Blind violinist plays from memory

Matt Mueller was slightly nervous before his performance with the Southeast Missouri District Honor Orchestra on Saturday, as most 17-year-olds who are accustomed to solo performances would be. But for Mueller there was some added stress.

Mueller is totally blind in one eye and legally blind in his other, meaning he had play all four pieces the orchestra played from memory and not depend on sheet music.

"I've been gifted with a pretty good memory," Mueller said. "But I'm not going to say I haven't had difficulty in getting it learned."

Mueller, who lives in Perryville but attends Saxony Lutheran High School, started playing the violin five years ago.

It was Mueller who approached his parents about taking up violin. While they were at first hesitant and wondered where they would find a teacher, they quickly came to view lessons as a good idea.

"We figured he would be good at it. He has a good ear for music," said his mother, Cindy Mueller.

Mueller started taking lessons from the music director at his church but has been taking lessons at Southeast Music Academy this year.

He also learned of the honor orchestra through his church, or more specifically fellow church members Eric and Janet Seibel, who both teach music at Perryville schools.

"He plays at church with us and we knew he's talented and enjoys doing it, so we encouraged him," Janet Seibel said. "We knew he had the potential."

The Seibels helped Mueller prepare for the audition by working with him on the selected piece of music he had to play before the judges. They offered suggestions and comments and provided him with a recorded copy of the piece.

"He wants to be successful in what he does and he works at it," Eric Seibel said. "He takes violin playing seriously."

This year, Mueller and 67 other students from schools in Southeast Missouri were accepted into the honor orchestra, which only plays one concert a year.

"It's a pretty select group of kids," said Steve Schaffner, Central High School's music department chairman.

The pieces the honor orchestra perform are more challenging than what students would normally play.

On Saturday, they performed Concerto in G by Antonio Vivaldi, "North Country Legend" by Mark Williams, "Drifen" by Shirl Jae Atwell and the second movement of Symphony No. 1 in D Major by Gustav Mahler.

"It's been a challenge," Matt's father, Randy Mueller, said of the music. "One piece in particular has been really hard on him."

Mueller is able to read the sheet music if he looks very closely at it, but is then not able to play the violin with the bow, so instead when first learning a piece of music, Mueller plucks out the notes with his fingers. He also learns by listening to his instructors play and by listening to recordings.

It is Mueller's ability to hear and memorize music that has compensated his lack of sight.

"His ear is remarkable," Janet Seibel said.

According to Gaye French, the orchestra instructor in the Sikeston School District, having an ear for music is the most important component to playing it.

"If you've got a pretty good ear, it's not that difficult," she said. "If you don't have the ear, it doesn't matter what you see."

kalfisi@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182