Singer, songwriter, and educator Precious Perez shares how she navigates the music industry as a blind artist, using technology, adaptive techniques, and community collaboration to compose, perform, and advocate for accessibility. As president of RAMPD, she discusses the fight for disability representation in music, proving that talent and innovation—not sight—define an artist’s success.
Guest: Precious Perez, President at RAMPD | On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-perez-a0548915b/ | Website: https://preciousperezmusica.com/
Host: Sean Martin, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine and Host of Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast & Music Evolves Podcast | Website: https://www.seanmartin.com/
The intersection of music, technology, and accessibility is shaping how artists create, perform, and share their work. In this episode of Music Evolves, host Sean Martin speaks with singer, songwriter, and educator Precious Perez, a Berklee College of Music graduate with degrees in music education and vocal performance. As a blind Latina artist and disability advocate, Perez shares her journey in music, the role of technology in her creative process, and how she works to increase opportunities for musicians with disabilities.
A Life Shaped by Music
Perez’s passion for music started early, surrounded by the diverse sounds of her Puerto Rican household. From salsa and reggaeton to R&B and pop, her exposure to various genres helped shape her identity as an artist. She recalls her first songwriting experience in fourth grade, when she transformed a poem into a song with the help of a music teacher. That moment solidified her desire to pursue music professionally, leading her to Berklee, where she refined her skills in both performance and education.
As a blind musician, Perez explains how she interacts with music differently from sighted artists. She describes her early experiences learning Braille music and how tactile memory plays a role in understanding composition. While she primarily relies on her ear, her knowledge of Braille notation helps her analyze rhythm and structure in a unique way.
Technology as a Tool for Inclusion
For Perez, technology has been both a gateway and a challenge. She demonstrates how she uses a BrailleSense note taker, a device that allows her to type lyrics and read them in Braille while composing. She also shares how screen reading software enables her to navigate recording software like Logic Pro and Pro Tools, ensuring she can produce and edit her music independently.
Beyond the studio, accessibility in live performance is another key consideration. Whether using in-ear monitors or giving cues to her bandmates through verbal or physical signals, Perez emphasizes that clear communication and collaboration make performances seamless.
Advocating for Disability Representation in Music
Perez is also the president of RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities), an organization founded by recording artist Lachi and NPR Tiny Desk Contest winner Gaelynn Lea. RAMPD is dedicated to amplifying disability culture, promoting accessibility, and ensuring that disabled artists have equitable opportunities in the music industry. The organization consults with major industry events like the Grammys, NAMM, and Folk Alliance to improve accessibility and representation.
She stresses that disability is an often-overlooked part of diversity and that anyone, at any time, could join this community due to illness, injury, or aging. Through RAMPD, Perez and her colleagues are breaking down barriers and proving that disabled musicians are just as competitive and professional as their peers.
A New Era of Music
Perez is embracing a new era in her music, blending her Latin roots with her pop and R&B influences. She performs her latest song, Rosé, a Spanish-language track about embracing the present moment with a loved one despite life’s difficulties. With plans to record a new project with We Could Be Music in Costa Rica, she is leaning into the Latin music space in a way she has always envisioned.
Her story is one of resilience, innovation, and passion. From navigating music education as a blind student to advocating for industry-wide accessibility, Perez is proving that talent and determination—not sight—define an artist’s success.
Listen to the full episode to hear Precious Perez’s insights on technology, performance, and advocacy in music.
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Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities (RAMPD): https://rampd.org/
Sean Martin: [00:00:00] And hello everybody, you are very welcome to a new Music Evolves podcast episode. This is Sean Martin, your host, where I get to look at how We get to live with the beautiful music that creators make for us. Sometimes with the physical means that they have, sometimes with technology, and we're going to explore how those two things interact with each other in the world of creation of music and also in the world of consumption of music, whether it be recorded or live performances.
And I'm super thrilled to welcome my guest to the show, who is Both recorded and performed and is also an educator in music and, uh, I believe she has a double bachelor's in music education and vocal performance from the Berklee College of Music. She's a trained pop, R& B, Latin singer, songwriter, and she's also a disability advocate and I'm thrilled to have Precious [00:01:00] Perez on.
How are you, Precious?
Precious Perez: I'm good. Happy to be here. How are you?
