[musictlk] Happy Louis Braille Birthday 201 [cross-posted]

[Dancing Dots]

Dear All,

Today is the birthday of Louis Braille, the man who changed so much for so
many of us.  I am remembering where I spent his 200TH birthday.  I was
blessed to be invited to a week of special events in Paris last year.  On
Louis's actual birthday, we began the day attending a special mass
celebrated in his memory.  There were programs for the occasion both in
print and in braille.  That, in itself, is not so surprising.  But the best
part was that the braille program contained the braille music for the hymns
to be sung!  I understand very little French but some of the hymns were sung
in Latin.  The organist was excellent and I had the opportunity to
congratulate him after mass.  There was a good choir as well and many in the
congregation joined in with gusto.

After mass, which was celebrated in the chapel of the National Institute for
the Young Blind where Braille himself taught and played the organ, we
gathered for a champagne brunch in his honor.  I was privileged to be
accompanied by my friend, Mr. Joe Sullivan who founded Duxbury Systems and
who has contributed so much to the cause of braille literacy.  

That night, we attended a special concert at Notre Dame cathedral where we
heard the brilliant blind organist, Jean-Pierre Leguay, perform 5 delightful
pieces for organ all of which were composed by blind musicians.  Despite
having to contend with "travel stomach", I enjoyed this concert immensely.
I don't know if it was recorded but, if it was, I certainly would want to
have a copy as a souvenir.

I have started a more detailed memoir of that week which I must finish and
put up on our site.  Needless to say, being invited to speak about braille
music at this conference was one of the high points of my life.  

Here's a brief description of the conference:

>From 5th to 8th January 2009, 466 delegates from 46 countries celebrated the
bicentenary of Louis Braille’s birth by taking part in the international
conference entitled “Braille 1809-2009: Writing with six dots and its
future”.  The conference,  organized by the Valentin Haüy Association (AVH)
and the National Institute for the Young Blind (INJA), was held at the
Headquarters of UNESCO (Paris). 

...

Check out
http://www.avh.asso.fr/bicentenaire/louis_braille/louis_braille.php?langue=e
ng& for more information.

Again, happy Braille birthday to everybody!

Regards,
Bill 


Bill McCann 
Founder and President of Dancing Dots since 1992
www.DancingDots.com
Tel: [001] 610-783-6692  option 1