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In Reply to: RE: Parent of Blind Adult seeks info about audio equip posted by ltstangel on December 18, 2014 at 23:35:17
Hi-
This is just from my own perspective, and what your situation calls for might require a different approach.
But frankly I would be concerned that a conventional electronic keyboard, with its prepacked rhythms (beats) and songs, might be a little overwhelming or unrewarding. And, the conventional Western musical scale, while very flexible, presents the beginner with "too many options," in that to play a tune in any one key, you have to stay away from 5 notes while hitting only the 7 notes that are proper to that key.
Therefore I suggest a non-electric, non-diatonic (conventional Western scale), organic instrument designed for beginners.
The two things that come to mind are a Pentatonic Lyre (a lyre is a harp without a resonating body) and a Pentatonic Recorder (a recorder is a wooden or plastic mouthblown straight, not crosswise, flute).
The advantage of the Pentatonic scale is that it omits discordant notes, so that every note harmonizes with every other note. Pentatonic instruments are used in early-age music education in Waldorf Schools and Orff music education.
Here's a video about that option:
I'd recommend a 10-string lyre for an adult, as well as a music book and a tuner. If you live near a Waldorf school or a college that trains teachers for early music education, getting a teacher to help lay a solid foundation I think is very worthwhile.
Here's a place that makes a Pentatonic harp as well as lyre:
http://www.harpsoflorien.com/pentatonic.html
The other options are a pentatonic recorder, or a pentatonic thumb piano (often referred to by the trade name Kalimba).
It is also somewhat the case that once one has gotten the hang of playing one pentatonic instrument, the others have almost zero scare-off factor and so progress comes faster on new pentatonic instruments. But real proficiency requires dedication and practice and sensitive mentoring.
Here's a video of a very impressive pentatonic harp performance:
Once a person has graduated from a pentatonic recorder to a conventional one, there are in many places recorder ensembles that play together. Depending on the individual, once a pentatonic lyre or harp is comfortable, they may be able to make the transition to classical guitar, but that is a matter of individual temperament. The classical guitar presents the same challenge of "more notes than you really need at the moment" that the piano does.
Best of luck,
John
Follow Ups:
Open chord tunings would also be fun for a beginner.
Good ol' "Sebastapol" tuning, popular with Victorian parlor guitarists and long a favorite with blues & folk players.
Strum all the strings open and you get a nice rich D chord. Barre at the 5th fret for G and at the 7th for A. All the chords you need to immediately strum along and accompany thousands of tunes.
Learn where the notes of the D major scale are on the highest strings, and start picking out melodies with a drone accompaniment. Works real nice with Scottish bagpipe tunes. Learn the notes of the D minor pentatonic scale, and play blues. With modified D-based scales like D and G harmonic minor, over the drone, you get some cool sitar-like effects. Try playing major and minor pentatonic scales with a slide, letting open strings drone underneath.
This tuning makes it easier to get good sounds right off the bat, compared to standard where you have to learn a bunch of left hand chord positions, and it makes learning fun. Although it limits you to D and neighboring keys, there's no limit to where you can take it within those keys, once you start developing your technique. Remember, Derek Trucks started out with this tuning exclusively!
You are right to a degree, but even on an open-tuned guitar, and even using a slide, to play a melody you still have to skip over half-steps that are not part of the melody.
Please note that I would give just about the same advice to any person with no former musical training who wanted to play an instrument--some instrument, any instrument. I am not "dumbing down" my advice simply because a person is blind and/or somewhere on a diagnostic spectrum.
The nice thing about starting with pentatonic instruments, as just about 100 years of Waldorf education and about 60 years of Orff education have proven, is that it lessens the fear of "hitting a wrong note."
But each student is different. Perhaps if someone placed a French horn in this woman's hands, she would find her true voice, and within 90 days be able to play Gregorian chant on the French horn which, don't laugh, is otherworldly... .
If a person starts on a pentatonic instrument and 90 days later is feeling blocked by the instrument's limitations, no harm done. But if a person gets thrown into the deep end of the diatonic pool and feels hopeless, there often is harm done, IMHO.
ATB,
John
did I (more importantly) consider the initial pain of using a fretted instrument as far as a new comers finger pads go.
It also depends upon the girl as a traditionally tuned guitar may not be challenging @ all to her
(more complex than a keyboard in the that it's up/down as well as across, but to some it makes no difference - not one of the some myself)
Though less tactile I think the keyboard recommendations may be better as an introduction to composing playing music (piano was my first instrument) and with the electronic home versions it's even easier easy on the fingertips than a traditional piano.
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