jonas. It's a D sharp right there. You're playing a D natural. Right here. I want you to stop. This is one of those measures we talked about. - [Jonas] My God. - [Colleen] Let me get a red pencil. [Jonas] I was doing so good! [Colleen] No, you're not doing well if you're playing a wrong note. [groans] It was-- That was my first mistake. - [playing notes] - [smirks and scoffs] [resumes playing] [Colleen] Bring out these notes. Yeah. Okay. That's one. [resumes playing] [Colleen] Two. [Colleen] That's close. [laughing] [laughs] Oh, yeah. No. [Colleen] Okay, now start-- You can start there and keep on going. [Jonas] Now I've, like, forgotten everything. [resumes playing] [breathing heavily] [gasping] - [Colleen] Keep going. - [chuckling] - [Colleen] Zero! Zero! - [Jonas] No, no, no! That's what happens when you don't correct your mistakes. Your mistakes become the music. Sorry, Jonas. [bangs keyboard] [panting] [music score] - [screaming from sidelines] - [Jonas] Open! Open! Colin! Col! [Irene voice-over] Jonas is my only deaf child. - His two brothers came later. - [Gil] Mom! They can hear. [Matt] Stay with him. Stay with him. Pass right here. To the wing. Good. - Strong, hard passes, guys. Hard passes. - [whistle blows] - Nice! - [Irene] All right, Jonas! [Jonas] Hello. No. [Irene voice-over] Now we all live just down the street from Mom and Dad. No. Wait, what? My name is... [Jonas exclaims] [tapping on table] I'm deaf. The implants just help me hear. But without the implants, I'd be deaf and the implants are a part of me. Well, kind of. Technically, they are, but... Where do I put them? Like, there? I can't hear you right now. So I can only, like, talk. But, yeah. [interviewer] And then... what does it feel like right now? What does it feel like right now? Okay, I'm glad I, like, understand that. It feels pretty much like I can't hear anything. I barely even know what I'm saying 'cause I know what I'm saying 'cause I know how to talk. But, like, I can't hear myself talking, so that feels a little bit weird, but, like... I really don't know, like, what I sound like when I'm talking right now. I feel like I'm, like, a little bit fast or a little bit slow, but like... yeah. - [interviewer] Can you feel-- - Yeah, I can feel... If I put my hand here, I can feel the vibration. I can't really hear anything, but I go like-- [screams] Probably can't hear that or if I go "Ohhhhh," I can, like, barely hear that. [deeply] I can hear really low sounds. I can, like-- It's, like, not really much hearing. Like, if I produce a really low hearing sound, it just, like, basically goes through my... vocal box. So, like, I can hear a really big vibration that sounds like sound, but it's actually just a vibration, so I'm probably not hearing anything right now. Oh! - [music score] - [keyboard keys clicking] Oh, good combo, good combo! Oh! G.G.! - [indistinct voice on phone] - I'm right here. I'm right here. I'm in front of you. [indistinct chatter] Oh, my God! Bad, bad, bad! Help me! I'm so scared. Look at this! Look at this! High-five over the phone. [claps] [keyboard keys clicking] [Jonas] So, like, do you want to be Hamilton or Aaron Burr? Three, two, one, go. [Jonas humming] [Cyrus] Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir? [Jonas mumbling and singing] [Jonas and Cyrus] I'm Alexander Hamilton I'm at your service, sir [Jonas] And I'm just like my country I'm young, scrappy and hungry And I'm not throwing away my shot - A scholarship to King's College... - [music score] - [lip synching] What time is it? - [both] Showtime! - [silent movies] - [Irene voice-over] A lot can happen in two generations. Most deaf people couldn't even get car insurance until the 1950s. Dad got his driver's license at 14 and he saw it as a sign that he could do anything. When he finished graduate school, Dad's parents gave him a new red Ford. He took my mom out on dates in it. Dad became an engineer, an inventor, my father. And our family was everything to him. [silent movies] [rotary clicking] Papa was a scientific, technological genius, 'cause he invented the first FaceTime, kind of. [Jonas voice-over] It was called the TTY. [teletype keys clicking] Kind of like texting. So, like, you could text with a typewriter and you could send a direct message to the other typewriter. Except black and white and the graphics were, like, lower. The thing is, when my