By Dave Babbitt – Special to the Sydenham Current
Back in August, I wrote a column about Gordon Ward, a 92-year-old euphonium player in our band. His amazing story of tenacity and of cheating death was nothing less than inspirational, and I have another story this week that will surely inspire.
Shannon Williams was born with a condition known as Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP) resulting in her being declared legally blind at birth. While she did have some sight, it was extremely poor.
In doing a bit of research on RoP, it quickly became apparent that this is a complex condition and one that I’m not qualified to explain, so I won’t even try.
Fast forward about 14 years and I had the wonderful opportunity to have Shannon in my music classes at WDSS for her entire time there. Shannon is a delightful lady and very quick-witted.
During her high school years, Shannon was able to see very large print in close proximity, but over time even that ability has largely faded. At one point, she was using a CCTV to blow the music up extra large, but had to operate the controller with her leg because it takes two hands to play the flute! Whether using enlarged print or the CCTV, she practiced diligently and would eventually be able to play both band scores and test pieces well largely from memory, a skill I’m still in awe of.
While in high school, Shannon was able to secure a guide dog named Tango, that became her constant companion. I still remember Tango and how incredibly patient the dog was. While I haven’t been a dog owner since childhood, I’m most familiar with just how sensitive their ears are to certain frequencies. I used to think it funny as a kid how when I played a certain note on my trumpet, our beagle would howl. Oh how I tortured that dog just for a laugh. (I was a kid, no Letters to the Editor please!)
In music class, Tango would lay down beside Shannon and endure the shrill sounds of flutes and clarinets, the loud sounds of trumpets, the pounding of drums, and the general cacophony of noise, without ever so much as squirming. What a companion!
Shannon went off to university, then returned to Wallaceburg upon graduation, yet we didn’t cross paths for many years.
In 2016 I announced plans to attempt to form a community concert band, and Shannon was one of the first ones who answered the call. Like many, she hadn’t so much as touched her flute for about 14 years due to the lack of opportunity, yet she was eager to get back at it.
Since then, Shannon has become one of the treasured members of our Wallaceburg Concert Band flute section, but let’s take a closer look at what Shannon is faced with as a blind wind musician in a band that relies on the precision that sheet music dictates.
When I choose a new band score, Shannon will receive a copy of the flute part like other members of her section. This is when she relies on a few good friends to assist her.
Meighan Lung, busy as she is will take the flute music home, play it on a piano as she records it, then will go back and play it again verbalizing the note names as each note sounds. Meighan will give verbal cues regarding the time signature, key signature, and list all accidentals as they occur in the music. She will usually break the music down into sections and often play it at different tempos, or “speeds”. When she was still able, Shannon said that Alleighsha Gauthier was also a big help to her.
At this point, Shannon sets about learning the music by ear, and must memorize her parts! I also supply a demo audio track that will allow Shannon to play along with once she has learned the music. This is astounding to me. Many musicians are able to play “by ear” but this is something totally different. A jazz musician can improvise over a chord structure but Shannon must play EXACTLY what is written in unison with the other members of her section. There is no wiggle room to change notes, tempos or rhythms, and there can be further complicating factors.
Many selections of music will have changes in the meter (or time signature), sometimes multiple changes. Last Saturday for instance, we played a gorgeous arrangement of Amy Grant’s “Breath of Heaven”. This selection had multiple meter changes moving from four-four time, to five-four, back to four-four, then on to three -four, before returning to four-four again – multiple times! Once learned, Shannon has no problem doing so, but the learning curve is steep. There are many dynamic, and articulation changes as well that are marked into the music that Shannon cannot see, so must be learned by listening to demo recordings. Sometimes, I also employ my “musical license” and change things from what the composer indicates, which she is required to remember.
Probably the most difficult piece we performed last weekend was “Fantasy on the Huron Carol”. This score was monumental for us, and I still don’t know how Shannon could perform it. There are some wickedly fast triplets, quintuplets, sextuplets and septuplets, along with wildly fluctuating tempos and time signatures. Those parts are difficult for a fully sighted individual to learn, yet Shannon was right there with her flute mates!
But there are other factors that Shannon is forced to deal with, and I’ve never heard ONE complaint from her.
First of all, years ago I was severely chastised by an adjudicator at a music festival for “counting in” the band, or establishing the tempo beforehand. As Conductors, we are expected to simply raise the baton, give a single preparatory upbeat and the musicians are expected to follow. Since that embarrassing moment in front of my students, I have attempted to do just that. But Shannon cannot see me. When I do that, she is forced to not only start late but find her way into the music that has already started. How unfair is that? I must try to remember to count the band in.
I was recently apologizing for doing this to her and she told me that when it happens, she often gets her clue from the intake of breath by the musicians around her. Again, astounding. It’s often said that when someone loses one of the five senses, the remaining senses become that much more acute. Her hearing must be extremely good!
Another tough situation arises when I stop the band in the middle of a rehearsal then quickly say something like “pick it up on measure 53” then with zero time to prepare give the upbeat. She has zero idea where measure 53 is, yet quickly gets back in!
After Shannon ‘s guide dog Tango passed away, she had an opportunity to receive a new one, yet turned it down. She touched my heart when she told me that being back in her hometown that is much smaller than the big city she went to school in, and having people here to assist her, she felt that surely someone else was more in need of a guide dog (which are difficult to secure) than her. How unselfish is that?
I’ve used many exclamation marks in my writing this week, and for good reason. Shannon always focuses on her abilities not her disability, and she continues to astound us, her bandmates.
