TN: 8-year-old visually impaired girl plays piano in Coimbatore

An 8-year-old visually impaired girl incredibly plays the piano in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

Niranjani studies in standard 3 in a government school here and loves to play music since her childhood. Her parents turned every rock to bring her vision back, but all the efforts went in vain.

"Vision is not a barrier for me to play music. Since childhood, I was unable to see. I developed my interest in music by listening to music and songs from television. I can play the keyboard and also learning to play other musical instruments like violin, drums, flute," she said.

Her mother, Nandhini Ayyasamy wanted to enrol Niranjni in music at an early stage but due to non-availability of music notes which can help a visually impaired person while playing deterred her from doing so.

"We were very depressed when we realised that both of my daughters are blind by birth. But we did not lose hope and visited every hospital to help them restore their vision, but nothing worked in favour. But I am happy that my daughter has not just accepted it but is proving that her state is not a barrier to play music," she said.

Later, she found a music teacher, Isaac Nelson, who had developed his own technique called the blindfold method to teach music and he helped Niranjni to conquer the art of playing after which she not only mastered the keyboard but is learning new instruments every day.

"Initially, it was a bit difficult to teach her music but it was because of her, I developed a new technique called the blindfold method in which I not only taught her but also learnt myself. She is a bright kid and can play various movie songs, national anthem on the keyboard," Issac said.