Sean Martin: I'm fantastic, even better now to have you with me on the show. Um, I'm excited for this conversation and I think to me this is really what the show is about. Um, how do we help more people create beautiful things that we can all enjoy and hopefully enjoy the creative process ourselves.
I'm a, I'm not a professional but I'm a music lover and creator too. Uh, so I'm right there with you. Um, So Precious, maybe if you wouldn't mind a few words about maybe some of your past experiences that brought you into the world of music. Did you grow up with it? Was there something that brought you into the idea that I can create music and share that with others?
Precious Perez: absolutely. So it all kind of started when I was really young. Um, my mom played all kinds of music in the house. Like I'm Puerto Rican. So it was like a lot of salsa, [00:02:00] reggaeton, all that. But then it would go to like Bob Marley and then Mary J. Blige and Alicia Keys and like just all over the map. Um, I always say like the one gap in my, in my music knowledge is rock.
Cause I didn't really grow up with that much rock. Um, but, uh, I was surrounded by music and my family had a love for music, even if they weren't musically inclined necessarily, and so. When I was around six, I started to kind of sing. I was gifted this little Barbie karaoke machine with the headset and the little tape.
Like you could put the tapes in it and record on them. I got in trouble for recording over some of my
Sean Martin: Oh no.
Precious Perez: or twice. Um, but
Sean Martin: It
Precious Perez: you know, I, I would sing by myself and I was really painfully shy as a kid, which is really hard to imagine now. Um, but
Sean Martin: We grow into ourselves, I
Precious Perez: guess so. Oh yeah. But I. I think I found my voice through [00:03:00] music and, you know, I, I started in elementary music class and in chorus and then that became songwriting and, um, slowly evolved into like, This is what I want to do and I didn't realize until high school that like Majoring in music meant that you could actually like major in different areas of music I didn't realize that like it wasn't just a general music and you have to pick another core topic and for me it would have
Sean Martin: that for me. What does that mean?
Precious Perez: so I always thought that like Music was another thing, like just a blanket thing you could major in, like English or math or anything like that.
And so, I didn't realize that there were, within schools, dedicated to music. Because with a university, you have to take all of the general education curriculum on top of whatever specialty, um, aspect of the university you're a part of. So say you're a music major, [00:04:00] you do all of your music classes on top of all of the gen ed and all the university requirements.
Whereas, if you're at a school solely devoted to music, All of your classes have to do with music, and you get to pick between like music production, performance, education, all these different things. And I didn't know that that was a distinction until maybe my junior year of high school. Because I had intended to be like, Oh, well, I guess I'll major in music and English because I wanted to have a backup plan.
And I loved English, um, not necessarily analyzing literature, but like creative writing and poetry, which became songs. But, I think Once I realized that I was like, oh, okay, performance, and then if that doesn't pan out because, you know, that's difficult to do, education, because I love teaching and I love, um, kids and just bringing that spark of music and inspiration to them and showing them how to express themselves.
And so, I eventually settled on those two [00:05:00] things for my double bachelors.
Sean Martin: That's fantastic. And I have to, um, I want to ask this question because you are blind, you're unable to see, like a lot of others can. Um, how, when, sorry for not knowing, but when, when did When did that happen? Were you born that way? Did it, did it come to you in a different way? And how did, how does that impact how you think about music and how you explore music?
I'm just thinking changing tapes and I'm, basically everything that you do that connects with music, right?
Precious Perez: absolutely. I'm really glad you asked that because I know like a lot of people can be afraid to ask questions and that's how we learn things so I'm very open about answering those kinds of questions. Um, so I was born with a condition called retinopathy of prematurity. Um, my eyes weren't fully developed.
When I was born, I was born two and a half months [00:06:00] early. And so with the amount of oxygen that they had to give me, um, my eyes didn't fully develop. And so I was born blind and I had multiple operations as a young child. The most they did was restore light perception in my left eye, so I can tell. The way I describe it is the sky is awake, the sky is sleeping.
I know when the sun's out and when it's not. I know when there's a light on and when there's not. But there's no color, there's no Like, I tell people that and they're like, But you can that means you're seeing white! I'm like, no, no, no. No, I'm seeing light. I don't see a color of light. If there's multicolored lights, I have no idea what colors they are.
