When one of your senses is removed, the other senses strengthen in order to compensate for the loss. Thus, it is no surprise that blind people tend to have a very good ear for music. Throughout history, there have been numerous successful blind musicians. Some of the most notorious blind musicians include:
- Andrea Boccelli
- Stevie Wonder
- J.S. Bach (in his old age)
- Stevie Wonder
- Ray Charles
- John Kay
Before the 19th century, blind people wanting to learn music were mostly self-taught and had no formal education. Things changed greatly for the blind community in 1825 when Louis Braille devised the Braille system of reading for the visually impaired. Many people don’t realize that Louis Braille also devised a system of Braille music. It utilizes the same 6-position cell as standard Braille but has completely different symbols to represent musical notation. Virtually all musical notation can be written in Braille music.
If you are an educator who may be taking on a blind student, then you should know that reading Braille music is not difficult. If your student has not had any instruction, then you can learn Braille music at the same time as the student, staying just a few steps ahead of the student in the learning process. There are also tools to help you convert Braille music into literary notation or visa versa. Some of these tools include:
- Dancing Dots
- Toccata
- FreeDots
- BrailleMUSE
- Braille Music KIT
It is possible to order Braille music sheet online or through your local music store. If you happen to live in Stockport, UK, then you will also have access to the world’s largest collection of Braille music in the National Library for the Blind. You may also want to have your student order computer software which can scan sheet music and transcribe it into Braille. Get creative with using other technology tools such as MIDI, notation programs, screen reading programs, audio programs, and synthesizers for enhancing the learning process.
The only main difference with teaching a blind person music is that the student must memorize a piece before playing. To make the process easier for beginner students, break songs into small, manageable pieces. You can also incorporate tools medicamento to make it easier for the student to memorize the song, such as playing along or using rhythm counters.