Objective: To understand the scope of semantic impairment in semantic dementia.
Design: Case study.
Setting: Academic medical center.
Patient: A man with semantic dementia, as demonstrated by clinical, neuropsychological, and imaging studies.
Main outcome measures: Music performance and magnetic resonance imaging results.
Results: Despite profoundly impaired semantic memory for words and objects due to left temporal lobe atrophy, this semiprofessional musician was creative and expressive in demonstrating preserved musical knowledge.
Conclusion: Long-term representations of words and objects in semantic memory may be dissociated from meaningful knowledge in other domains, such as music.