Music for the Blind: Concert by the Pupils of the Upper Norwood, London, Royal Normal College and Academy of Music for the Blind, at the Queen’s Rooms, on Thursday the 25th of March, 1875

A notice on page four of The Glasgow Herald, on Friday the 26th of March, 1875, reads:

 

“MUSIC FOR THE BLIND.—The success which can be attained in the musical education

of those who are deprived of sight was illustrated by the vocal and instrumental concert

given in the Queen’s Rooms last evening by a number of the pupils of the Royal Normal

College and Academy of Music for the Blind, Upper Norwood, London. The concert was

under the direction of the Principal of the College, Mr F. J. Campbell, and was enjoyed by

an audience almost filling the Queen’s Rooms. Apart from the sympathetic interest which

the painful infirmity of the performers awakened, the entertainment was one which, even

judged on its own merits, was exceedingly attractive. The programme consisted of selections

of high class music, and the most difficult pieces were given with a taste and accuracy quite

astonishing, and afforded pleasing proof of the careful training the possessors of really fine,

rich voices had undergone. The occasional performances of the pupils on the piano were

equally satisfactory, that of a little boy in particular calling for especial notice. The efforts of

all the pupils were rewarded with much approval from an attentive and highly appreciative

audience, and the frequent applause bestowed could not have been better deserved. Mr

Campbell, who presided at the pianoforte, and in this capacity gave evidence of his powers

as an accompanist, delivered a brief address between the parts of the concert. He referred

to the progress of the College, and reminded his hearers that it was not a local but a

national institution, and also that the pupils received a good physical, mental, and moral

training. Some of the pupils were then examined in geology, and a little boy subsequently

performed an athletic exercise. The second part of the concert was then proceeded with,

and the entertainment was brought to a conclusion shortly after 10 o’clock. On the platform

a number of local gentlemen who take an interest in the blind occupied seats; and in the

course of the evening Mr Arrol, and others, said a few words on behalf of the institution of

which Mr Campbell is the head.”