I just know they're flashing. Like, I can't I don't have anything other than that. The perception of light and dark in that eye, and then, um, My right eye is now prosthetic as of beginning slash middle of last year. Um, I lived with a, um, an eye [00:07:00] that didn't work for a really long time. It was just there in my head, you know, and it wasn't really causing any problems Until it started getting irritated and they got calcium buildup And they can laser that off, but it can also come back.
And I was like, If it's not functional, I'd rather just get it taken out so that I don't have to deal with any issues in the future than just have this here and potentially have more issues later on. So I now have a prosthetic eye and one, um, I call it my working eye even though it doesn't actually work.
Um, I think it's funny. So, um, I grew up blind, and so I learned, I had, I was fortunate to have so many incredible teachers. They're specialized teachers, teachers of the visually impaired, teachers that teach you how to read and write braille, how to use technology with screen reading software. Um, How to, um, orientation, mobility [00:08:00] instructors teach you how to cross streets, how to listen to traffic patterns, all the things you need to know, and all the alternative techniques you need in order to be able to be successful and use your other senses to make sure that you can live your life as an independent person.
And so I was fortunate enough to have a really strong team of people behind me that were able to help me learn how to advocate for myself and. that showed me how to live my life successfully, um, albeit differently. Um, and that is different for everybody. Not everybody that is blind has access to these resources.
Um, not everybody that has vision loss grew up with vision loss. A lot of people, like there's degenerative diseases where people lose their vision over time. People suddenly lose their vision, whether it could be an accident or there, there's so many different conditions. And in fact, people that are totally blind, they don't see anything.
are a smaller part of the [00:09:00] population because the majority of the blind population can actually see something. Um, so it's definitely a spectrum and it's definitely very different experiences depending on who you talk to.
Sean Martin: And I, uh, I want to come back to you in a moment, but, uh, I think maybe this is a good time to look at RMPD, which, uh, is the Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities Organization, which, you found it if I'm not mistaken?
Precious Perez: did not found it. Um, Lachi, um, she's a recording artist and musician, um, disability inclusion advocate. She does so many things and she actually founded the organization, um, alongside Galen Lee, um, who won NPR tiny desk. She's a violinist, um, and Lachi herself is blind as well. Um, and so I actually got [00:10:00] involved with ramped.
We call it ramped. Um,
Sean Martin: Great.
Precious Perez: it's fun. Um, yeah. And. I got involved in the very, very early stages before we officially launched as an organization. I was in the first class of what we call professional members. These are people that are peer vetted music professionals. Um, and since then I I became membership chair, and then vice president, and now I serve as president, currently.
And I still serve as the chair of our engagement committee, which is, which handles membership, acceptance, and, um, vetting. And planning internal external events. And so, RAMPT has the mission of amplifying disability culture. Promoting inclusion and advocating for equitable and accessible spaces within the music and live entertainment industry.
And so we provide the entertainment industry and music industry with inclusive tools and [00:11:00] strategies. We do consultations, we've worked with the Grammys on accessibility, um, Women in Music, Folk Alliance, different organizations. Um, and we also provide the industry with a peer vetted global network of musicians and music professionals, um, with disabilities, chronic conditions, neurodivergence, all the above.
And this is a community for us, but it's also, um, we're the only organization doing this work right now. And we are professional. We are competitive. And those are the key takeaways from, you know, ramped, the industry can go to ramped and higher professional. musicians and execs with disabilities things.
And since then we've, you know, our programming includes opportunities for professional members to speak at things like NAMM. So Lachi and I [00:12:00] and, um, two more of our, one, uh, professional members did a panel at NAMM on inclusivity in the music industry and education. And, um, We are out here doing things and big things.
It's a big deal. We're Ford funded. We are growing thriving and You know disability is the one minority group that anyone can join at any time You could be walking down the street get hit by a car or have an accident and boom You're disabled and people don't think about that and also Like people don't talk about disability as a diversity and it is And so we are here to kind of represent and uplift and celebrate who we are as disabled musicians and music creators.
And also to say like, we're here, you know, people ask where to [00:13:00] find us. We are right here.
Sean Martin: You're on, you're on ramps. That's where you are. It's, it's super inspiring and I, and I'm glad to see that organization exist and the work you're doing there. Uh, taking off and, and your team being successful. How, um, So clearly a member driven organization by the members, for the members,
Precious Perez: community. That's what drives us.
