Composer, producer and jazz pianist, Lisa Hilton, made another visit this year to Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston last week. On January 10, 2007, the Malibu California resident taught a master class for music students in the afternoon, and then performed a solo piano concert on the campus in the evening for the public.
“Perkins is such a cool school,” Hilton remarked about Helen Keller's alma mater. “There are so many musicians who come to Boston to visit The Berklee College of Music, where the finest musical students go, but music is for everyone and there are good musicians here too. I like working with Perkins students, and I know they appreciate it - I love to see the smiles on their faces when they hear the music.”
Hilton has also worked in California with blind and visually impaired children and teens, as well as helping to provide music bus-in programs for sighted children. “I became frustrated in the past when I suggested that the group I was working with provide a music concert for the blind and handicapped, and I was told that they couldn't do it because of 'liability issues'. That kind of thinking doesn't go over too well with me,” Hilton says wearily, “children and teens with handicaps are kids that we should embrace, not distance ourselves from. Music programs around the country have been dealt funding blows - I am committed as a professional musician to reaching out to all students - not just the most gifted or physically able.”
The event was covered by local newspapers and spotlighted on Boston's CBS affiliate, with videos also appearing on the internet. “When I taught the music class it felt like the paparazzi were there,” Hilton recalls, “but I could tell they were touched by how special a campus that Perkins is. You hear so many negative stories about the media, but all I saw were compassionate reporters and camera crews - I think they all spent a lot more time than they had planned to! When we were finishing up, I looked at one of the cameramen and said, 'it's fun here, isn't it?' He was in complete agreement. It's rewarding to see people recognize that handicapped teens, not just celebrity teens, deserve our attention too.”
Hilton also draws some of her inspiration in working with the blind and visually impaired and specifically helping Perkins students, from her family. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation funds some of Perkins's programming in the U.S. and abroad.
Music is an important part of the curriculum at Perkins, and the first school for the blind in the United States has more than 30,000 music books, scores and instructional recordings. For the visually impaired, the sense of sound is critically important to safely and successfully navigating and interacting with the outside world.
Hilton's latest CD, “Midnight in Manhattan,” is her eighth album and currently on jazz radio around the world. As one reviewer has stated, “In pianist Lisa Hilton's case, one hears echoes of such greats as Stan Getz, Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson.” Lisa Hilton's award-winning music is available at most online sources, iTunes and at her website, www.LisaHiltonMusic.com.
Perkins is the first school for the blind in the country, where Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, were educated. Today Perkins serves more than 70,000 people who are blind, deafblind or visually impaired with multiple disabilities-from babies to school-age children to elders-on campus, in the community and in 60 developing countries around the world. For more information, please visit www.Perkins.org.
For information about helping blind and visually impaired students in your community contact: The Junior Blind of America, at www.juniorblind.org.
Steinway provided a concert grand for the concert and The Back Bay Hilton Hotel also supported the visit.
Hilton is available for additional interviews and can be reached by contacting Paul Jean at 617-482-0042.
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