From: burley@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Craig Burley)
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth
Subject: (Offensive?) Why Only Blind Keyboardists? (was Re: Clavinet Example)
Date: 12 Oct 92 05:19:29 GMT
	<1992Oct6.184626.5243@nntpd.lkg.dec.com>
	<1992Oct8.180212.6809@netcom.com> <2AD4ABE3.1258@news.service.uci.edu>
Organization: Free Software Foundation 545 Tech Square Cambridge, MA 02139
In-reply-to: dan@cafws2.eng.uci.edu's message of 8 Oct 92 21:45:07 GMT

In article <2AD4ABE3.1258@news.service.uci.edu> dan@cafws2.eng.uci.edu (Dan Harkless) writes:

>Which makes me think of something...  Why do blind people always play
>keyboard instruments?  Why not, say, saxophone or guitar...?  Seems like those
>would even be easier to feel your way around...

If you think about how people typically get started, consider:

    It's pitch dark in a room you don't know well.  You wander around
    aimlessly.  What's the first thing you're likely to bump into?

        1.  A saxophone

        2.  A guitar

        3.  A piano

Obviously the answer is #3.  Now:

    After colliding with the object, what are you most likely to figure
    out to do with it, again given that you can't see it?

        1.  Saxophone: if you grab the bell end, you'd probably use it
            for a planter or spitoon; the reed end, as a shoehorn.

        2.  Guitar: makes a great club!

        3.  Piano: too heavy to lift, no place to put plants -- the
            only thing it's really good for is making noises.

So again, the piano leads to starting to make music.  Finally:

    You've discovered you weren't in a pitch-dark room, rather that
    you're blind, but meanwhile you've taken up making music with the
    instrument with which you collided.  To try and earn a living, you
    take your instrument to a lower level in a subway station and play
    for change.  What kinds of conversation ensue among the passersby?

        1.  Saxophone: "I wonder if he can read music?"  "I still don't
            know if he can _play_ music!"

        2.  Guitar: "That guy's good, he should be in a band!"  "Maybe
            he thinks he is, they've just left him alone without his
            knowing."

        3.  Piano: "How did that guy get a piano down here?"  "Easy,
            he's totally blind!"

Thusly, you can see that the piano is the best bet for a blind person to:

    a)  Discover

    b)  Decide to use for making music

    c)  Receive notoriety for becoming accomplished at playing

There are other reasons as well.  For example, if you, being blind, like
to tilt your head back at a 45-degree angle and sway it around, this is
likely to happen:

    Saxophone: your arms will get very tired moving the instrument
    up and down and back and forth with your head.

    Guitar: the rest of the band will assume you're doing that to signal
    you've forgotten the chord progression to the song -- again.

    Piano: people will think you're really into the music, and be
    amazed that you can not only play piano as a blind person, but even
    look up from the keyboard for extended periods of time.

In fact, aside from singing and playing piano, it is really hard for
blind people to be adequately convincing as musicians, no matter how
good they are:

    Blind conductors too often play a little joke on the audience and
    the orchestra when they come on stage, by bowing to the orchestra,
    then turning to the audience and raising the baton.  Instead of
    laughing, most people just get nervous.

    Blind woodwind players in orchestras never last long, because
    sitting directly in front of the brass section, they figure it's
    bad enough they're blind, why endure becoming deaf as well?

    Blind percussionists in orchestras don't exist because it's boring
    enough to be a percussionist in an orchestra during a
    performance, without the added boredom of not being able to ogle
    various members of the audience and orchestra.

    Blind electric guitarists frequently are electrocuted when they
    plug their guitar into the wrong jack.

    Blind rap singers don't get any notoriety, because...who can tell?

What I still can't figure out is why there aren't more blind violists.
After all, people would be more sympathetic since they're blind, wouldn't
they?

I hope this helps answer your question.
--

James Craig Burley, Software Craftsperson    burley@gnu.ai.mit.edu
Member of the League for Programming Freedom (LPF)