Book description
Derek Paravicini is blind, can't tell his right hand from his left
and needs round-the-clock care. But he has an extremely rare gift - he
is a musical prodigy with perfect pitch whose piano-playing has
thrilled audiences at venues from Ronnie Scott's to Las Vegas, the
Barbican to Buckingham Palace.
Born prematurely, Derek remained in hospital for three months and
technically 'died' several times before he was finally strong enough
to go home. It was not long before his blindness became apparent and
later it became clear that he had severe learning difficulties and
autism.
Desperately trying to find something to engage and stimulate baby
Derek, his nanny discovered a toy organ and put it down in front of
him. Miraculously, Derek taught himself to play. Music proved to be an
outlet for expressing himself and communicating with others - his way
of dealing with a strange and confusing world.
Adam Ockelford was born in Nottingham in 1959, grew up on the Isle
of Wight, and, when he left school, studied at the Royal Academy of
Music in London. It was at this time, in the late 1970s, that he first
started working with blind children, including those with additional
disabilities. He was fascinated by just how musical many of them
seemed to be. Trying to understand how these young people could 'hear'
and understand music so effectively led him to develop a theory of how
music makes sense - not just to them, but to all of us - a theory for
which he was awarded a PhD by London University in 1993, and that has
since been published in a number of academic journals and books. But
Adam believes that theories are of little value unless they're put
into practice, and he continues to work with a number of the young
people - now adults - whom he first started to teach over twenty years
ago, including Derek.
Adam is Professor of Music at Roehampton University and the
Institute of Education, London; Secretary of the Society for
Education, Music and Psychology Research; Chair of 'Soundabout', an
Oxford-based charity that supports music provision children with
complex needs; and founder of The AMBER Trust, which provides
bursaries for blind and partially sighted children to have music lessons.
