ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the visual aspects of disability in piano performance through a comparative analysis between video recordings of Nobuyuki Tsujii, a Japanese pianist with a visual impairment, and Evgeny Kissin, an able-bodied pianist. It incorporates several disciplinary approaches from music psychology and musicology in evaluating the discourse around the physicality of disabled performing bodies. The chapter explores the visual aspects of disability in piano performance through a comparative analysis between video recordings of a pianist with a visual impairment and a non-disabled pianist performing the same repertoire. Music psychology has explored the role of the performer's body and the physicality of music performance in depth. Non-disabled audiences react in conflicting ways to the performance of disabled musicians. The performance of disabled musicians can function as an act of empowerment that allows them to control their interaction with normative audiences through their presence on the stage.
