The L'Anse sentinel., 1922-06-23
Kansas Wonder Girl Is in Class
With Helen Keller and Will
Ietta Huggins.
FEELS" MUSIC With FEET
Baking Angel Food and Writing on
Typewriter Among Her Other Ac-
compIishments-Masters Diff
cult Classical Music.

Olathe, Kan.-After 20 years In the
dim world of those who are sightless,
deaf and dumb, Miss Helen May Mar
tin is finding her way out. She has
chosen the least reasonable" method
Of expression Imaginable for one so af-
flicted Ii Is music.
Before large audience In the Meth
odist church here. Miss Martin played
what Is probably the first piano re-
cital III the history Of the world TO
have been given b. person with
neither sight nor hearing. 1t cannot
now be said that she is without speech.
for she articulates even unfamiliar
names accurately and Understandings.
The intricacy Of the method by
which u person whose sensations are
practically limited TO those of heat and
cold, pain and taste enters whole
new world Is not comprehensive to
the normal person. Mis- Marin might
possibl. have been taught to place her
fingers pn certain of the piano keys
and press them down by note, but that
would Cot explain her ability to grasp
rhythm, NOR whatever the sense Is that
tells he: when she is about to make a
mistake In time to avert it. She never
has heard, and '.as never been able to
recogniz. objects. For few years
after birth she was able to distinguish
between light and darkness, but never
more. For ~ years there has not even
been that travesty on sight.
"Feels" Her Music.
Miss Martin is able to feel" her
music best by placing the ball of her
foot against the bottom Of her upright
piano. her mother, Mrs. Helen May
Martin. says.
At the church, however she did not
want to risk soaring the instrument
she was using. so she got approximate
ly the same result by holding her left
foot under the soft" pedal.
Gounod's March Pontifical," the
Don Giovanni" minuet of Mozart.
Morrison's familiar Meditation"
Lsngs equally familiar "Flower Song"
the first two movements of Beetho-
ven's Moonlight" sonata, and Carrie
Jscobs Bonds "A Perfect Day" were
the numbers used. The precision with
which the young woman picked her
notes cut of completely blank space,
struck them, and managed ritards.
dynamics, and pedal were marvellous
All the pieces were taken deliberately.
of course, but the distortions that
would have been evident had she
learned entirely by rote were absent.
In the second movement of the
sonata the rhythm is not simple. But
neither was II too much for Miss Mar
tin. At the end of her program she
repeated tho "Flower Song" for an
encore.
Experiments with the piano were be-
sun good rbany years ago by the
young woma:fb mother. but only in the
last few years have they been pressed
Never has there been available a
teacher who understood both the
methods ussa for the sightless and
those for she deaf Miss Audrea
Granger. who sat on the platform with
Miss Martin, 's by a coincidence her
first and latt st teacher. When Miss
Martin was small girl. Miss Granger
~as with hed for short period. and
row she is c.pnpleting the work begun
Glen.
Has Other Accomplishment.
In addititn to repertoire of 80
rlano pieces Miss Martin has many of
tile accomplishments of the average
girl. She reads Braille, and now learns
her plano music by reading the notes
la '''point" for each hand separately.