When Derek Amato crashed headfirst into the hard bottom of a pool, he was scared about what he might have done to his brain. But amazingly, the accident brought Amato an unexpected gift: it turned him into a musical savant.

Amato now plays the piano like a virtuoso, making up melodies from the patterns of black and white blocks that stream across his brain in endless succession.

While rare, there are at least 30 others around the world who have developed musical abilities after some sort of brain trauma. The condition is called Acquired Savant Syndrome.

(WATCH the video below, or READ the story from MSNBC)