Blind Flute Player

Описание: Its 7:30 a.m. at Bingham High School and the Symphonic Band members are warming up their instruments, preparing for another day of practice. Director Darin Graber has been doing this for 23 years. But never has he had one of his students play an instrument without being able to see.

That's exactly what Brandee Hick, 15, from South Jordan is doing. While other students are reading their notes off the sheets of music, Hick is playing by memory and listening closely for her cues.

How does she know when to come in?

"I memorize basically where in the music I'm supposed to come in," she said.

"She's a very small percentage that pursue music with a deficiency in sight," said Graber. "She's just such an outstanding individual, and pays such good close attention, and so in tune with her surroundings."

Hick was born blind. Her parents found out when she was five months old. Doctors diagnosed her with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia. She can see shadows and that's about it.

"Basic shapes and colors."

Hick is good at memorizing things. She spent weeks with an instructor before school started walking the hallways at Bingham High so she could learn her class schedule and be able to navigate on her own. Her desire to play an instrument came in Junior High School.

"I kind of always wanted to play in the band. I started in seventh grade and I thought it would be cool and the flute was a pretty instrument," said Hick.

But practicing her instrument is a much more difficult and timely task than those who can see. All of her music is translated into braille. Hick then feels each note, plays it, and starts the memorization process.

"I know I'm blind, but I don't think of it that way. I just think I'm different and I have different ways of doing things."

Just to illustrate the difference in book size. A typical scale book students use in the class is about 50 pages long. Translate that into braille and you have ten volumes of workbooks, each more than a hundred pages long.

In all, Hick will have to memorize about an hour and a half of music for the school year, which many of the band members will end up doing. But there's much more to playing than just memorizing notes.

"The non-verbal stuff that you need sight for is a major component in the performance," said Graber. "It's incredibly difficult."

But don't feel bad for Hick, sympathy is not what she's looking for from students.

"I want people to see me like everyone else. [I want students to treat me] like a friend. Like they would one of their other friends … I like to think of myself as an equal."