grandparents were young, I've learned about some of their history, because I've seen a few movies. They just kind of, just, like, played with their friends, they didn't talk much. I can't say that's boring because that's, like, the 20th century. [Irene voice-over] He made movies about us all the time. And he gave me my first camera. He taught me how to take pictures. And tell stories. [music score] [Jonas voice-over] I know that would be their life for them. So they would-- They would have never known our life of all this technology and stuff. [Audiologist] Okay, I'm going to turn it on. Are you ready? What are you doing? [Jonas voice-over] I got my first implant when I was four or five. Oh! And then I got my second one when I was eight. Or nine. Music class. [Jonas voice-over] I've had more experience hearing things than not hearing things now. But my grandparents, they've had more experience not hearing things. And that's not going to change 'cause you don't live to be 120. [turn signal blinking] [kids shouting and chattering] [chuckles] [Girl] We want to welcome you to the 2017 Ainsworth Talent Show. [cheers and applause] - [music score] - [tapping shoes, reverberating] [silent filming] [mimics chatter] [mimics chatter] [muffled applause] [movie projector clicking] - [silent movies] - [musical score] - [silent movies] - [musical score] [silent movies] [seagull calling] [music score continues] [Irene voice-over] Eventually, Dad found his voice. - [squealing laughter] - But I would never wish upon Jonas what it took him to get there. I know silence gave Dad... gave all of us... something valuable. And that's the deafness I've always known. [seagull calling] Now, I wondered if my son would ever know it too. [Jonas playing the Moonlight Sonata] [Jonas] It's like you can almost hear the first note. - Wait, listen. - [continues playing] [Colleen] That's like Beethoven. When Beethoven didn't actually hear, he heard it in his head, just like you are right now. But now play it the way Beethoven wrote it. - [playing random notes] - [Colleen] Did you hear what I said? Tell me what's going on. Did you have a bad day at school? - Wait. Tell me. - [Jonas] No. - A good day at school? - [Jonas] Yeah. So you're just-- You're just being hyper and naughty. - [Jonas] Naughty. - You're naughty? - [Jonas sighs] - Okay, now be good. So I can give you an O for your lesson. [Colleen] I'm going to start putting it in writing now. I think you're at about an S. Let's see if you can work your way up to an O. - And an Altoid. - [Jonas clicks tongue] [playing the Moonlight Sonata] [Colleen voice-over] I was thinking a little bit about this piece and where Beethoven was at the time when he wrote this. The deafness had started affecting him for already a few years. The anguish in it, even the humiliation, of being who he was and then going deaf. [Moonlight Sonata playing] He felt isolated and solitary and maybe misunderstood by people. He had been to every doctor. His hearing was probably never going to get better. It was only going to get worse. [fish tank bubbling] [Gil mumbling] [piano keys sounding] [Jonas] May I please have an Altoid? [Colleen] Yes. Thank you for asking. [Jonas] Open. Touch, touch, touch, touch. - [Colleen laughing] - [Jonas] Do I get them now? - [Colleen] Oh, man. Are your hands clean? - [Jonas] Yeah. No. - [Colleen laughing] You're-- - [Jonas] Can I just have the whole thing? [Colleen] You know, you're an imp. [playing scale] [playing scale] [genetic counselor] Hello, I'm Jessica. [counselor] No, we haven't met yet. So it's nice-- I'm a genetic counselor. [counselor] Have you been told anything about your test results? [Jessica] Oh, okay. [counselor] It appears that they found an answer that seems to explain the cause of your deafness. [counselor] Right? [counselor] They found some changes in the instructions in this gene. [counselor] Mm-hmm. [counselor] Mm-hmm. [counselor] This gene explains less than one percent of all childhood deafness. Maybe half a percent. So it's rare. [counselor] So a gene is a really long string of letters and it has to be spelled just so. And what they found is that in your both copies of this gene, you have a spelling change. [counselor] Two variants were identified in the T-M-P-R-S-S-3 gene. Which may be the cause of your patient's hearing loss. - And that was the conclusion. - Okay. [counselor] So I think