Waking The Spirit: A Musician’s Journey Healing the Body, Mind, and Soul

In this inspirational memoir, Schulman tells of the healing power of music. After Schulman slips into a medically induced coma following complications from surgery for pancreatic cancer, his wife, Wendy, plays Bach’s St. Matthew Passion for him through earbuds and his vital signs stabilize. As a result of his own experience, Schulman, a classical guitarist, resolves to return to the surgical ICU with his guitar as a way of giving something to patients in a situation similar to his own. One woman for whom Schulman plays—he calls her Alice Blue Gown because of her blue nightgown—is in a coma and appears to be unresponsive to his chords, but two days later, she’s out of ICU, and she confirms that the music reached her and helped her heal. Another patient, Deena, is married to Ernie Harburg, son of Yip Harburg, who wrote “Over the Rainbow” with Harold Arlen; when Schulman plays songs by the Gershwins and Harburg and other works from the Great American Songbook, she connects with her past through music. The narrative can be repetitive, but Schulman nicely describes the healing effect that music can have. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff & Assoc. (Aug.)