I’ve been reading a book about the development of Irish Traditional Music, and there are several references to blind musicians. Turlough O’Carolan is perhaps the most famous blind composer, but there were others.
What this brief book fails to explain is whether they were blind before they started playing. I can imagine that for a blind person, being a musician was one of the few productive career paths still open to an individual. On the other hand, maybe diet, disease and general conditions prevalent at the time led to many people going blind, some of whom were inevitable musicians.
Recently someone with very limited vision wrote to the hammered dulcimer list about learning dulcimer. She got a variety of answers including one from someone who plays the dulcimer and was blind from birth. That must be one of the poorest instrument choices for a blind person to make.
Then there’s this:
“Jelly roll kill my mama
and drive my daddy stone blind.”
That’s vaguely remembered from a Josh White blues which I think was called Jelly Jelly.
The generally accepted explanation (how valid I don’t know, but those more knowledgeable than I seem to accept it) is that smallpox in chldren was a common cause of blindness, and that becoming a musician was a recognised career for those so afflicted - especially since it didn’t involve reading the dots!
William Kennedy of Armagh was not only a blind piper, he became a cabinet-maker and (amazingly) a pipe-maker. There’s even some very tentative speculation that he might have been the person who thought of sticking a regulator on the things. He must have had amazing strength of character.
One of my best friends that I play tin whistle with is “visually impared”. She can see a little bit but for the most part she can’t. She also is a kick
A** bodhran player, it’s scary.
She often times jokes when something loud happens next to her ears: “Oh I don’t need my hearing…wait a minute! Yes, I do! I’m blind!”. It’s so funny to hear her say that!!
I think that answers my concern - smallpox was prevalent and caused blindness in children, and if the smallpox didn’t get them, the jelly rolls might.
Also that being a musician was a viable career for a blind person, as you didn’t need any silly old dots to play music, indeed as your hearing would appear to improve with the loss of sight, it could possibly be an advantage.
Martin,
Since they were blind they couldn’t read music. Being thus barred from the more respectable world of classical music they took the only path left to them, folk music. Sad but true.
Mike
There is a consensus also that the term ‘blind’ as referring to these musicians often had a slightly diferent meaning from the one we connect with it these days. ‘Blind’ was probably a term including people with bad sight.
Kennedy is one example, a watchmaker and maker of musical instruments, it is assumed that he had some use of his eyes, limited but actually stopping short of being totally blind as we understand it today.
As it happens I was talking about this this morning when taking a friend on a visit to the grave of Garret Barry, the blind piper of Inagh. Barry could find his way around the country from Inagh visiting houses around Miltown Malbay, again it is assumed he had a residu of light left in his eyes.
Mike, in the case of Carolan and the other blind harpers, they were not in fact excluded from the world of classical music. The nobility were their patrons and their music was not folk music. There are records of meetings between Carolan and Corelli during which Carolan suprised the composer by playing a concerto he had heard only once on the harp and then commenced accepting a challenge to compose a piece in the same style. He came up with Carolan’s concerto. This was NOT considered ‘folkmusic’.
Offcourse the old conversation when the subject comes up it ‘Did you ever see Carolan’s harp?’, a denying reply to the question should be met wit han ‘Well, neither did he’.
Garrett Barry was one of the names mentioned in the book, and I was particularly interested having learnt Garrett Barry’s Jig from Michael Falsey at WC Week!
Aw…I thought I was making a good joke and Peter had to spoil it.
But really…I didn’t know that Carolan ran in such high circles. Live and learn. Thanks, Peter.
Mike
Until 19th century, the tradition of blind musicians was widespread over the whole word. For another trad fiel I know, the Ukrainian bandura seems to have been played mostly by blind people–khobzary.
In the country, music was busking. Even big city composers didn’t live from their royalties fees on sheet music, but from some rich protector (now it’s called a grant…). Same thing, just higher grade.
Blind people were mostly beggars. Playing music makes it (1) more proficient and (2) more respectable: you’re not begging any more.
More recently, like in the early 60’s in Paris metro (subway) when I was a kid, the only beggars tolerated by the police and railmen were blind, usually playing piano accordeons or just begging with no music. For some reason, there were other cripples, playing musical saws: these were usually humpbacks or legless, complete with a soapbox on four wheels and clothes irons for motors… Recalling this, I always suspect the mob had to do with splitting the territories: cripples do need “protection” don’t they?
So the trade of blind was close to the trade of musicians generally. Add to it having one sight impaired reputedly helps developing the other senses.
Now with the beggars caste-system, blindmen (who were part of the street folks) logically took over a territory–the music.
There is a consensus also that the term ‘blind’ as referring to these musicians often had a slightly diferent meaning from the one we connect with it these days. ‘Blind’ was probably a term including people with bad sight.
That’s the way I think of it; I have severely limited peripheral vision in my Left eye when both eyes are open, and practically no depth perception (learning to park a car was total murder for me!). My Left eye has been “lazy” ever since I was born, and so my brain never learned to put the pictures together from both my right and left eyes (like a person with normal vision). I was told by an eye doctor not too long ago that I am technically blind in my left eye, and if anything ever happened to my right, I would be legally blind.
So the term (even in today’s society) “blind” does not necessarily mean “a person with absolutely no sight.” It can also mean a person with really, really bad vision, or a person like in my case, has such horrible vision in one eye that if anything happened to the other, I would be blind.
Of course back in those times, I don’t think people were hardly so technical… :roll:
The only truly blind musician I ever knew was a gentleman named Carl Keldermans. I’m not sure when he lost his sight, but I’m pretty sure it was before adulthood. As a musician he was extraordinary, but as a leader and teacher he was even better. Among other things, he was largely responsible for the world-class carillon and annual carillon festival held every summer in Springfield, IL - a town more used to a much less refined class of music.
He played multiple intruments, taught at the local college and seeming knew and liked everybody. One thing he did never ceased to amaze me. He could almost always tell who had entered a room by the sound of their footfalls and their breathing. Hes been gone for years but he was truly an amazing old gentleman.
