[nabs-l] Can a person's movement be affected by blindness?

[Ignasi Cambra]

Interesting topic indeed. In my opinion, it is way harder to learn facial expressions than to simply feel stuff. In other words, I can see myself being absolutely terrible at memorizing what facial expression to use for what. I can see how this would be very useful for an opera singer though, or for anyone that needs to act for any reason. A few years ago when I played as a soloist with an orchestra for the first time, I basically wasn't sure how to interact with the conductor. In the end I found out that the more comfortable I was on stage, the easier it was for him to follow me just because I was more relaxed and I naturally did more movements and gestures that he could understand. In this case, though, breathing is really important. A pianist generally breathes before an entrance, just like any other musician. And if one exaggerates this kind of things a little bit, it becomes fairly easy for people to follow. Only one time I had to memorize all the entrances and try to give them properly to different people because it was a piece for 4 pianos, orchestra and percussion, which is a little more complex.
I don't know, for me these things really became pretty natural once I started performing regularly. When I was around 12 or 13 I heard many people telling me that I sounded great, but that my face and body in general looked very statue-like. And the whole problem slowly went away I guess. Of course my situation is different from many others just because I don't have to deal with dancing, which I guess can be really hard. The only time i had to do something with dancers it was because I accepted to substitute a friend accompanying for the ballet department. I basically don't know anything at all about ballet, and for the first 30 minutes I think I was playing stuff waaaay too fast. After a while I got used to it though. I tried to listen to everyone's movements and I could kind of tell how fast they were going. Luckily it was only a couple of rehearsals...

Ignasi
On Sep 17, 2010, at 1:13 PM, Jim wrote:

> Hello everyone,
> 
> 
> 
> I know this topic might have been briefly brought up by me in the Blindtalk
> (August 2008 forum).  I've asked questions of a similar nature, but I think
> this goes a bit deeper.  If we've talked about this before, please forgive
> me.  I hope this will spark some good discussion.  I also hope to hear from
> folks with all degrees of blindness, especially from those who have been
> totally blind for a long time, or since birth.  This issue is beginning to
> affect me enough to want to try doing something about it.  Perhaps as a
> precursor, go through the archives and look at a question I sent back in
> August of 2008 dealing with extra hands on for the congenitally blind.  This
> goes one or two steps beyond my initial questions.
> 
> 
> 
> As many of you know, I've been blind since birth.  I think I was raised
> pretty normally.  From what I was told, it had been recommended to my mom
> that as a baby that I go see a kids' physical therapist to help get me to
> move a bit more and a bit more freely.  More than anything, she helped
> solidify the whole "up/down and left/right" concepts, among other things.
> That was fine, and I was up and about as any other kid was.  The whole
> blindism thing was also nipped in the bud at a very young age as well.  In
> fact, it might have been nipped too well, because to this day, even when I'm
> totally relaxed, I am generally one who sits quite still.  I can still
> remember my family telling me to sit or stand still when we'd be at other
> people's homes, stores, or other places where I was in public.  I wasn't the
> type to really get in trouble for running around places and causing mischief
> in that way.  While I played outside in my home area, I don't ever really
> remember getting into trouble by just going off and exploring and
> terrorizing other areas the way little kids I know would have done.  I was
> pretty peaceful and content.  My thing was always trying to look good and
> fit in with the regular crowd.
> 
> 
> 
> I never really thought about any of that kind of thing until recently.  I
> find myself on stage more and more, performing and playing music either by
> myself or with two other friends.  I've begun hearing advice such as, "You
> need to look like you're enjoying what you're doing.", or "I wonder how we
> can get you to be more animated and move a little bit so that you're not
> stoic."  One newspaper article recently described me as being "statuesque."
> In fact, I might post that small blurb, because it is suggesting that the
> reason for my way of being deals with blindness.
> 
> 
> 
> "Also, they brought along a friend, Jim Portillo, that played an intriguing
> electric bass ukulele with strings made of polyurethane, which gave it a
> resonance like rubber, very rich sound for such a small instrument.  Besides
> perfect licks, he had a great classic, statue-like stance of a bluegrass
> bassist, never wavering, and then later, it was revealed he was blind and
> had only been playing a few weeks."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I once took a class on stage craft, and one of the things folks liked about
> my image the most was my smile.  I am told that a lot lately.use the smile.
> I do, but once I'm on stage, I get so focused on what I'm doing that I end
> up forgetting or simply not doing these things that really are attractive to
> a visual audience.  How do blind people get more into the visual aspects of
> things?  Of course I'm enjoying what I'm doing.  There's no greater love for
> me than to play music with my two best friends.
> 
> 
> 
> So, here are some questions now that you know my background.  Is a person's
> natural movement or lack thereof affected by blindness in any way?  How do
> totally blind people learn about movement, expression, etc without looking
> forced or mechanical?  I have given up trying to dance because as a kid, I
> was always told, "Oh, you look like a little robot, pretty mechanical."  How
> does one differentiate between what may look like a blindism from natural
> and free-flowing movement?  If my friend tells me to feel free to swing and
> sway as I play, how do I do it without looking like a Ray Charles or Stevie
> Wonder?  Are these valid concerns or things that can or should possibly be
> overcome to some degree, and if so, how?  Maybe I'm either too
> self-conscious or perhaps I'm not totally aware of what some of these "free
> forms of movement and expressions" are?  I don't know.  I'm inclined to
> believe that sighted people learn by watching and imitation.  In my case,
> unless someone literally shows me what to do and puts my body through the
> motions, my interpretations may be different from what they're asking me to
> do.  And, I'm to the point now in what I do where I don't wish to look
> foolish or stand out in the wrong way.  
> 
> 
> 
> The good thing about all of this is that I have a whole lot of other things
> going for me.  I do well behind a microphone in that I'm a good MC and
> public speaker.  I'm a good promoter and can get my message across to folks.
> And, when I'm on stage, I deliver a good sounding performance.  
> 
> My friends have been great ones and very honest with me about things.  I now
> know that I probably stand out a bit more by not doing anything or moving.
> Interesting, huh?  Now, if I begin working on this, I also want to look
> natural and not fake.  I don't want to look like I've memorized a formula
> for movement, especially to various songs.  It's Folk music, right?  
> 
> 
> 
> I look forward to a good discussion that will hopefully challenge me to go
> further and see what happens.
> 
> 
> 
> Jim
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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