Sean Martin: Yeah.
Tell me a bit about, um, kind of giving back. Is there an element of that in, in RAMPT and or maybe some, some other things you're working on to help others actually have an opportunity to become a member. So, so learning in school, uh, tool, access to tools and other, other means to, to become familiar with music and learn music and, and be part of what music has to [00:14:00] offer.
Not just recording, but I mean there's all, all kinds of roles, right, in the music industry. Um, can you kind of speak to some of those things?
Precious Perez: Yeah, so RAMT, um, in itself, we do, we have two arms. So we have the consultation arm where we work with different organizations to consult on accessibility. And then we have our membership opportunities. So that gives our professional members different opportunities to have, um, different, Places where they can go and speak different big shows like NAMM or Folk Alliance and things like that Um that really gives our membership an opportunity to thrive and to elevate within the organization but then we also have community membership and what that is is anyone whether they're an ally or Interested in growing to professional membership or maybe they're they're not ready yet, but they want to be involved somehow That is a level of membership [00:15:00] where they receive the newsletter.
We put out different opportunities and, um, they can still be a part of the community and they are a part of the community and a part of ramped and the movement. And we always encourage people to join the community and get involved and talk to each other and collaborate. Um, because really that's, that's, the work we are doing is a trickle down effect.
So we're doing this grassroots work and. Working together to make that happen, and we're seeing when we go to these events, and we have these conversations, people come up to us and say, wow, like, I didn't know this was here. I feel so seen. How do I get involved? And that's where it all starts really just.
building those connections and bringing people into the fold that maybe didn't feel comfortable disclosing or didn't know there was a place for them to feel comfortable and to grow in a community or that could help back them and elevate [00:16:00] them in their careers in their fields as musicians and music creators, music professionals with disabilities.
So there's so many ways in which, um, Ramped just gives back on its own and also builds community.
Sean Martin: And I was, uh, uh, a shout out to Nam because it was through Nam that, uh, I became familiar with you and, and, uh, the, the ramp in your panel that you mentioned as well. And, um, yeah, I was excited to talk to you. I want, I want to it back to kind of your journey. And you, you mentioned, uh, so I, me personally, I, I, I'm more of a math person than an English person. And so, so beats and melodies and kind of the, and I was, I played trumpet in school. So to me it was kind of the, the music end of it. That's all music, what I'm trying to say. The beats and the [00:17:00] melodies kind of drove me. Less so the, less so the lyrics. And you said that in your experience, you were in choir and lyrics and started writing that way.
Um, I presume many people have different, different aspects of what inspires them and moves them to create something. Um, I'd like to learn, they're not, nobody's here to listen to me. I want to hear your story. What, you were singing, uh, what else did you do? Did you start writing songs? Did you do music for it?
Did you, did you accompany yourself? Did you sing to other, how did you start to create music?
Precious Perez: Absolutely. So when I was in fourth grade, this is the first, first experience I ever had writing a song was I had a poem and it was dedicated to one of my friends. He was a baby at the time and I love small children. And so, um, I wanted to write a poem for him and I [00:18:00] did. And then I wanted to turn it into a song, so I went to my music teacher and I was like, Hey, like, can you help me?
I don't know how to do this. So she like played a piano part and was like, how do you like this? And then we were like playing with the melodies and stuff. And then I got to sing that at my fourth grade school assembly with one of my friends. And that was the first time I ever had kind of any inkling of like, wow, this is how a song gets made.
Like these are the words I used and now I can sing them. And so after that, I really started trying to write my own, on my own. Um, and I had a little bit of knowledge of piano, but I, at that point, didn't know how to play any chordal instruments. So, I kind of started just writing, and then singing into a little recorder, and I would like, layer over that, and like, that's kind of how I started writing, and [00:19:00] recording, and some of it was really bad.
And some of it was really good as it goes. And I, I drew a lot of my songwriting inspiration from Taylor Swift, like seeing how she told her stories. I was like, Hmm. This is, can I try to do that? And so, um, little by little, I kind of began, um, telling my own story. And that's kind of how it all got started.
