Musical scores consist of two components, musical symbols and pitch notations. Musical symbols are elements of notation that do not denote pitch. Examples include time symbols (for example, “4/4”, “rit.”) and dynamic marks (“f”, “cresc.”) as indicated by roman letters.¹ Pitch may be defined as the quality of a sound that fixes its position on a scale, indicated by “notes” written on, between, above, or below the five lines comprising the musical stave.¹ Case studies suggest that the left hemisphere is dominant in reading pitch notations,^2,3 but opinions are divided on the left hemisphere’s superiority for naming musical symbols. In order to investigate this problem, we assessed hemispheric function in a patient with a callosal lesion.

In November 1997, a 69 year old, right handed businessman who suffered from hypertension and diabetes mellitus suddenly developed impairment of the movement of his left hand. When opening a desk drawer with his right hand, his left hand involuntarily caught in the drawer as the result of a cerebrovascular event. He was an amateur violinist and had been active in concerts as a soloist, or as a member in an ensemble. For example, at the opening ceremony of the concert hall of our city, he performed Beethoven’s Romance in F major accompanied by the piano. He had been a member of a semiprofessional orchestra for 30 years. He met criteria for Grison’s sixth level of musical culture.⁴ After this cerebrovascular event, he was unable to play the violin …