Recently Featured on the Podcast, “Blind Abilities“…

This podcast interview explores how I have contributed to bridging the gap between limited musical expectations and the true pianist potential of blind and visually impaired students across the world.    

This podcast interview explores how I have contributed to bridging the gap between limited musical expectations and the true pianist potential of blind and visually impaired students across the world.    

Listen to this quick and concise 5-min radio feature that explains what I do and why I am doing it! Enjoy!

Appearance on American Council of the Blind’s Podcast…

This podcast to the left is graciously hosted by American Council of the Blind’s Media 5 Channel. Mark Miller answers questions from prospective blind students and others from the blind and visually impaired community.

This podcast to the left is graciously hosted by American Council of the Blind’s Media 5 Channel. Mark Miller answers questions from prospective blind students and others from the blind and visually impaired community.

My name is Mark Miller. I’ve taught blind piano lessons to students around the world for over 15 years.  I focus on teaching primarily  THE GREAT AMERICAN SONG BOOK but I also love to teach hymns, folk songs, rock , blues, boogie-woogie and jazz.

Blind piano lessons are often said to be taught ” By Ear”. To play by ear exclusively is to miss out on our strength, which is our mind. Our minds ability to grasp concepts and patterns expedite the learning process, especially when teaching blind students. I teach blind piano students by what I call ” ThEARy! ThEARy is a combination of playing by ear and practical theory! I emphasize the Theory/mind more than the ear aspect because theory can inform and guide the ear.

With my system of teaching blind piano lessons, reading Braille music notation is not necessary.  I’ve come up with a simpler way of notating melody notes, but still using braille dots!  (more on that later)

The 2 most important things I stress when teaching blind piano lessons is MINIMAL MOVEMENT and CHORD PATTERNS. Songs whose melody spans 12 half-steps or less are an ideal starting point for “Beginners.” In my system of teaching blind piano lessons the left hand only plays chords. I have curated a list of dozens of songs whose left hand chords move minimally. The following songs use a technique I call “Drop The Pinky Finger” whereby the left hand chords move minimally. Some great examples of songs whose chords move minimally are: Chim Chim Cheree, Blue Skies, Stairway To Heaven, What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life and This Masquerade.

We all learn by patterns, so I teach songs that use very common chord progressions. The most common chord progression is ii V7 I.  When Sunny Gets Blue, Satin Doll, Getting To Know You and Misty quickly come to mind when thinking of songs that use ii V7 I progressions.  Some songs that have a lot of “True Circle Of 5ths“ movements are: Where Is Love, Try To Remember etc.

Ear Training is also an area I work on with students by having them play simple folk tune melodies in different keys. Tunes like Happy Birthday, Puff The Magic Dragon, and I’ve Been Workin’ On The Railroad.

With my simpler way of teaching blind piano lessons you can be assured of playing songs very quickly with a thorough knowledge of music theory.  I’m not simply giving you a fish, I want to teach you how to fish!