Risa & Rie’s Online Concert—Motivated by COVID-19
Rie and Risa Kimura, twin pianists who are both blind, held an online concert on June 17. They had longed to share their music widely again since COVID-19 had given them little chance for a live performance. They shared the broadcast from home and hosted 97 participants, including more than ten visually impaired audience members. The concert included “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” by Mozart, arranged by Risa and Rie, as well as J. S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” from the cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben. Their friendly chat between the performances made for a very relaxing atmosphere. The concert was delivered without images. Without watching the musicians, participants could listen carefully and catch each note distinctly, even the sound of the musicians’ breathing. Actually, waiting for the start of their performance without pictures helped the audience to appreciate their music much more clearly.
Risa and Rie, who want to have another online concert again in the autumn, shared some of the behind-the-scenes work: “We set the admission fee for the concert as free. But if we had provided a video feed, we would have needed to ask sighted people to operate cameras and visual delivery software, which would have cost a considerable amount. We can go without any of that software using Zoom.”
“Some participants seemed to be worried about noises from computer systems or screen readers1 that may have disturbed other participants. Although Zoom’s built-in keyboard shortcut includes a mute function, audience members using a 6-key input2 system cannot mute their microphones so easily. Meanwhile, as screen readers are stopped by the system during the performance, we could not see the issues identified by visually impaired audience members. In the future, we may be able to use Zoom together with sighted people who can support us with the mute function.”
“When the handicapped contract COVID-19, no helper can visit them. As antigen test kits and instruments to measure blood oxygen saturation do not have built-in voice functionality, we visually impaired can never use them.”
“Our church changed our online worship from YouTube to Zoom to make interactive communication possible. This way, we can see who is missing from the worship and visit them at home to ask how they are. This care is planned to continue for as long as possible. But barriers always exist, even online. We heard of an incident where a church prepared programs and screen subtitles for their Christmas Eve worship but forgot to include the voice announcements that had always been given. It is still difficult for some service providers to understand what is needed by some of their users.”
“Without supporters beside us, the handicapped tend to be left behind while online. The church should listen to these people and improve their systems to support them.”
From Christian Shimbun, July 9, 2023
Translated by Tomoko Kato
1. Screen readers: a system to have words on the computer screen read aloud for the visually impaired
2. 6-key input keyboard: a system using a keyboard’s S, D, F , J, K, and L keys with the index finger, middle finger, and fourth finger of both hands to input the six dots that make up the Braille letter cells.