Brandon, since a greater deal of bias is created by the conductor I would suggest you go to school and train to be a conductor, whether it is for sighted or blind. Rick <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 10:26 PM, Brandon Keith Biggs <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:brandonboy13@comcast.net">brandonboy13@comcast.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<div>Hello,</div>
<div>It is one of my dreams to be able to create a conductor's wand that blind
musicians can follow. I’m planning on making it through school and gather
information on what I’d need to get company's interested in developing a product
like this, but so far I haven’t had much success by telling the company's that
this wand is crucial in being a professional blind musician. </div>
<div>I need to get numbers and info on grants and funding to be a little more
convincing in my arguments. If anyone knows how many blind musicians graduate
from college each year, or how many there are out in the world, or know anything
like that it would be very helpful. Perhaps this is something Dancing Dots could
do? Because I’m not sure if DD has literally fulfilled the “Dancing” part of
their name yet <img src="" style="border-style: none;" alt="Smile with tongue out">. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>I’m not sure what level of orchestras you play in, but I know in my
community theater I’m barely able to convince the musical directors to let me be
a part of the chorus because I can’t see the conductor. I’ve talked to the
smaller professional Opera houses and they said absolutely not ever as a lead if
I can’t follow the conductor.</div>
<div>In the professional orchestras that I’ve sung with and my friends sing with
they meet around 4 times before they perform. If I’m able to make it to the big
Opera houses like San Francisco I won’t be in rehearsal a day if I want to make
an understudy debut. If you can’t follow the conductor you are unprofessional
and won’t be hired, especially in the Opera world. The argument against just
listening to the music is that because you are behind the pit and about 30-40
feet away from the front row the time it takes the sound to reach your ears,
your brain to respond and the sound from your voice to reach the audience you
are a half a beet too late. In even the community houses that I am a chorus
member for, a half a beet is enough to never get you hired back.</div>
<div>I’m surprised nothing like this has been developed considering its crucial
role in a musician's life. </div>
<div>Thanks,</div>
<div> </div>
<div style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Arial'">Brandon Keith
Biggs</div>
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<div><b>From:</b> <a title="SClark6144@aol.com" href="mailto:SClark6144@aol.com" target="_blank">SClark6144@aol.com</a> </div><div class="im">
<div><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, January 10, 2012 7:55 AM</div>
<div><b>To:</b> <a title="menvi-discuss@menvi.org" href="mailto:menvi-discuss@menvi.org" target="_blank">menvi-discuss@menvi.org</a> </div>
<div><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Menvi-discuss] Sight-reading</div></div></div></div>
<div> </div></div>
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<div>Sometimes you can play with a local group. Forget the New York
Philharmonic.</div>
<div>My student is in college now, and he does not play anymore.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>As for following a conductor, the violins have it easy because they can
tell what to do by hearing the other violins. If you played a wind, it
would be much harder because they don't run in a pack like the strings.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Also, as a harpist, I practice my parts with recordings, so when I'm
practicing, I'm playing without seeing a conductor. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Some orchestra or band players don't look at the conductor much. You
can tell during rehearsal because when the conductor wants to stop and tell them
something, there will be people still playing after he's given the signal to
stop, so you know they weren't watching him.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Syl</div>
<div> </div>
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</p><hr><div class="im">
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