At the tail end of the Enabling Lives Festival on Nov 30, a beautiful piano piece draws to a close, receiving a warm round of applause from onlookers at the Enabling Village in Bukit Merah.
Beneath the mellifluous notes played by piano teacher Parvinderjeet Kaur lies a story of silence.
Until the age of six, the 34-year-old could not hear speech – let alone the sound of music – a result of the rubella virus that her mother contracted during pregnancy.
As a child, Ms Parvin was diagnosed with moderate hearing loss in her left ear and profound deafness in her right ear.
Her lack of hearing, however, did not stop her from comprehending music in her own way.
As a five-year-old student at Soka Kindergarten, she was inspired when the former president of Soka Gakkai International Daisaku Ikeda played the piano for students at an event.
“He hit on the keys so hard that although I was not fitted with a hearing aid at the time, I could feel the vibration from the music in the air,” said Ms Parvin.
That musical performance stayed with her until the age of eight, when she grew determined to learn the piano.
“Learning to play was a great struggle because you need to have a good listening ear to learn music, and I was deaf in one ear,” said Ms Parvin. Though hearing aids helped her left ear, it did nothing for the right side.
“But my teacher was very supportive and encouraged me to not give up.”
She took her piano lessons seriously and never missed a lesson. Her goal was to become a piano teacher.
“Many of my friends were confused when I told them what I wanted to be. Some would even ask me bluntly, ‘how can you become a piano teacher?’ But I kept the faith.”
Things improved for her audibly, when at the age of 19 she went for a cochlear implant surgery in her right ear. However, the stress from processing two different sounds from each ear – the cochlear one sounding more “machine-like” – almost pushed her to depression. It took her a year to adjust and while her hearing is now close to normal, it is still not 100 per cent.
Parvin eventually attained a grade eight in piano – the minimum requirement to teach the instrument – from The Association Board of the Royal Schools of Music.
She currently works as a private piano teacher, and has been a pianist and percussionist for the Soka New Century Orchestra since 2010.
She also teaches students with disabilities at ART:DIS, a non-profit dedicated to creating opportunities for persons with disabilities in the arts.
“From my personal experience, I can understand how people with disabilities are struggling to cope with their daily life,” Ms Parvin said. “I hope I can inspire and motivate them to fulfil their dreams.”
