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May 19, 2003

Deaf Woman Receives Master's Degree in Music Composition

From: Andante - May 19, 2003

Associated Press - 19 May 2003

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) — A woman who lost all hearing when she was beaten by a robber received a master's degree in music composition Saturday from Virginia Commonwealth University, becoming the first deaf student ever to earn a music degree from the school.

Instructor William Eldridge described Tammie Willis' accomplishment as "a personal act of defiance against deafness itself."

"What Tammie does is remarkable," Eldridge said. "I've never heard of a story like this."

Willis, 34, who taught herself to play a variety of percussion and string instruments after losing her hearing, composed a four-movement, 12-person percussion ensemble piece as part of her master's program.

Willis said she no longer imagines sound as she did when she could hear. "I have no memory for sound," she said.

In her compositions, "the trick is finding bridges between my imagination and what a hearing person understands," she explained. "I don't perceive melody. The way I've learned to construct music is through text like a poem or story."

Primarily, she thinks in terms of rhythm. She can't be sure the end product is melodic, however, so her composition instructors help her resolve issues of dissonance and consonance.

Willis was attacked in 1994 by a robber who walked into her home in Daly City. He smashed her head repeatedly against a table, punched her in the face and shook her. No one was ever arrested. Doctors found that the attack caused a brain injury that produced permanent deafness.

She considered suicide. "I decided I couldn't go on living in isolation and with no ability to communicate," she said. However, she couldn't pull the trigger, and soon afterward she saw Immortal Beloved , the screen biography of Beethoven, who also lost his hearing.

She became a voracious reader of everything about Beethoven and bought a keyboard, even though her previous musical experience was meager. "Maybe by studying music I could gain a better concept of sound," she says she thought at the time.

Willis intends to pursue doctorates in higher education and music theory. And she plans to continue composing: "It gives me a chance to pursue my imagination for sound."

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.