Angel's gospel

Thomas Lake (The Times-Union): BALDWIN -- Imagine being trapped in darkness, unable to speak. Your brain is a mass of blown fuses. Your limbs flail at random. Your only nourishment is a buttery liquid that flows through a hole in your belly.

You will never get better.

But your smile could light a skyscraper.

Music brings you to life. Your chosen songs have more power than the 20 drugs they make you take. But the wrong music is almost as bad as no music at all, and both options make you scream.

This is the world of 11-year-old Angel Rocker, a brown-eyed quadriplegic whose survival seems to hinge on a single playlist. Her mother has burned these 13 contemporary gospel songs to four identical CDs and placed them strategically around the house. They play all day, every day, in what must be one of the most pervasive music-therapy treatments on record.

Mentally challenged children draw comfort from a variety of familiar objects and activities. Many cling to favorite toys or tattered blankets. Others bite themselves or bang their heads. On one level, Angel's fixation looks like another example of classical conditioning -- a sensation-starved child taking pleasure from recognizable rhythms.

But some who know her suggest that Angel's joy goes deeper than sonic waves.

-eddie