Blind Boone (GuardianLV.com)
On January 25, 2014 AfriClassical posted:
Here is another article on John William Boone which mentions his success in taking up the challenge made to the audience by Thomas Wiggins at a public concert:
Added by Cynthia Collins on February 27, 2014
The inability to see did not prevent “Blind” Boone from becoming a
nationally known concert pianist whose performances combined classical
music and ragtime. As an African American, born in 1864 to a former
slave, he overcame great hardship, poverty and discrimination to use his
talent to inspire others.
His mother, Rachel Boone, had been working in a federal army camp in
north central Missouri as a cook during the Civil War. After her son’s
birth, the young mother and Willy, as she called him, moved to
Warrensburg to work for several families. Willy came down with cerebral
meningitis when he was six months old which left him blind.
Despite the fact that he could not see, his musical talent was
developing. People started giving him small instruments including a
harmonica and triangle. Willy and his friends formed a band and earned
money playing for different events. His mother knew her son needed to be
in a specialized school but she could not afford it. A former senator
from Missouri, Francis Cockrell, convinced the county authorities to pay
the train fare and all fees at the Missouri School for the Blind in St.
Louis. Some of the women in Warrensburg sewed clothes Willy would need
for school. He boarded the train for a 225-mile trip to St. Louis that
would change his life.
The Missouri School for the Blind encouraged students to be
independent by teaching them skills to do so. Teachers wanted Boone to
learn Braille and develop a skill of making brooms to earn some money
but it was no use. He loved school but did not want to make brooms.
Instead, he would quietly leave his classes and go to where the older
students were practicing piano. It was during one of these sessions that
a white student noticed Boone could play the classical music by ear he
heard in the practice sessions.
The student started giving Boone piano lessons. Even after only
hearing something once, the prodigy could play it perfectly. He soon was
playing for social gatherings in the superintendent’s home, and for
churches and events during school breaks back in Warrensburg.
He was hired by John Lange, a concert hall owner in Columbia,
Missouri to play a Christmas program. The owner later wrote to Boone’s
mother for permission to manage his career. She was to receive a monthly
portion of her son’s earnings until he turned 21 when he would be a
partner in the company. Lange was true to his word and the Blind Boone
Company was successful.
Another blind pianist, Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins, came to Columbia
to give a concert. He, like Boone, could play back any composition he
heard. During his performance, the audience was challenged to play back
Wiggins’ music. Boone took up the challenge and played what he heard
perfectly.
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