of it often as a spelling error or a "typo." [counselor] Mm-hmm. [counselor] Say that again. I'm sorry. [counselor] We all have some defective genes. - [counselor] Yeah. - Or... [counselor] You know, the way they call it-- the "technical" name-- they call it a variant. Variant. [counselor] The term, you know, we learned in school is "mutation." [music score] [counselor] The outcome, the end product, doesn't perform as-- as we typically expect. [music score continues] [inhales, exhales deeply] [silent conversation] [Beethoven's "F r Elise" playing] [Irene voice-over ] Even though deafness passed through my family's genes, I never really thought of deafness as a medical condition. It just shaped who we were. Like Jonas, Mom wasn't born deaf either. My grandmother once told me when Mom was a little girl losing her hearing, she was so locked in her thoughts, unable to understand or be understood, she would bang her head on the floor, trying to get what was inside of her out. Mom's mother, my grandmother, was a professional pianist. Mom used to sit under her piano so she could feel the vibrations when she played. ["F r Elise" continues] [Sally tentatively playing first notes of F r Elise ] [Irene voice-over] In our family, music got passed between generations too. [John] After this... [plays F r Elise notes] [Irene voice-over] Jonas' other grandfather, John, also plays the piano. [Sally] Okay. - [playing "F r Elise"] - [laughing] [Irene voice-over] He's the one who first introduced Jonas to Beethoven's music. [John] Right hand. Right. E. When I was ten years old, it would be easy. [snaps fingers] Like that. Right. [Jonas playing Moonlight Sonata] [Colleen] Why don't you come over here? Let's talk about the piece away from the piano. - I thought you did a great job of not being too loud. Okay? - [Jonas] Mm-hmm. It was like what we've talked about before when somebody kind of whispers a little bit. You-- Your ears perk up. You want to hear what they're-- they have to say. Like the right hand says, "Da, dum." And the left hand goes, "Bum, bum." And then the right hand interrupts and says, "Shush." [softly] "Da, dum." You're expressing emotion because they don't give you a story. It's not like a book. They give you kind of an emotional story, so when you, you know, play it a certain way, we're going to say, "Oh yeah, I understand what he's trying to say there." There's moments that are almost sacred to me. And there's a few measures in here that are very sacred to me. [Colleen] This right here. When this is played, Beethoven had big emotions. They were very deep emotions. And so sometimes when he... he feels good, or he resolves something, it's more special because you know how far down he went. [Jonas] Okay. [inhales deeply] [Beethoven's Sonata No. 7 plays] [Colleen voice-over] Whenever you find yourself profoundly moved by something or profoundly sad, the composer you're most likely to turn to will be Beethoven. [muffled sound of water and music] There's just something elemental that's in his music. It's not pretty, you know, for prettiness' sake or anything like that. It's just the depth of human experience from the really awful to the really exalted. So when you hear a piece like this, it's not moonlight reflected on a lake at night. I think it's really about his deafness. [wings flapping in the air] [cards shuffling] [laughing] Five. [music score] [Irene voice-over] I was so used to seeing my parents content in their quiet world that it was hard to notice at first. Something was different with Dad. He was having trouble keeping up. [sewing machine running] [sewing machine running] [Jonas playing the Moonlight Sonata] [John] Wooh... Di, di, di - [Jonas] Oh, my God. - Yeah, that's the other thing. Right. [chuckles] - It's like, you pause and then you play. - Yeah. Right. That's right. [Jonas] He's teaching me tricks. How to make it sound better and more beautiful. He claims he's played it more times than Beethoven or any other person in the world. [all chuckling] - [begins "F r Elise"] - [Colleen] We're not doing that. - [Jonas] Should I relearn "F r Elise" or no? - No. - Jonas, I want to work on polishing it. - Okay. And what does that mean, exactly? To... make sure your mistakes aren't mistakes. Well, that's the very basic thing. You're not going to make mistakes. You know, everybody makes some mistakes. But you're not going to