Bucks County Herald – May 29, 2008

Blind Singers - Part II

Dear Friends,

Good morning. Last week was the first part of my interview with three blind singers who recently sang the monumental Mahler 8^th Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra. (You can read it by following this link www.CharlesMeredith.com – 05/22/08) There were nearly 500 on the stages at the Kimmel Center and Carnegie Hall for those sold out performances.

Blind at birth, Daniel and David Simpson are identical twins. Their friend John Luttenberg was born sightless too. The brothers use guide dogs; John, a cane. They sing with the Mendelssohn Club. We met when the orchestra combined the Philadelphia Singers Chorale, Mendelssohn, and the Westminster Choir College to form two choruses for the Mahler.

These three learned Braille and how to cope with the sighted world at the Overbrook School for the Blind, near St. Joseph University. They were just four years old when they became boarding students. The Simpson brothers discovered music in the second grade when their parents bought a player piano, which encouraged them to play by ear…four hands. Starting lessons in the fourth grade, they’ve become accomplished piano and organ musicians.

And they sing beautifully.

Dan and Dave are baritones; John, a first tenor. They use Braille to learn their parts and listen to recordings to prepare for tempo and volume (dynamics) changes. In Braille, the first line is text; the music line is second and indented; the third line is text, etc.

Blind people develop a keen sense of hearing and attention to detail. Our interview was in a room with high ceilings. The three immediately understood the architecture because of their over sensitive ears. Dan told me that he recently attended the Frieda Kahlo exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “I wanted to ‘see’ it,” he began. Dan was impressed with the tour guide. “She described the art beautifully,” he continued. “I’ll return for another visit.”

The twins left Overbrook after eighth grade to try public high school for a change. While they couldn’t star on the football team, they became very popular because they could accompany singers in formal and informal settings. In a ninth grade talent show, they brought down the house. Both have master’s degrees in organ performance from the Westminster Choir College and studied in Paris.

John and Dave were reunited at Bucknell College for their undergraduate work. Dan matriculated to Muhlenberg College and was Salutatorian of his class. John was Valedictorian of his class at Bucknell. “John often served us pretzels plus rum and coke at 9 a.m.,” Dave laughed.

The Simpsons are poets. Dan is the Poet Laureate of Lansdowne (PA), serving a two-year term. Dave just finished his one-year term as Poet Laureate of Montgomery County.

All three belong to a book club, headquartered at the Philadelphia Central Library with 12 others, and meet six times yearly. Ten have impaired [or no] vision. “The books we choose are often tied to those being featured by the visiting author series at the Free Library,” Dave told me. “We get an advanced copy of the book and convert it into Braille or audio for our members. Often, we meet over pizza in the late afternoon and attend the lecture that evening.”

John retired after 25 years as a computer programmer and systems analysts for Wachovia Bank. Today, he’s a volunteer for the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind. He’s also the Vice President of the local chapter of the Braille Revival League. “It’s the only chapter that does Braille production of books, materials, menus, etc.,” he explained. John is a board member at the Overbrook School for the Blind. “I don’t feel complete unless I’m singing.”

Dave became a data base designer and administrator for Verizon before retiring in 2003. Today, he teaches Braille on the Internet. Dave is a self-employed consultant who works for Dancing Dots [Braille], and for the National Resource Center for Blind Musicians. “GOODFEEL is the name of the software which converts standard music notation files on the computer into Braille output,” Dave said.

John told me about Louis Braille who developed the technique as a code, which French soldiers could use at night in the 1870’s [probably during the Franco-Prussian War]. “You have to be careful,” John cautioned. “In Braille, an alphabet “D” becomes the musical note “C.”

Dave uses SKYPE, an inexpensive tele-communication system that I’d like to understand. Dave told me that he’d teach me the SKYPE system if I’d introduce sculling to him. That’s a bargain.

“I was overwhelmed by the Mahler 8^th,” John exclaimed.

“It was great,” Dave echoed.

Mighty Betsy and I will never forget the experience and the pleasure of meeting those three.

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith

PS. Someday, I’ll write about Steve Hanamura, a blind marketing promoter who I met recently. Blind at birth, he runs marathons and rides competitively on tandem bikes. These people are inspirations.