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Posted by Jordan Miller | The Ann Arbor News March 12, 2008 19:56PM
Alan Warren, The Ann Arbor News
Algernon Bazel, 14, of Detroit, who is visually impaired, plays "America the Beautiful" on the bells at Kerrytown with the help of Heather O'Neal.
By JORDAN MILLER
The Ann Arbor News
Three visually-impaired students, along with several classmates, traveled from Detroit to perform Wednesday on five square blocks of downtown Ann Arbor.
The eight students from Bates Middle School played the bells at Kerrytown under the supervision of their teacher, Ann Arbor resident Patti Smith, and self-described "bell lady" Heather O'Neal.
"My kids are all into music, and I thought it would be cool if they could come and play for the town," Smith said. "It gets the city to hear them and recognize them, and they get to put on a little performance for town."
Keithetta Hicks, 12, played "Baa Baa Black Sheep," and said she was sure her friend who lives in Ann Arbor must have heard her. Hicks is almost completely blind.
"I had tons of fun," she said. "I wasn't nervous."
The students were assisted by O'Neal, who held their hands and guided them on the wooden pedals. Although she said it's common to have school groups, this is only the second time she's been able to assist a blind player in the almost 10 years she's been working the bells.
"They have an innate sense of the spacing of the keys," she said. "I feel like they internally know more than the rest of us. If they had a half an hour to just play with the instrument they could do a whole lot. ... In some ways it's an instrument for them, because it's all about sound."
Halie Howard, 11, got to come along because she helps her visually-impaired classmates get around in school, Smith said. Howard chose to play Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," although she admitted she had never heard the song before. It just sounded cool.
"I was nervous, very nervous," she said. "But if I made a mistake, at least nobody noticed."
"You didn't make any mistakes," Smith told her. "You guys were all great."
Jordan Miller can be reached at jmiller@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6679.
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