New world for some

Wang Zheng, a 15-year-old student of Grade 1 at a high school, says CBL is his favorite place. He has been attending Luo's training class for eight years now.

It takes two hours for Wang to travel to and from CBL where he can enjoy the four hours of music, but he never feels tired. Despite increasing academic pressures in the past eight years, Wang has never skipped his music class even once.

Pan says Wang is a particularly hardworking student, always keen on holding discussions on music with her and submitting his homework on time.

"I don't think attending the training course brings any pressure on me, because I find it very interesting. It is not a burden at all," he said. The lessons have paid off.

Wang was part of a team that played music during the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Also, he often hosts art activities at his school as well as at CBL, where he is often invited to sing.

At the class on March 26, the first offline one after the pandemic, several students from a local high school, Beijing Etown Academy, were there to do some research on inclusivity. While sharing knowledge with the visually impaired children via interactive games, the students were also learning about inclusivity. "It amazes me that the visually impaired children learn which key to hit just by listening," Jie Yanbing, a leader of the students, said after attending a whole course.

In fact, she is equally astonished that their teacher, Pan, too, is visually impaired, a fact she did not realize until the course ended.

Research into the training course has helped increase her knowledge about visually impaired people.

Best service provider

Ding Dong, who runs an extracurricular training agency for primary school children, said it is a challenge for agencies like theirs to provide services for visually impaired children.

"The classroom must be carefully built to prevent them from hitting the wall and getting hurt; in fact the entire building needs to be checked in advance to ensure visually impaired children do not face any inconvenience anywhere, such as when going to the toilet. The teachers need to be trained, too, so that he or she knows how to get along well with visually impaired students. All of these mean additional costs and require professionalism that exceeds us ordinary agencies," he said.

"That's where we can help," said Luo. CBL has a ready environment for the visually impaired and a team to serve them.

"All we need is to work for a few extra hours during weekends then rest on some working days. A look into the students' innocent eyes is enough inspiration for us to put in that effort."

For Pan, the job requires more than mere professionalism, as it is more about giving love than just services.

He believes that music as the language of humanity can help give warmth to the visually impaired and help shape their characters.

"Visually impaired children face a greater risk of being closed to the world, and music can help them keep the door open and get accepted by the world," Pan said, sharing how love for a profession in music can grant people power, the visually impaired people included.

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