make the same mistakes - over and over again. - Okay, okay. Um, polishing means... dynamics? - Yes. You have-- You know, if-- - I get an Altoid for that. If it doesn't have any dynamics, it just-- It's not interesting. Like, this is without dynamics. Like, "F r Elise," for example... [Jonas playing staccato] But with dynamics... [Jonas playing legato] - Like that. - Yeah. Of course, you don't have to do the big acting job, too. You-- Your fingers do most of the work. - [Jonas] Okay. - [Colleen] Now one thing, just in terms of style, when you're in the middle of the piece, you can't scratch your head. - What does that mean? - Rub your nose... Well, you were playing and then with-- the left hand wasn't busy, you were going like this. And sometimes you even stopped. - And then at the-- - Oh, my contact was bugging me. Oh. Well, okay. But you know, when you're performing, you can't do that. Right? No matter how bad it itches, you have to suffer. And so we were talking about that, that we were going to use the soft pedal, and keep this-- He says "Always pianissimo." [Colleen playing Moonlight Sonata] And then he brings it home. So if you keep that really quiet, all of a sudden, there's a voice in the piece. - Jonas, a voice. - [inhales sharply] [Jonas] On a scale of one to six, four is average, I think I would give myself a four plus. - Okay. - What would you give me? - What would my score be on a-- - Two. - A two? - Mm-hmm. Sorry. That's not even-- That doesn't even meet the standards. I know! That's what I'm trying to help you do. I'm trying to help you be a six, which I know you can do. [squeals] - [fast Beethoven music plays] - [chattering] [barking] [exclaiming] [barking] [screams] [Jonas playing scale] [yapping] [Paul's Grandson] Okay, bye. [whines] [screaming] [screaming] [shouts] [Gil crying] I want the phone! - I want the phone! - [Irene voice-over] Gil could scream all he wants. I want the phone! - [muffled audio, silence] - [Irene voice-over] Dad has a superpower. [silence] He likes to shut out sound by turning off his cochlear implant. [loud violin music] [banging] [cymbals clanging] [drumming in background] [Irene voice-over] Jonas hadn't figured out yet that he has that superpower too. - [dog barking] - [Irene] Matt-- [silence] [Colleen] Almost everybody who loves music loves this piece. I want you to play it like you-- The way you wanted to play it before you even learned it. - Do you remember what that was like? - [Jonas] Mm-hmm. Okay, let's hear it that way, then. [Jonas playing the Moonlight Sonata] [Jonas] I don't know. [grunts] I was waiting to see if you could kind of recover. I'd love for you to be able to just start at that measure. [Jonas playing the Moonlight Sonata] [dog growling] [dog barking] [dog barking] [dog yapping] I think it's a really good thing that you have a little brother that interrupts your playing because it teaches you to play through unexpected things. [dog paws scampering on floor] [Colleen] This is what I hear. [Colleen playing the Moonlight Sonata] Do you know what's wrong with that? - [Jonas] I start going too fast? - [Colleen] No. - Too slow? - No, it has nothing to do with tempo. - It's too-- - Too loud? The-- The melody is too weak. We're hearing this. [Colleen playing overlapping notes] [Colleen] Let your ear be your guide. Okay? - [Jonas] Thank you. - You're welcome. - [sighs] - [blender whirring] [continues playing] [Gil] It's me. It's me. It's me. [screams] No. No. [indistinct chatter] Get up! [Jonas] Can I just be done now? [Irene] Jonas? Would you like to take off your implants and just check out for a little while? Just something, honey, to just let your senses calm down. [Irene] I'm always just trying to understand how we can live with this better. 