Hi,
Here is an excerpt from the book Reincarnation - A new Horizon in Science, Religion, and Society.
A BLACK, BLIND SLAVE BECOMES A FAMOUS MUSICIAN
To be born blind and in slavery in Georgia in the year 1849 was hardly a propitious entry into this world. In a magazine article, "Blind Tom: Mystery of Music," Webb Garrison related that for business reasons, "most Georgia farmers of a century ago were very particular about their- annual crop of slaves, and Perry H. Oliver, of Muscogee County, was no exception."
So, when the baby of one of his slaves was brn stone blind, he was keenly disappointed. "Later, Oliver sold the mother at a slave auction to General James Bethune of Columbus, Georgia. Then he pulled the blind youngster from hiding. 'Here,' he chuckled, 'I forgot to tell you she has a boy. I'm throwing him in free' " (Coronet, July 1952).
And so the poor mother with her one-year-old child was torn from her home and friends, to live among strangers. General Bethune named the boy Thomas Greene Bethune, but the world was to know him as "Blind Tom."
Among the many accounts of this astounding prodigy, the best researched is that of Ella May Thornton, honorary state librarian of Georgia. Her study, "The Mystery of Blind Tom," was published in the Winter 1961 issue of The Georgia Review. We quote here from that article.*
"While he was still an infant in arms, Tom's extraordinary susceptibility to any and every sound manifested itself-but to music in particular.... All of the Bethunes, who were of high intelligence, cultivation, and benevolence, recognized the unusual qualities of the small Negro.
The first amazing demonstration of Tom's musical virtuosity was the those of the Bethune girls as they were singing on the verandah steps one evening. It was not the melody that he carried, but the more difficult second part. . . . He, spontaneously and perfectly, carried on to the end of the song.
The next surprising exhibition was the following year when he was four, upon an evening when the young ladies had had several hours of music at the piano. After they had scattered to other parts of the house, all that had been played earlier was heard again.
When the original performers hastened back to the parlor, there was the little black mite at the keyboard, giving back, in ecstasy, all that he had received. "No one knew of his ever having touched a piano before," adds Miss Thornton, "and it seems probable that he never had," because "sounds attract attention, and a slave boy playing the piano in a busy household would soon be detected."
It is reported by the music magazine Etude (August 1940) that, right from the start, Blind Tom used both the black and white keys. Thus he was aware of the major and minor scales of Western music. As the black
and white keys are not a natural arrangement, but an ingenious device invented by man, it is difficult to understand how a blind child could use
and them without some prior acquaintance with the piano and a period of training in its use.
Miss Thornton emphasizes that, when he began to play the great classics, he approached them "differently from those who play 'by ear' and know nothing of the placing of the fingers."
He "displayed an absolute accuracy of fingering which a highly professional reviewer in 1862 declared was 'of the schools.' " Although Tom's mental faculties were quite limited, it would be a mistake to confine him to that class of rare retarded children who, having computer like brains, can record and play back compositions heard only once. While Tom had this faculty to a remarkable degree-he could hear a new piece twenty pages long and repeat it perfectly-he had unusual creative talent, too.
_________________________________________
More to follow
------------------
Love,
Deborah
Lifes experiences weave a tapestry of knowledge
Here is an excerpt from the book Reincarnation - A new Horizon in Science, Religion, and Society.
A BLACK, BLIND SLAVE BECOMES A FAMOUS MUSICIAN
To be born blind and in slavery in Georgia in the year 1849 was hardly a propitious entry into this world. In a magazine article, "Blind Tom: Mystery of Music," Webb Garrison related that for business reasons, "most Georgia farmers of a century ago were very particular about their- annual crop of slaves, and Perry H. Oliver, of Muscogee County, was no exception."
So, when the baby of one of his slaves was brn stone blind, he was keenly disappointed. "Later, Oliver sold the mother at a slave auction to General James Bethune of Columbus, Georgia. Then he pulled the blind youngster from hiding. 'Here,' he chuckled, 'I forgot to tell you she has a boy. I'm throwing him in free' " (Coronet, July 1952).
And so the poor mother with her one-year-old child was torn from her home and friends, to live among strangers. General Bethune named the boy Thomas Greene Bethune, but the world was to know him as "Blind Tom."
Among the many accounts of this astounding prodigy, the best researched is that of Ella May Thornton, honorary state librarian of Georgia. Her study, "The Mystery of Blind Tom," was published in the Winter 1961 issue of The Georgia Review. We quote here from that article.*
"While he was still an infant in arms, Tom's extraordinary susceptibility to any and every sound manifested itself-but to music in particular.... All of the Bethunes, who were of high intelligence, cultivation, and benevolence, recognized the unusual qualities of the small Negro.
The first amazing demonstration of Tom's musical virtuosity was the those of the Bethune girls as they were singing on the verandah steps one evening. It was not the melody that he carried, but the more difficult second part. . . . He, spontaneously and perfectly, carried on to the end of the song.
The next surprising exhibition was the following year when he was four, upon an evening when the young ladies had had several hours of music at the piano. After they had scattered to other parts of the house, all that had been played earlier was heard again.
When the original performers hastened back to the parlor, there was the little black mite at the keyboard, giving back, in ecstasy, all that he had received. "No one knew of his ever having touched a piano before," adds Miss Thornton, "and it seems probable that he never had," because "sounds attract attention, and a slave boy playing the piano in a busy household would soon be detected."
It is reported by the music magazine Etude (August 1940) that, right from the start, Blind Tom used both the black and white keys. Thus he was aware of the major and minor scales of Western music. As the black
and white keys are not a natural arrangement, but an ingenious device invented by man, it is difficult to understand how a blind child could use
and them without some prior acquaintance with the piano and a period of training in its use.
Miss Thornton emphasizes that, when he began to play the great classics, he approached them "differently from those who play 'by ear' and know nothing of the placing of the fingers."
He "displayed an absolute accuracy of fingering which a highly professional reviewer in 1862 declared was 'of the schools.' " Although Tom's mental faculties were quite limited, it would be a mistake to confine him to that class of rare retarded children who, having computer like brains, can record and play back compositions heard only once. While Tom had this faculty to a remarkable degree-he could hear a new piece twenty pages long and repeat it perfectly-he had unusual creative talent, too.
_________________________________________
More to follow
------------------
Love,
Deborah
Lifes experiences weave a tapestry of knowledge
