[dbaust] Re: Inspiring pianist plays on without sight or sound
- From: "Stephen Hallinan" <sph@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <dbaust@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:39:12 +1100
Inspiring indeed.
Stephen
-----Original Message-----
From: dbaust-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:dbaust-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Trudy Ryall
Sent: Friday, 24 February 2012 3:46 PM
To: dbaust@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [dbaust] Inspiring pianist plays on without sight or sound
Friends,
This is a article about a friend of mine Michelle Stevens who is deaf blind
and is a gifted piano player. She is doing a fund raising event.
Trudy
Inspiring pianist plays on without sight or sound advertised in the Age
Michelle Stevens and Thai Phuong Nguyen. Photo: John Woudstra
ANYONE needing inspiration to follow their dreams could start by listening
to Michelle Stevens play piano.
She is blind. And deaf. And she plays with feeling and clarity.
Blind since infancy, she grew up to become a semi-professional pianist,
playing at clubs and on television. But she thought that was over after
losing most of her hearing in the early 1990s as the result of an ear
disease.
But in 2006, staff at Able Australia, a not-for-profit organisation in
Camberwell for people with multiple disabilities, reintroduced her to music.
Returning to Bach, Percy Grainger and The Girl from Ipanema, she could feel
the piano's vibrations. A cochlear implant gives a smidgen of hearing. The
piano evokes wonderful memories and she's good at playing it. It's a joy to
her now to make other people happy and she's studying for her associate
diploma of music.
Tomorrow, to raise funds for Able Australia, Stevens (pictured) will play at
an event called Stage Fright. It's on from 10am to 4pm at the Cross Culture
church, Swanston Street, opposite the State Library. It aims to enable shy
people and procrastinators to play instruments, sing, recite poetry and
display art in a supportive environment.
The organiser is Thai-Phuong Nguyen, 23, an occupational therapist who last
year volunteered at Able Australia.
Nguyen (also pictured) always wanted to learn violin but was afraid of
failure. A year ago, she realised ''it's now or never'', so she bought a
violin and started lessons. She will play at Stage Fright. The program
consists of 25 performers she found at bus stops, through friends and
online. Nguyen says proceeds from the gold coin entrance fee go to Able
Australia but the day's aim is also to ''improve the performers' confidence
and make them feel they're a part of something and have achieved
something''.
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