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Category: Interviews

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Braille Music Transcends Prison Walls, Part 2

Posted by: Donna Koh

Continued from last week Part 2 DK: What motivates your incarcerated students to enroll in the braille music certification program, especially after toiling for months or years to achieve literary braille certification? KG: The opportunity to work in a prison braille program is a high honor which the prisons award to inmates who demonstrate ability, …

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Braille Music Transcriber and Renaissance Woman, Karen Gearreald, Part 2

Posted by: Donna Koh

Continued from last week. Part 2 Q. What percentage of students who enroll in the program become LOC certified braille music transcribers? What are the most common obstacles to successfully completing the program? A. After concentrated study for a length of time ranging from several months to several years, about 50% of enrollees achieve certification …

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Braille Music Transcriber and Renaissance Woman: Karen Gearreald, Part 1

Posted by: Donna Koh

Part 1 Karen Gearreald has been an NLS patron since 1951, and when the Music Section was established in 1962, she enrolled for music services. She currently serves as a braille music advisor and instructor for the Library of Congress (LOC) Braille Music Transcription Certification program. While I initially contacted Karen to interview her about her …

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Aiming Beyond Graduation: Creating Inclusive College Music Courses for Blind and Visually Impaired Students, Part 1

Posted by: Donna Koh

Part 1 The end goal for most college music students is to develop and cultivate skills to prepare for a successful musical career after graduation. For some music students with visual impairment (V.I.), just getting through the college degree program can be challenging.  Here are some common reasons: inability to learn a large amount of …

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An Interview with Stephanie Pieck, Part 2

Posted by: Donna Koh

This is the second part of my interview with Stephanie Pieck. Q) Explaining your teaching philosophy, you wrote, “I faced many instances in which the general opinion was that a blind person couldn’t learn. But I also had many very dedicated teachers who knew this wasn’t true; all that was needed was a different way to …

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An Interview with Stephanie Pieck, Part 1

Posted by: Donna Koh

I am excited to share my interview with Stephanie Pieck, a pianist, teacher, and an NLS patron. Stephanie received her bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Ithaca College and maintains a private music studio in New York. Q) How old were you when you started playing the piano? What motivated you to start playing? A) …