big note piano

[shine11]

Hi. Just wondering if anyone can help me. I am currently teaching an older lady. At a guess in her late 70's. She has been playing about a year now and is getting on great.(Around grade 1-2) She reads very well but has a lot of problems with fingering.  I am managing to get around this as she really just wants to play, not pass exams etc.

 The problem I have recently is that her sight is getting gradually worse and she is having trouble reading the notes. I am trying to find books with big notation which aren't just for children. She loves musicals, slow classical pieces, slow jazz and old songs like the beatles and frank sinatra. If anyone can give me any ideas for books or links to download it would be much appreciated as I'm not having much luck. It would be such a shame for her to have to stop doing what she loves because of this. If I could find some suitable material then she could easily have another year or so enjoying the piano.

Thanks!

[roseli]

you could get some copies of the music you want her to play until she buys some glasses?

[shine11]

Unfortunately she is beyond help now and is gradually going blind so there isn't a lot I can do other than what I've thought of. I wondered whether I might have more luck with keyboard music so I might have a look and see what I can find in that department

[pianowolfi]

Big notes will only help for a while. Encourage her to learn as much as she can by heart! Encourage her to learn braille! There exists a lot of braille music.
My mom (87) has under 10% vision right now and all she can do, well, actually could do until about one and a half years ago, was playing the violin by heart, which she did really great back then (Now she has a tremor and can't really play anymore  )

She did never learn braille or anything although it was obvious already decades ago that this would happen, also she refused to use a reading device. I guess it's just too much for her to learn new things and she sorta wants gradually to step back from life...

[kookaburra]

Just use a copier machine to enlarge the music to twice as big.   

[pianowolfi]

Just use a copier machine to enlarge the music to twice as big.   

Yes that will help. But only for a while. In all probability she suffers from age related macular degeneration. Nothing can stop this. Some treatments can decelerate the process but not entirely stop it, as far as I know.

[shine11]

Thanks so much for your replies. They are really helpful. I hadn't heard of reading music by braille but although I think it's a great idea, I wonder whether she would be a bit like you said pianowolfi - too much for her to learn at that age. I will look into the copier thing and see if I can enlarge the music. I didn't realise it had that function! Also as she has a lot of other problems such as certain stretches and moves while playing, I managed to get some wide lined manuscipt today so I can write out some of her favourites in a way she can play. Hopefully with this and your ideas I can keep her playing a while longer. Thanks again.