It wasn't until high school where I learned how to like play a little guitar and a little piano. And then, um, I found the ukulele in college and that became my forever instrument, like I just, I love it. And shout out to Nam again, because I got to meet Kala. KALA representatives, and I've been wanting to be in touch with KALA brand music for years, and they sent me a baritone, and I'm absolutely in love with it, so.
Yeah, gotta love all the full circle connections happening here.
Sean Martin: Absolutely. [00:20:00] Absolutely. Can you talk to me about learning to play the piano? And I want to talk about the guitar as well. In terms of, Let's, I don't know, let's talk about the music. I presume they taught you how to read music.
Precious Perez: Yes, braille
Sean Martin: in braille? Okay. So talking about the whole process of reading braille music, because clearly, for people that don't recognize, braille is by touch, right?
So you're reading and playing. I don't know, how does that all
Precious Perez: I'll, that's a good question. So, braille music, I was so resistant to it, because I'm really I'm a very like, by ear musician. I, I pick up things really fast. I love harmonizing. That is one of my favorite things in the whole world to do. Like I I've always been driven by just being able to like.
Just sing and like, sing what I'm hearing and like, play what I'm hearing, whatever. [00:21:00] Um, I don't have perfect pitch. A lot of blind people do. I am not one of them. Um, but I say it's relative because I'm pretty, um, You know, I've been, I've been studying my craft for a really long time. So now I'm, I feel really confident in my skill set.
But, um, I learned braille music in high school and I have to credit, um, My TVI is what we call them, teacher of the visually impaired, uh, Janet Saka. She Learned braille music so that she could teach me braille music. Like, this lady took a whole course because she said, If you're gonna go into music, you're gonna need this.
So you gotta learn it. And she, we tried to do like a self study course because they do, They used to have like this braille course that you could like, You know, go lesson by lesson and like, I, you know, left to my own devices, I refused, like I just didn't do it. So she ended up putting a grade on it, and that was the only way that she could get me [00:22:00] to learning it.
Um, and so I am extremely grateful for her because I ended up using that a lot for ear training, like whenever we had to do rhythms or whatever, like I was able to. Read my book with everybody else and like in real time and like, um, you know, there's plenty of people that don't read real music. I don't use it on a daily basis.
Um, It is useful, and I think, you know, for ear training, for learning basic melodies, um, but when you think about a full score, there are so many lines upon lines of music, like, we don't have four hands, you know what I
Sean Martin: Right.
Precious Perez: And then also, like, if you're an instrumentalist, it's not practical for you.
necessarily, because it might help you, like, glance at a score and know what you're looking at, but you eventually have to memorize it anyway, because you cannot read and use your hands to play at the same time. Unless you're playing with one hand and reading with the other hand, which, I mean, impressive, if that's what you can [00:23:00] do.
It seems the most practical to me for vocalists, because we don't need our hands.
Sean Martin: Right.
Precious Perez: if you're accompanying and you're a vocalist, I mean, yeah, so there's complexities around that. Everybody's got their opinion around bro music. I'm grateful that I do have working knowledge of it. I think it is important in a lot of aspects, but I do also understand the perspective of like, well, I don't know how this is valuable to me for some people.
So,
Sean Martin: Does it help with, um, It's kind of the, obviously you can hear the, the structure of a song and the speed and the tempo and the, the whether it's staccato or melodic, whatever. Does, does that initial learning of the music through braille Kind of give you a different aspect or a different view of the composition of something for when you're creating, I, I presume you, you're doing a lot more with, with hearing the music
Precious Perez: yeah, I don't really use it to create. [00:24:00] Um,
Sean Martin: not, not, so I guess my, my question is, did the foundation of learning the music through braille give you anything as you create now, not, I know you're not using it to create music.
Precious Perez: think for me, it gave me a new, like, Perspective on, um, like time and duration, whenever we're thinking about tempo and like the different lengths of notes, like, whenever I'm thinking about a polyrhythm or a different value or something like that, I remember the way the symbols look in my head. Like, I have tactile memory.
So, like, sometimes when I say a word, or, like, think of a note, I picture how it looks in Braille in my head or how it feels. Um, so it's pretty, it's pretty cool in that sense. And like, I'll remember like, Oh, that's that thing. And that's what that symbol means. And like, I just remember how it felt to read that and I'm like, Oh yeah, that's how that looks in a [00:25:00] measure.