'Cause it's hard. And the hardest person it's for right now, it's hardest for you. - [Irene] But you know what Papa said to me today? - What? He told me he thought his life was better because he was deaf. [music score] [lawnmower running] [absence of ambient sounds] [absence of ambient sounds] [absence of ambient sounds] [playing Moonlight Sonata] - Wait. - [stops and starts] I messed up. [Jonas] Why should I bother? [John] That does bring up an interesting question as to whether you want to play mostly for yourself or whether you want to play mostly for other people. - I don't know. - Yeah. It's a tough question to answer 'cause it's nice to play for other people because then they, uh, sort of admire your expressiveness. But if it gives you a little stage fright, then it's a pain in the neck. It interferes with your own appreciation of it. [John] I always make at least one mistake. And every time I sit down at the piano, I say, "This time it's going to be perfect." And I don't think it ever is. [music score] [Jonas] I hate this piece. I hate it. [music score continues] [John] He's got it in his head, but if it's not perfect, then the whole thing falls apart. You can't learn without making a mistake. [music score continues] [door latches] [glass marbles rolling] [glass marbles rolling] [turn signal blinking] [Jonas] Go left. - Left? - Yes, left. [Jonas humming] -It's right here. Oh. This. Right there. -[Cyrus] Right there. Yes, right there. Go right... there. There! [music score] [rain pattering] - [rain falling heavily] - [thunder rumbling softly] [Irene] I'm just not fully comfortable with you driving the kids. - [music score] - [geese calling] [Irene voice-over] Telling my dad he couldn't drive my family was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I know what driving meant to him. Driving was more than freedom. It was progress. I'll never forget the way Dad used to look at me while he drove us around. He looked as if nothing could stop him. [Velcro ripping] [Doctor] So I think I have some idea about your history. I need to examine your brain. Okay? So the first thing, I'd like you to arrange these tiles to match that design. Terrific. Can you tell me how much seven from one hundred is? [Doctor] Ninety-three. Yes. What is that? - [Doctor] Yes. - [chuckles] [Doctor] I'm going to ask you to try to remember four words. OK? The words are... robin, carrot, piano and green. [mumbles] [Doctor] Okay, well, there was a musical instrument in the list of words. It was either a drum, a piano... [Doctor] Or a trumpet. Uh, do any of those... Do you recall any of those being... listed? No. Okay. Say as many words as you can think of that begin with the letter F. [Doctor] Mm-hmm. [whispers] Fun, fun... [music score] [Doctor] On your exam today, there were no surprises. So putting this all together, um, you know, this looks like what we would call the early stages of a dementia. So the most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer's. Right now, um, you're in an early stage. But, unfortunately, this would likely progress and then there may be other difficulties that come with that. Continue to be engaged with the world. Um, I know it's challenging. [music score continues] [silence] [playing the Moonlight Sonata] [faltering notes] - [faltering, stops playing] - [sighs] [faltering] [sustained note] - [muffled audio] - [abrupt silence] [heartbeat] [inaudible] [heartbeat continues] [indecipherable distant voices] [music score] [Colleen voice-over] He memorized sound. He knew when he looked at the page, he could hear it. He looked at his art as the thing that would save him. His isolation gave him a greater sense of who he was and what he heard in his own mind and it just blocked out all the noise of the rest of the world. He only had his own noise. His deafness just gave him an isolation that might have given him the best ability to hear his own voice. - [ambient sound] - Did it sound good? That was weird. [music score] [Colleen] At the end of the Ninth Symphony, one of the orchestra members got up and walked over to him to turn him around so he could see that he was getting a standing ovation for the Ninth Symphony. Small wonder, but... [chuckles] [music score] [chess piece tapping on board] [Irene voice-over] Jonas took the leap into silence. He was spending more and more time with his implants off. And more time with Dad. [Paul chuckles] Okay. [piano notes play then stop] [Jonas] What's brown and sits on a piano bench? Beethoven's first movement. