Submitted by Rachel Baker Ford
Idea posted November 29, 2001
I have some experience with teaching blind students and I would suggest you contact the state commission for the blind (or whatever it's called in your area). This organization can provide you with local groups and resources. Learning Braille is certainly a valuable skill. There is also a Braille system for musical notation. I have been able to order hymn books for the blind both with the music and text, and with the text only.
For the immediate lessons, I would suggest having your student "map" the keyboard. Instead of starting from middle C, start with finding a D. ("D's in the middle of the two black keys." Singsong rhyme I use with every student.) Building from this point, the student can explore (learn) the sequence of all the keys up and down. The student soon discovers that the keyboard is a repeated sequence of only 7 different keys or letters and there is a marker for D in between the two, not three, black keys. Half and whole steps are then easily taught by, "Any two keys which are exactly next to each other, are one half step apart." This assists the learner when dealing with B to C and E to F, as well as the white to black association which the seeing impaired student can feel, not see.
The next step is steps and skips and "finding" tunes hidden on the keyboard. Singing the pitches and the intervals will assist any learner. Within a very short time, introduce chord patterns (II, IV, V'7, I) major and minor, always concentrating on learning and hearing the included pitches. I call this approach, "Playing by ear, with knowledge and understanding."