So yeah, it's pretty interesting. I never thought about that.
Sean Martin: Yeah. I was just thinking, because I'm a drummer, and not, not trained as a drummer, but I do have seen music and, and, Looking at a paradiddle. I can, I can hear a paradiddle, but seeing it, but not necessarily know that they're playing a paradiddle if I hear it in a song or something. And so I guess the understanding that the paradiddle exists, and what it looks like, and what it sounds like, um, can potentially help, or maybe even hinder, I don't know.
Uh, so I guess, how about the, the What, uh, a very different instrument than the piano. Uh, what was it like getting involved with the guitar and
Precious Perez: found that, like, piano, and it's so interesting, because, like, with the music ed major, you have to learn how to get around, fundamentally at least, a [00:26:00] ton of different instruments. And I realized quickly that piano just didn't come naturally to me. Like, I can do it, you know, I can play chords and accompany here and there, but, like, I just, I feel so out of my depth sometimes.
But guitar, um, I think for me, the hard thing about guitar was that, like, I can't read tablature. There's no, like, whenever people would say, like, put your hand like this, or whatever. So we found a shorthand notation where it was like, six slash zero was like, like, each chord, it was like, six zero one. And it meant, like, put your, the sixth string on the first fret with your first finger.
Like, just like a shorthand for me to be able to recognize, like, okay, this is how, this is the positioning of this. Cause I couldn't read a traditional, like, Your finger goes here because that's just not those diagrams weren't accessible to me Um, and I [00:27:00] found like throughout my guitar class like my teacher was phenomenal He was really like we always came up with out of the box things if something wasn't working But that was once we had that down It was pretty simple for me to feel like I can I could navigate it and then YouTube too, but the thing about YouTube is that I had to kind of filter through, like, if I wanted to play a specific song or a specific chord, I needed to preview these videos.
And if they started going, put your finger on this string here,
Hmm.
I'd be like, okay, yep, this one's not it for me. Like, I can't, I can't learn through this because you're not being descriptive enough. And it's not people's fault. It's not like they, you know, they just don't think about that. But it means a lot when somebody That, that's random that you don't expect, like, just describes exactly which fret and which finger to use and which string.
And it's so refreshing when that happens, I'm like, wow, I don't need a [00:28:00] specific combination because now this person is teaching in a way that's accessible.
Sean Martin: It's, it's interesting. I'm actually Learning guitar, and I was talking to my co founder Marco last night about, uh, learning the G chord. And I guess there's multiple ways. Five we looked at last night. Five ways to play the G chord. And I was telling him, I think I'm, I think I've only been playing for a couple months.
I think I've learned the G chord incorrectly is what I told him. He's like, I don't know that there's a correct or incorrect way. But the, the way, perhaps the way that you place the fingers allows you to move quickly to other chords
chords,
and things like that. And I was like, but the way that I saw this person play on YouTube doesn't match the way that feels good to me.
So even if it's, I don't know if there's a right or wrong way, but, but I guess the point I want to make is seeing it, um, [00:29:00] without seeing it, I don't know that I could. So I'm, uh, super impressed that, that you're able to analyze these videos and, and determine how to put the fingers and, and, uh, which, which strings to play and which strings to mute and, or miss or whatever.
Precious Perez: Yeah. It's, it's like you use your hearing too, and like, and once you're in tune with like the way the shape feels. It's like, okay, now I remember this. And the more you practice it, the more you do it. And, you know, it's, it's, it's a different perspective, right? Because, like, if I asked you to, like, put on a blindfold and try to do it, of course you wouldn't be able to do it, you know what I mean?
Like, but if, if there was an alternative technique, and I'm like, okay, this is how we do this, now, now put on the blindfold and do it, you'd be able to. So it's all about, like, perspective. Like, that's why, when I talk about, like, different techniques and stuff, I think about those dinners where they're like, Dine in the dark!
Put on a [00:30:00] blindfold! And that's terrifying to people because, A, that's unrealistic. Because that's not how we live life. We learn all these different ways to do things so that we're not terrified of living. But also Like, you can't expect anyone to know what they're doing if they're just thrown into a situation and not guided through it like that.
Like, I just put on a blindfold and figure it out. That's, that's not really how it works. So I think there's a lot of like, fear of the unknown, you know, kind of derailed that, but it's okay.