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I want the recital to be, like, this weekend. Instead of-- - [Colleen] Because you don't want to practice this anymore? - Yeah. And plus I've nailed it. - I'm just going to-- - You haven't nailed it. You think you've nailed it. - You haven't nailed it. - Okay. - It can always be better. - Of course. Have you listened to this on YouTube? - My bad. My bad. - Have you listened to this on YouTube? Yes. - Really? Who? Who was the pianist? - Mm-hmm. - Beethoven. - [laughs] Wait, did Beethoven ever play this and was it ever recorded to YouTube? I'm sure Beethoven played this a zillion times, but he died long before they had recordings of his playing. - You want to know the truth? - Mm-hmm. - Mr. "I Nailed It." - Mm-hmm. I'm not Mr. "I Nailed It." You played it louder, but you didn't play it well. And I think if you practice it this week, you'll play it so we hear the notes and then you'll play it well. - [Jonas] Thank you. - [Colleen] You're welcome. - Actually, like, thank you. - Hmm? Thank you for, like, for real. - Time to fly again! - No, no, no, no, no! Ah! Where are my pants? [Moonlight Sonata melody audible] [music ends] [Moonlight Sonata playing] [Jonas] Oh, yeah. [heavy metal rendition of the Moonlight Sonata] [ Moonlight Sonata ] [ Moonlight Sonata ] [man] It was like I was a ghost walking down the street. [organ playing the Moonlight Sonata] Groovy! [ Moonlight Sonata ] - Trust me. - God's sake! - It's for the best. - Annie, please! [classical rock rendition of Moonlight Sonata] This shall be my greatest performance of all time! [Moonlight Sonata playing] This is it, Morty. We're goners. We're not getting out of this one. After everything we've been through, this is how we're going to die. - Make peace with your god. - Oh, geez, Rick, I don't want to die! And now for the E-Splat! [grunts] [hip-hop music with Moonlight beat playing] [absence of ambient sounds] [hip-hop score continues] [Jonas playing tune, stops] - [Jonas] Oh, my gosh. - [John laughs] Oh, my gosh. I don't even have my implants on. Oh. Okay. Well, I heard it fine. [highway noises] [blinker sounding] [thumps] [horn honking] [blinker sounding] [indistinct background chatter] [Beethoven's Sonata No. 7 playing] [Irene voice-over] It got to the point where the only way Dad could remember what he had done each day, was to write things down. [music score] - [crunching ice] - [Sally grunts softly] [music score continues] [wind howling] [very muffled ambient sound] - [no audible piano] - [music score] [Jonas] When I play without my implants, I just feel really joyful. It's beautiful and soothing. If I'm not wearing my implants and I make a mistake, I don't really care. I just try to move on. I can just let my mind wander. I only like it when I know I can go back to not being deaf. [birds chirping loudly] [Paul voice-over] [birds chirping loudly] [Irene] I appreciate you letting me film you a lot. Because I will always have this of you. [Irene] It's nice. [Irene] Yeah. You taught me how to film. Happy birthday to you - Happy birthday to you - Wow! Happy birthday, dear Papa Happy birthday to you [chuckles] - Okay. - [Sally] Okay. [music score] [scissors clipping nails] Done. [Matt] So you go around once, like this. Hmm. - Excuse me. - [Matt] Stand up straight. Let's have a look. - [groaning] - Let's have a look. [highway noises] Jonas, that's really sweet. Oh, and they're so pretty. [background audience chatter] [Colleen] Welcome, everybody, to our piano recital. I want everybody to really applaud the kids after they play, not for the perfection of their pieces but the effort that they put trying to get to that perfection. So we'll start today with Jonas, and he'll be playing the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata. [applause] [Jonas playing the Moonlight Sonata] [plays notes flawlessly] [Moonlight Sonata fades into music score] [Irene voice-over] I'll never be sure what Jonas heard that day. What Dad will remember of it. Or what Beethoven meant when he gave us his Moonlight Sonata. [Beethoven medley playing] We gave Jonas hearing. But he had to find his voice. If deafness is a mutation... a "typo" in our human condition... then our mistakes can become our music. [applause] I, I want to be One of those storms Falling over the sea - [background vocalization] - I want to rely Stars fiercer than Mars Smile back at me I, I want to be One of those storms Falling over the sea Falling over the sea I... I... Falling over the sea Falling over the sea Falling over the sea Falling over the sea Falling over the sea [vocalizing] I, I want to be One of those storms Falling over the sea Falling over the sea One of those storms I... Falling over the sea I... I... I... Falling over the sea [background vocalization] [crowd applause] [hummingbird buzzing] |
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