Ok, so you’re not really. Consider this: how do you describe the color green to a blind person? That question was posed to me by one of my college English professors who was trying to get bright-eyed, eager freshmen to think more creatively and write with more passion. I don’t remember the outcome of that writing assignment, but a recent experience brought back the point of being challenged to describe something that is, to me, so familiar.

Participating with six Symphony co-workers and four donors, I helped our education department conduct our Instrument Zoo for students at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind. So, now it is my turn to ask the question – how do you describe to a blind student how an instrument works, how to purse their lips just right, how to place their hand in the bell of a French horn because that’s the proper position, or how to get sound out of a violin? The answer… well, I still don’t know exactly, but this effort I won’t soon forget.

After the students sat through a 40-minute presentation about successful blind musicians like Stevie Wonder and Governor Morehead School for the Blind alumnus Doc Watson, their eagerness to get their hands on the instruments overwhelmed the four “zoo keepers” who were charged with the daunting task of making these instruments work in the hands of those that have little or no perspective of the construction of the instrument or the process by which one gets a sound out of it. We quickly discovered using our traditional approach to introducing an instrument (“This is the trumpet. Here’s the mouthpiece that you blow into…”) did not work as our references were too visual. So, instead, we explained to them “This is the trumpet, a metal instrument. Feel the mouthpiece and its round shape. This is where you’ll create the sound. Now, feel where the valves are, that is what changes the pitch of your sound. To make noise, you have to pucker your lips, almost like you are going to kiss someone and then blow a tight stream of air into the mouthpiece, like a high-speed motorboat.”

Once they discovered the way to get sound of out of the trumpet, trombone, French horn, violin, flute, and clarinet, it definitely sounded as if we were at a zoo! Honks, squeals, screeches accompanied by laughter, screams, and moments of terror (it was shocking to some when they finally got a sound out of the instrument), filled the gymnasium and were our treat to witness and be a part of. The great satisfaction of accomplishment was apparent – they took this thing that was completely unknown to them and made it work, just like that.

I don’t know if the next great musician was part of our Instrument Zoo that day, but one of the moments I clearly remember was as we were packing up the instruments and the Governor Morehead students had moved on to making rain sticks and enjoying snacks, Katie Wyatt, our Director of Education and Community Engagement, went over to a girl, maybe 11 years old, re-introduced herself and told her that she had a real natural talent for brass instruments and encouraged her to pursue playing. The girl looked in Katie’s direction, a bit shocked and then smiled and giggled. Had anyone noticed her before? Someone found Stevie Wonder on a street corner… and Katie found her in a school gymnasium. Yes, indeed, I will remember this assignment.