teaching piano to a blind student

[tigirl1]

I am a paino teacher. Today I was asked to teach piano to a 6 year old blind student, I think it would be a rewarding experience , but I had neither experience nor knowledge in teaching a handicapped student before so I need some advice and some suggested books to read. Anyone out there has any suggetions,it would be very appreciated. Thank you.TG!  

[S.Peterson]

tigirl1,
you can go the national braille association's website and order their music catalogue if your student can read braille. You can also do a google search on this. As far as experience goes I don't have any in this area, But I wish you all the luck and I hope this helped a little.
Sara

[tigirl1]

Thank you Sara for your information, I 'll check it out. I also found a website which is very helpful called 'National Resource Center for Blind Musicians'.

I still love to hear from anyone who has experiece teaching piano to the blind student, so keep sending your email. J.A.

[reinvent]

Do you know jazz?  Since improvisation is such a necessity in jazz, books are not needed half as much.
   Teaching jazz can be done without books, mainly letting them record your sessions - and explaining the chords.  It's a possibility.

[BoliverAllmon]

i know this is kinda old topic, but also remember that everything should be felt by the student. Let him rest his hands on top of yours as you play. This will help him connect to what you are saying.

boliver

[tigirl1]

Thank you for your suggestion, BoliverAllmon.

[ChristmasCarol]

This should be a terrific opportunity for you to view piano playing from the inside out.  I'm a bit envious.  I would call up a school for the blind and ask if there is someone you could meet with.  Good luck and keep us posted on the process.

[musiczone]

I do a lot of teaching and one of my students is blind , my most recent teacher is also blind.I could write quite a bit on the subject but time won't allow for that right now.Simply put , I try to teach as much theory as possible and teach the L.H. to use chord symbols and patterns.This student is learning pop music and he doesn't play by ear(yet).For the R.H. I dictate the pitches.If you think I can be of help please e-mail me.   Jay