When you simply have to remember what you're playing
Members of the Al-Nour Wal Amal (Light and Hope) Chamber Orchestra of Cairo pictured above, are all women and all blind. They come from Cairo's poorest areas, are schooled and taught music, including reading braille notation, from a young age, but of course must be able to play their repertoire of around 45 pieces from memory. Pictures and more details are in this story from the Huffington Post. This BBC news video shows them playing, how one of the members learns pieces, and the conductor's modified timekeeping methods.
I have great respect and admiration for these and other musicians who are vision impaired, and so I've been playing some songs with my eyes shut - comparatively pathetic, I know, but it has opened me up to a whole new world of listening properly!
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