Dear Ed,
I'm going to respond to your question on "Finding Music Teachers" from the
teacher's point of view. I am one of those music (piano) teachers who has
been
approached about teaching a blind student. In all of my 30 years of teaching
I have never been asked to do this. Maybe, because I live on a military
installation, as does the student I'm teaching I was more inclined to
accept the
challenge. We, in the military life style, are always adjusting to a new
environment every 2 -3 years, so I wanted to give this talented 10 yr. old
girl a
chance to make the most of her experience while at this particular
location. It
has been a very rewarding experience for me, too.
I must say, though, there is a lot more work involved in preparing these
lessons than for my sighted students. I haven't charged anymore for these
lessons
than for my sighted students, because I felt that I, too, was in a learning
process.
I record on an audio tape the books we are using, as we progress through them
week by week. I spend time explaining and demonstrating on the tape what
each lesson is teaching. Each piece is played two or three times,
counting the
rhythm, singing the words, if there are words to the song (since my student
loves to learn to sing the song, too) and playing the piece just for
listening.
If there is a duet to accompany the selection, I record that, too. My
student
loves to play with the duets (a sure test that she knows the piece, too).
When it comes time for the lesson, we record the entire lesson, so that she
can use this as her "notebook" for practice reference at home. When I play
through the new material, Chelsea likes to place her hands on top of mine,
as I
play the piece. I usually play it once by myself and again, with her
hands on
mine. I explain to her that the pieces are played in greater detail on the
the
"book tape". I write in a notebook the pages we covered and brief notes for
her mother to be able to refer to. When she leaves the lesson she has two
tapes to take home. The one on which I recorded the book material and the
one on
which that day's lesson is recorded.
I have a felt board which has music symbols that adhere to it. The notes,
clefs, time signatures etc. are easy to feel, since they are cardboard shapes
with felt backings. However, the staff is "painted" on the felt board, so I
stretched thread over the staff lines, in order for the student to be able to
feel for the lines and spaces. I used a thin ribbon as the middle C line, so
that she could differentiate between the treble and bass staves.
Now, for reading braille music! As of this writing, we are just beginning to
do that. I conferred with a braille music teacher at the Tennessee School
for the Blind for advise on how to approach this. He liked my use of the felt
board for teaching theory and loaned me a copy of Primer of Braille Music
compiled by Edward W. Jenkins, published by American Printing House for
the Blind,
Louisville, KY. I received through my student, because of her access to the
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handiapped, Library of
Congress, Washington, D.C. the Dictionary of Braille Music Signs by Bettye
Krolick.
As with any subject, the teacher must learn the material, before being able
to teach it. I've got the music alphabet and a few note values and rests
learned. As soon as the braille version of the Primer arrives, I will start
teaching the braille music code to my student. The braille music letters
and other
codes convert to something different in the literary code. Since I don't
know
the braille literary code, but my student does, this will be another
adjustment for her.
I consider myself privledged, in the sense that I teach because I want to and
don't have to depend on the income I make from teaching. I carry a limited
number of students, thus allowing myself to put in the extra time required to
teach my blind student. It is my opportunity to share my blessings. I am
realizing that this would be a challenging task for the average piano teacher.
Hopefully, I can add to this report several months down the road and share
with you our progress in using braille music.
Sincerely,
Ann Clem