Hi Brian, This is one of those philosophical questions that has, of course, no right or wrong answer. Naturally, you already know that and are clearly just fielding others' opinion. You've already gotten a couple of good responses. While blindness surely isn't your focal point and it's probably mainly a nuisance to you, as Scott mentioned, it's of interest to others. That said, I personally don't think it should necessarily be the first or the last thing to bring up in a bio. Somewhere in the middle is probably a good sweet spot. Also, bios are so often ungracefully edited by others to fit into smaller spaces and you essentially have absolutely no control over what happens there. To me, keeping it in the middle is your best chance of either having it be non-foremost if the bio is left untouched and not necessarily the first or last thing, prompting an editor to have it stick out at the very beginning or as the last word in an edited bio.
Incidentally, in a documentary called "Keep On Keepin' On,"currently in theaters in several cities in the U.s., a jazz pianist named Justin Kauflin is seen getting a phone call notifying him that he's gotten into the Thelonious Monk jazz competition. Now, this could have all been staged for the cameras but, at the end of the phone call, Justin mentions in passing to the organizer that he happens to be blind and will partake in the competition with his guide dog beside him on stage. Undoubtedly, all entrants have to submit bios and I'm sure that Justin's bio doesn't glaze over the fact that he's blind. In fact, if you look at his web site, it's prominently featured in his bio. What led to his involvement with Clark Terry (the primary focus of this documentary), was the fact that he was a blind jazz student at William Patterson college where Clark Terry was a visiting instructor. CT, having had diabetes for some 60 years, was starting to lose his sight. The connection with Justin was inevitable. This led to Terry introducing Justin to Quincy Jones, Terry's first trumpet student. The rest is history for Justin, who is now touring and signed to a record deal because of Quincy. Justin is very talented and, if I'm not mistaken, a subscriber to this list and I say this with all due respect. As talented as he is, his blindness played a role in his career. It made him who he is. It drew him to the piano in the first place. It was instrumental, so to speak, in the situations that led to his current status. The rest, of course, is up to him. The point I'm trying to make is that, as matter of fact as it is to so many of us, it really is the 800-pound gorilla in the room as far as everybody else in the world is concerned and that, for a musician, is usually a good thing. There is the mystique and a stereotype of musicians having "golden ears." Whether or not you have golden ears, let people think you do. As long as you're not claiming it yourself, let others assume and it'll probably work to your advantage most of the time. The rest, again, is up to you. There's a great saying about talent: Talent won't necessarily get you a gig but it will help you keep the gigs you get. I say, blindness won't help you keep the gigs you get but it might help you get the gig if for no other reason that it's memorable. Best, Slau On Oct 11, 2014, at 8:17 AM, Brian Casey <briancaseymu...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > Sorry for the very off topic nature of this post, but I feel there might be > some very helpful opinions on this list. > > If you have thoughts on this, you might e-mail me directly rather than me > clogging the list with off topic traffic. > > My e-ail is: > > briancaseymu...@gmail.com > > So, generally, I have never made a reference to being blind in any press > releases or musician bio's on websites etc as I strive to be noticed for my > music alone. Similarly I chose not to make any reference tto being blind on > official documentation or websites to do with my studio. > > However, I've recently changed my opinion a bit on mentioning it in my > musician bio/press release as I plan to release my next EP. > > There are two reasons for this. > > 1. Recently I played an international guitar festival, and in the programme, > they wrote a description for each artist, and after a cool description of me, > right at the end was a real awkward looking sentence. Brian is also the first > blind musician to play the festival. > > Like it matters! Anyway, that was a bit cringe, so I've been thinking sense > by mentioning my blindness in my own releases, I take control of the > situation and set the agenda on how it is mentioned, or at least to an > extent. So if I mention it fast, and get it out of the way I might be better > off. Obviously if I got more and more well known then people are going to > learn about me anyway. > > 2. > > The second reason is obviously it's a some what unique selling point, so if I > am going to mention it, again I m ay as well mention it early in a bio/press > release, catch the attention and move on to talking about what I want to talk > about. > > So that is my reasoning. > > I'm struggling to find a great way of putting it that I like though! > > Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. > > Below is a draft I've tried to come up with that addresses it in the very > first sentence, aiming to get it done and dusted before the first sentence is > even finished. > > Thanks all, > Brian. > > > At the age of 4, Brian Casey permanently lost his sight after a short but > life threatening illness, yet memories of his early life are dominated by his > desire to try and explore every musical instrument that crossed his path, > because it is music that defines this 25 year old far and above any of lifes > other influences. > > > > His second EP Rain Songs, due for release this November is a 5 track > alternative folk journey through stories of hope and despair, thriving on an > eclectic pallet of influences ranging from the intensity and aggression of > rock/blues heroes of old to the nuance and openness of his favourite modern > day singer-songwriters. Moving from simple acoustic arrangements to larger > than life soundscapes with ease, the EP is a self-recorded exhibition of > Casey's songwriting, multi-instrumentalism and production skills in equal > measure,. > > > > Raised on the south-west coast of Ireland, on the edge of Europe, a mish mash > of influences pulled Casey's attention from classical piano to traditional > Irish music, from his parents collection of classic records to the > alternative sounds of the 1990's, drip fed through the static of long wave > radio and his brothers cassette-tapes. With very few musicians of a similar > age around, makeshift attempts to record and overdub with home stereos and > Dictaphones came as a natural solution, setting him on a course of parallel > paths that continues today, juggling engineering, musicianship and > songwriting in his Wavefield recording studio. > > > > Never staying still, 2015 will see the completion of a debut album between > touring and other production projects, expanding on the sounds and themes of > Rain Songs and Casey's 2014 debut EP, Plain Sailing. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Pro Tools Accessibility" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to ptaccess+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Pro Tools Accessibility" group. 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