By Katie Valentine, Staff Writer

When Bobbi Blood plays her flute at the Kennedy Center later this month, she won’t see her audience.

Blood, a junior in music at the U, recently won the opportunity to perform at the Kennedy Center through VSA Arts8212;a worldwide organization formerly known as Very Special Arts that provides opportunities for artists with disabilities.

Blood, who is blind, was chosen for the $5,000 award and a chance to perform at the prestigious music hall in Washington, D.C.

Seeing through music

Blood can be found on sunny days practicing outside Gardner Hall, at shuttle stops and at the Stadium TRAX station. She was introduced to music around the age of three when she began singing harmonies with her dad, Robert Blood, who was working as a composer at the time.

“Without music, the world couldn’t express itself,” she said. “It’s my best way of expressing my emotions.”

When she was in fourth grade, Blood started playing the instrumental recorder but transitioned to the flute at age 12 when her aunt gave her an old flute. Blood took lessons from a Suzuki method teacher, learning music by listening to it. Within a few years, Blood had been taught all that her teacher could teach her.

In college, Blood began taking music lessons from U flute teacher Susan Goodfellow, who first worked with her on establishing the high range of notes on the flute. Blood also plays in the orchestra and sings in the A Capella Choir.

Goodfellow helps Blood learn pieces for her personal performances and for the orchestra by taping all of the solos and ensemble pieces for her so that she can play with them.

“She has amazing talent and amazing ability,” Goodfellow said. “She can do things that most of us can’t.”

Many times Goodfellow has to teach her students how to have a concept of sound, but Blood came already knowing what she sounded like and what she wanted to sound like.

Music education

Blood started making a name for herself in high school. Once, during competition season, she had a competition in Provo and another in Bountiful both in the same day. When she arrived at the second competition, she was late.

Being delayed to this competition normally wouldn’t be tolerated, but when Blood’s name was spoken, her tardiness was overlooked, her father said. Blood had established a reputation for herself that demanded respect because of her musical ability.

Blood hopes to continue on after college and apply for a master’s program at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. After that, she would like to pursue a career as a flute soloist and teach the flute.

Blood said she keeps her expectations high because even if she doesn’t reach them, she feels like wherever she ends up will be decent.

“Despite the fact you get discouraged, you should never give up,” Blood said. “You should keep going for it8212;I did, and I’m still marveling at the progress and where I’m going to go.”

“I’d rather be blind”

Blood has a keen ear for everything around her. She has a recorder that has microphones in headphones. The recorder allows her to listen to and record the world around her, much how a camera is used. With this recorder, Blood is able to capture favorite sounds and listen to them later, and she also lets her dad and family friend, Lisa Driggs, listen to some of the recordings.

Driggs said she hadn’t realized how much sound she misses out on because she can see. When she listened to a recording Blood had taken of her day at school, Driggs said the intensity of the ambient sounds scared her.

Robert Blood once explained vision and seeing to Blood, but she felt overwhelmed about all the information the eyes receive at once. She didn’t realize that not only can eyes see one thing at a time but they can take in the whole world around them.

“I’d rather be blind,” Blood said.

There are a few things Blood would like to see though, she said8212;her own reflection, her family’s faces and sunsets.

Being blind hasn’t put Blood at any sort of disadvantage, her father said.

Being independent

Driggs helps Blood find all her classes at the beginning of each semester and helps her create the best route to and from each place.

Most of the routes Blood takes are unconventional, simply because it’s what she knows. She doesn’t mind taking the time to get places8212;she enjoys the independence and when people ask if they can help her, she will usually say no.

Sometimes when Blood gets completely lost on campus, she calls Driggs, who memorizes the scenery around Blood’s classes and can direct her back on the right path.

Driggs and Robert Blood will accompany Blood to Washington, D.C. for the April 28 performance. She will be performing with three other musicians, one from Alberta, Canada, one from the United States and the other from Singapore.

“Winning this competition is a wonderful thing for her,” Goodfellow said. “This is a big win.”

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Lennie Mahler

– U music senior Bobbi Blood practices flute outside of Gardner Hall on Thursday. Blood won the VSA Arts International Young Soloists Award, which includes $5,000 and the chance to play at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Blind at birth due to detached retinas, Blood plays the flute and recognizes cues by memory.