Para-amazing
August 17th 2012 01:34
One thing leads to another: on a radio programme today I briefly heard about a one-handed pianist who's now presenting concerts after studying at the Royal College. Looking up this man, Nicholas McCarthy, on the Net, I then discovered the Paraorchestra, a small group of people with disabilities who combine their abilities.
There's a video about them on You Tube - I can't figure out my instructions about how to load it here at the moment, so I'll just give you the link.
Nicholas McCarthy is seen in it at the beginning and the end, but the bulk of the video is about the extraordinary talents and technology of the musicians, some of whom have been injured in accidents, or had medical misadventures, or who were born with a disability. The conductor, Charles Hazelwood, is not disabled, but has a daughter with Downs Syndrome, and this is what alerted him to the need for people with disabilities to be able to play music.
Hazelwood is a conductor known for presenting new and sometimes contentious music. Another area he's worked in is with the Scrapheap Orchestra. This video is a delight, both from the point of view of the inventiveness that was required to produce orchestral instruments out of scrap materials, and in the way in which the inventors, musicians, and the conductor deal with the issues that subsequently arose.
There's a video about them on You Tube - I can't figure out my instructions about how to load it here at the moment, so I'll just give you the link.
Nicholas McCarthy is seen in it at the beginning and the end, but the bulk of the video is about the extraordinary talents and technology of the musicians, some of whom have been injured in accidents, or had medical misadventures, or who were born with a disability. The conductor, Charles Hazelwood, is not disabled, but has a daughter with Downs Syndrome, and this is what alerted him to the need for people with disabilities to be able to play music.
Hazelwood is a conductor known for presenting new and sometimes contentious music. Another area he's worked in is with the Scrapheap Orchestra. This video is a delight, both from the point of view of the inventiveness that was required to produce orchestral instruments out of scrap materials, and in the way in which the inventors, musicians, and the conductor deal with the issues that subsequently arose.
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