# Why are there so many blind blues and jazz musicians? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049 "2006-10-19T03:26:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/21 "2006-10-21T00:47:15Z")
[QUOTE=The Sonoran Lizard King] Roy Orbison? And ummm… Tommy? [/QUOTE] Roy Orbison had poor eyesight, but he wasn’t blind. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/22 "2006-10-21T03:12:33Z")
[QUOTE=KayElCee] Roy Orbison had poor eyesight, but he wasn’t blind. [/QUOTE] Ignorance (mine) fought. Thank you. :smack: I suppose next someone’s going to tell me Tommy was a Pinball Wizard, not a Rock Star. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/23 "2006-10-21T03:22:01Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] (BTW having played both guitar and piano, I have always found guitar substantially easier to play without using my eyes, but that’s probably just me.) [/QUOTE] I can play piano with my eyes closed and only occasionally looking, but on guitar I need to look at it frequently. I mean when playing complex leads and stuff, not strumming basic chords, I don’t need to look at those. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/24 "2006-10-21T03:28:05Z")
[QUOTE=pool] I think you are just uninformed, the tradition of blind musicians goes back hundreds of years. A good example is in the Ukraine with its blind bandura players. [Blind musicians - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_musicians#Bandurists_and_lirnyky_in_Ukraine) [/QUOTE] Good point, but even then I think the “limited options” theory comes into play. Blind people don’t have a lot of good choices for gainful employment. It’s true today, and it was certainly true in the Middle Ages. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/25 "2006-10-21T04:00:23Z")
[QUOTE=mack] And to state the blindingly obvious, being an accomplished classical musician requires the ability to read music. [/QUOTE] Andrea Vocelli’s pretty accomplished, although not as an instrumentalist. There was a heart-warming story on the **Today** show a year or two ago about a blind, autistic classical piano prodigy, so your statement isn’t exactly absolute. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/26 "2006-10-21T17:29:40Z")
[QUOTE=mack] And to state the blindingly obvious, being an accomplished classical musician requires the ability to read music. [/QUOTE] or [Braille music.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_music) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/27 "2006-10-21T18:16:46Z")
Thomas Wiggins (1849-1908), born a slave, had a vocabulary of about 100 words. Billed as “Blind Tom,” he also had a unique ability. If he heard a piece of classical music played once, he could reproduce it perfectly at the piano. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/28 "2006-10-21T19:20:10Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] Thomas Wiggins (1849-1908), born a slave, had a vocabulary of about 100 words. Billed as “Blind Tom,” he also had a unique ability. If he heard a piece of classical music played once, he could reproduce it perfectly at the piano. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that’s nice, I’ll bet you eleventy billion dollars US he couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/29 "2006-10-21T20:43:35Z")
[QUOTE=Operation Ripper] Yeah, that’s nice, I’ll bet you eleventy billion dollars US he couldn’t. [/QUOTE] We’re talking Rain Man-type brilliance, so bets should be limited to about a hundred dollars. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/30 "2006-10-21T20:48:05Z")
I was going to guess that it was because all the blind race car drivers and jet pilots were killed off somehow… ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/31 "2006-10-22T01:55:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Diceman** > Good point, but even then I think the “limited options” theory comes into play. Blind people don’t have a lot of good choices for gainful employment. It’s true today, and it was certainly true in the Middle Ages. Yeah I completely agree, if you read the article I linked to it mentions the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/32 "2006-10-23T05:19:08Z")
Ask Mark Twain, who heard Blind Tom play and wrote about it in 1869. [Mark Twain - "Crown Prince of Timbuctoo"](http://twainquotes.com/18690801.html) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/33 "2006-10-23T05:29:20Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] There was a heart-warming story on the **Today** show a year or two ago about a blind, autistic classical piano prodigy, so your statement isn’t exactly absolute. [/QUOTE] [She’s certainly a rare case, though.](http://brittanymaier.com/home.html) (This might not be the same girl you’re thinking of, but I’m guessing it is.) ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/34 "2006-10-24T00:28:40Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] [She’s certainly a rare case, though.](http://brittanymaier.com/home.html) (This might not be the same girl you’re thinking of, but I’m guessing it is.) [/QUOTE] And I just assumed that **Krokodil** was talking about [this guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Lemke). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049.md?page=1)