Blind Tom

When researching a while ago, I came across a musical artist named Blind Tom. Blind Tom, as his name states, was blind. He was an African American slave who had an uncanny knack for the piano. Born in 1849, Tom didn't learn to speak very well, and since he was blind, he couldn't work in the fields. At a very early age, Tom started playing the piano. At the age of 5, he wrote his first song. A musical savant, Blind Tom could repeat music on the piano by just hearing it once. At the age of 5, Blind Tom composed The Rain Storm. Starting at the age of 8, Blind Tom performed concerts of his piano playing which proved very profitable to his owners. He also developed many other talents

"Other astonishing feats included his alleged ability to perform difficult selections almost flawlessly after one hearing, sing and recite poetry and prose in several languages, duplicate phonetically lengthy orations by noted statesmen, and reproduce sounds of nature, machines, and musical instruments on the piano. Being possessed of a rich baritone voice, Tom also included original and sentimental songs by such English songwriters as Henry Russell and Henry Bishop in his concerts."

Blind Tom was very exploited by his owners, who collected around $50,000 on him yearly from his concerts. A very large sum during that time. Custody over Blind Tom changed hands many times in his later popular years. By the end of his life, it was estimated that Blind Tom could perform over 7,000 different songs as well as the songs that he has composed himself. These songs include the Sewing Song (sheet music here) which imitates the noise made by a sewing machine. Blind Tom died in 1908 at the age of 59.

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