Sean Martin: No, no, that's good. That's good. I want to talk about the, the role of technology. Some of the stuff we talked about is technology. Right? Braille music is technology. YouTube is technology. But, so, maybe looking at it from a few different perspectives. So there's, there's the learning. Aspect. There's the recording aspect.
And we haven't talked about [00:31:00] performing, which I've, I've seen some of your performances online. So we'll get to that one in a moment because I want to, I want to talk about what it, what it, what it's like to perform live. But maybe the role of technology in, in creating your music, or learning to play music, and then, and then creating music.
Has it helped or hindered? laughs
Precious Perez: many things. So I use, um, there are these special devices called, um, note takers. And they're basically like tablets, but braille. Like, they do so many things. You can send emails, you can connect to the internet, you can, um, like, write in Word docs, all kinds of stuff.
I use mine to read and write, and so, when I write lyrics, um, I will take notes on there, and I read through it in braille, cause for I'm a very tactile person, like, I need to read what's in front of me, and like, I feel more [00:32:00] connected to it when I'm doing that. You know?
Sean Martin: Now do you actually, sorry, do you actually type in the lyrics or do you dictate them?
Precious Perez: I typed them in.
Sean Martin: okay.
Precious Perez: Actually, can I show it to you? Let me see if I can grab it.
Sean Martin: That'd be fantastic,
Precious Perez: hold on. It's right over here. Luckily, I'm in my front office, where all my things are.
Sean Martin: all the goodies.
Precious Perez: Okay. So. Um.
there we go.
Sean Martin: Thank you
this.
Precious Perez: Yeah, of course. So this is called the BrailleSense. This is one of, there's a couple companies. Some of them are braille displays, so you can bluetooth them to your computer and like read what's on the screen and stuff that way. This one is built in. So this down here is a braille display. So it's got all of the dots popped up right now, and it's off, but it refreshes.
So if I scroll down and I'm scrolling through, it'll refresh. These are the cursors, and then this is what's called the [00:33:00] braille keyboard up here. So it's dots 6, and different combinations of those make up letters, numbers, symbols. So this is what I use to type, and then I've got my SD card slot right on the side here.
You can also plug in USB drives. It's got a built in recorder. It's got a clock. It's got all kinds of stuff. I don't use all the bells and whistles because I really just like to use it to have um, the tactile. Representation of what I'm doing. Um, but this is what I use to like, read and write, to take notes.
Um, some, I've done like voice acting and stuff when I read my scripts. I do that on here. Because for me, I can just easily read and I don't have to, you know, some people do it completely with audio on their computer. Um, so screen reading software is like voiceover on the Mac and there's a couple of options for Windows PC and some people [00:34:00] will read and feel most comfortable with that kind of input, but for me, I'm just very braille oriented.
So I use that.
Sean Martin: The tactics come back in, the tactical piece.
Precious Perez: Yep. Yep. And then. When it comes to recording, I actually have my little setup next to me right now. I have my Shure 58 mic, but I have a blanket over it because I don't have a proper shield and it's, it's working quite well,
Sean Martin: It is.
Precious Perez: Um, improv, improvise. Um, I, we just moved into my new house a couple months ago, so my husband and I are still getting things set up and all that.
So, you know, making things work. And I have my Scarlet interface. It's very tactile, like I can feel where the, um, the XLR combo jacks are, um, things with knobs and buttons are very helpful. Um, and then Logic, out of the box, um, is [00:35:00] accessible with VoiceOver on the Mac. So I can, I use Logic, it depends on what I'm doing, if I want to just paste a file in and like record vocals and then like export them, I'll use Logic because it's just so easy to paste it right into the session and like.
quickly overdub or whatever. Um, Pro Tools I use more when I'm like making my own tracks or if it's a longer thing or if it's something, um, I use intro because freelance life does not equate to enough for me to afford the subscription. But, um, there is a script called Flow Tools developed by Chi Kim, a professor at Berkeley who, he is also blind and he taught me how to do everything I can do on the Mac and with Like Sibelius and all that stuff, um, and some other people, they developed this script where it makes it easier.
