Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Would you rather be deaf or blind?

We've all thought about this one, I am sure. I have always thought I would choose being deaf over being blind. I always thought it would be more important to see than to hear. But, as I was playing the piano the other day, it struck me just how sad and empty I would be if I couldn't hear the music I was playing. How did Beethoven do it? Would it be enough to have heard music in the past and know how it should sound, but only hear it in your mind? If I were suddenly to become deaf (Heaven forbid!!) after all these years of being able to hear music and let it captivate my body, mind and soul, I think I would go insane! I would still physically be able to play, but I can't imagine I would be able to play!

But, not being able to see...? I am sure I would go nuts if that happened, too! To not be able to appreciate something like the painting in jdsher's avatar or the beautiful scene I witnessed this evening of the sunlight filtering through the trees and dancing off a pool of water just as the city lights started to glimmer...

What would you pick if it were forced upon you: to be deaf or to be blind?

Like I said, I always thought I would choose deafness over blindness. Now I'm not so sure. Guess I should just thank my lucky stars I don't really have to choose, huh?

Well, hey! That was my 500th post! About time!! Gosh!

isn't that too degressing to even thinking about it, deaf/blind? of course, deaf is the worst.

Do you know Evelyn Glennie, the deaf percussion player? I saw her perform--she was amazing. Check out her essay on hearing and music: http://www.evelyn.co.uk/hearing.htm
Congratulations on your 500th post! I think I have about 495 to go.

Have you ever had problems with your ears? I have frequent troubles.

I've had numerous times when my hearing was greatly reduced due to illness. Twice since I started playing piano, I have had an ear infection in my left ear that has caused my ear drum to burst. After your ear drum bursts, you can't hear properly in that ear (duh) and it takes a pretty long time for the ear drum to fully heal. A few times I practiced with the muffler pedal down, which I hate. After a certain point, the doc gives the green light to practice (but the ear drum isn't fully healed yet) Anyway, I tried playing the piano like that, but it sounded so awful... like being under water or having your head in a bowl of flour.

Because of all the problems I've had, I have a slight (veryvery slight) hearing loss in my left ear, but the other thing is that my ear drum is just not "robust" and it tends to be somewhat collapsed (that's the way the doc explained it) so I can tell when I'm having a good day or a bad day because it sounds a little different. My doctor said I probably won't notice it if I wasn't playing an acoustic instrument.

I can only imagine how it was for Beethoven, having that but instead of getting better, it just steadily got worse.

In answer to your question: blindness.

Gee, Traci, thanks for this "pick-me-up" thread. Maybe I'll start another one: Would You Rather be Missing One Arm or One Leg?

Hey. No Problem. Just doing my part.



Really, though. Now that I think about it, the deaf or blind question is moot for us, Mark--we're both blind anyway!!

Shiro--The ear infection stuff... Sounds painful (in many different ways, I imagine). I am fortunate to not have had serious problems with my ears/hearing. Now, I can't see worth a darn w/o corrective lenses, but at least my hearing is good!

Suz--I followed the link and read the article. It was very interesting and educational! Here are a couple of quotes that particularly caught my attention:

"Who can say that when two normally hearing people hear a sound they hear the same sound?" Hmmmm... Good question!

"It is the musicians job to paint a picture which communicates to the audience the scene the composer is trying to describe." This totally makes sense to me!

Thanks for sharing this, Suz!

Not only can I not function without corrective lessons, I also have tinnitus. I'm such a pathetic specimen.

Lets see...

If I were deaf, I would'nt have to listen to the constant whining of the ex-wife from He**.

On the other hand,if I were blind I wouldn't have to gaze into her face and see the reflection of Satan himself...hmmmm

Tough choice from point of view!!

So, uh, Mark A. I'm guessing you and your ex-wife aren't exactly "best buds" anymore. I mean, really--it's just a guess. Call it intuition. I'm good like that!

And, BTW, Mark A. Your "new sig line" has been "in the works" for ages now! Let's get that new one up there already!!

Mark B.--tinnitus, too?? Oh no! Now I am really sorry I started this thread!

Eyes...deffinitely eyes... :p Hearing is much more valuable, to a musician at least.

ah yes, tinnitus. I have that as well (more in the left than the right, darn that ear drum) but I work very hard to ignore it. (They say that's the only cure! I'm waiting for a few more medical advances and I think they'll find something)

The thing about tinnitus is it's not so noticable when playing, or doing anything else that produces a sound. So for me, it's the more bearable problem. And my ignore-efforts are pretty advanced at this point, I think maybe that's why I always have music playing my head as I drift off to sleep and as soon as I wake up in the morning, it keeps me from noticing the ringing as much.

Ah, ears, precious ears...

Oh, and I can't do much without my glasses either!

BTW, doing horoscopes and such is a huge fad in Japan right now, and one of the piano magazines I read decided to do Beethoven's star charts in this month's edition.

I found out that LVB and I have the same zodiac sign, and one of the things the article said was that his sign predisposed him to ear problems! There were a whole bunch of other comments about his hearing and things that seemed to fit me, I had to laugh! and cringe.

I have tinnitus.. it really sucks. constant ringing in both ears.

but to the topic- I'd rather be blind. you can still play an instrument, possibly even better, if you lose your sight.. probably would be hard to play and enjoy it deaf though..

unless you're some freaky composer like Beethoven who can still compose w/o hearing

I would rather be blind.

No contest.

I would rather be deaf.

Blind

With the volume at a typical rock concert, it seems like some people would really rather be deaf.

Just statistically -- we bring in expontentially more information through our eyes than our ears. Blindness would be a hugely greater *quantitative* loss than deafness.

Yet, for a musician I can understand why one might prefer to retain sound -- the "qualitative" information might be for some much more important.

I am not good enough as a musician nor do I have a keen enough ear in terms of appreciation to want to retain hearing over sight, and as an architect I need to be able to see...

Parenthetically I wonder how fictional were those scenes in "Ray" where he had such heightened hearing that he could find the cricket in the room, etc.