Essentially, there's a bunch of shortcuts that you can use with voiceover and Pro Tools to make it easier to like arm tracks instead of having to interact with everything and do all this. So [00:36:00] there's, and Sibelius is now fully accessible. on the Mac. Um, it used to be that you could only use it with Windows 7 with like bootcamp or VMware fusion.
Um, and a certain screen reader that had scripts specifically for it. Now it's accessible on the Mac. So there's so
Sean Martin: Cause those interfaces are super complex. They can be.
Precious Perez: Yeah, they can.
Sean Martin: plugins and like you talk about arming, arming certain
Precious Perez: But like it made it so much more efficient. And, um, I know people that are really fluent in logic. Um, I feel most at home in Pro Tools, but because that's where, where I, what I started with.
Um, but I also like tend to, I don't really like. self produce much. I can if it's like an acoustic thing or whatever, but most of the time if I'm creating it's with coll in collaboration with other people who are producing and or [00:37:00] engineering and or all of that. So, um, but I do have a working knowledge of all of this and it's So empowering to be able to be like, you know what?
I want to make a demo. Let's make a demo. And I can just go and make a demo.
Sean Martin: You want to hear the results of your efforts, which is, which is great you're able to do that. Let's talk about hearing, what do you, not that hearing yet, we'll get to that in a moment. But, but um, performing. What's that like? Um, yeah, I just, I think about the timing with the band. When do you start?
When do you stop? Keeping the tempo? How much, how do you, how do you interact with them? And is there any, any technology there to help with any of that as well?
Precious Perez: So I am of the mindset that it's no fun if you're not playing with your friends. So every band that I'm in, that I've been in is a [00:38:00] band of people that I really genuinely care about that are amazing to work with. So I'm in a local cover band in Louisville right now called Sight Unseen, and we play party pop.
And we're also all friends and genuinely like love each other. And so it's such a blast. We can, like, they laugh at my blind jokes. That's immediate tell of, like, good people that have a sense of humor. Um, and so, if they're, like, say there's a cue that I'm not giving or that they're missing, it's been like, can you give us a little arm raise or something so that we know until we get it?
And things like that, or like, I'll give a cue on the mic that's natural to the audience. Um, it's very little subtle things, but really it's like gelling with anybody else. Um, I'm just really attuned to every nuance of like, I know the songs inside and out back and forth. So that way I don't get lost and if I do, I can, I know [00:39:00] the song well enough to jump back in when I need to, um, and then, uh, earplugs are my friends, um, ear erasers save my life.
Every day, I go nowhere without them because sensory overload is a real thing, and also I want to protect my ears. So, even when I'm in like a loud bar, and I'm not playing, I still wear them because I can actually communicate with people and hear them and not have to be like, WHAT DID YOU SAY?!
Sean Martin: Ha ha
Precious Perez: strain my voice after I just sang a three hour set, like, so, um, earplugs for sure.
Sean Martin: or monitors? Do you wear monitors? You must wear monitors when you're performing.
Precious Perez: Not with them. We, we're pretty, like, they're pretty plug and play, so we use wedges. Um, but I have done in ears as well. Um, when I use in ears, I don't have earplugs in at the same time, because they basically act as earplugs. Um, but I pretty much use my ear erasers a lot, as of right now. Whenever I performed at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center, we did have in [00:40:00] ears for that with the other band that I was playing with.
Sean Martin: You're in New York, and I missed you.
Precious Perez: This was like, oh, 2023? Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
Sean Martin: I was still here. Well, hopefully I get to, uh, get to see you perform live.
Precious Perez: Yeah, that'd be
Sean Martin: Um, and speaking ofperforming, would you mind? A little something.
Precious Perez: Let me grab my uke. I thought I brought it closer, and I did not, in fact, do that. So, love that for me. Okay. So this is actually my new baritone that Kala gifted me. And I'm, like, obsessed with this thing now. Um.
Sean Martin: Instruments are beautiful. I just love to hold them and feel them.
Precious Perez: yes.
Sean Martin: They're like works of art in my mind.
Precious Perez: It's amazing this thing, although I think I [00:41:00] overused it this week 'cause I was on two, um, radio shows locally and, uh, , I went to go play at a coffee shop the other day and it like made the sound that it was connected to the amp but it wouldn't come through. And I was like, oh no, did I kill it? And I also don't know how the batteries work on this yet, so that's gonna be fun.
But, um.
Sean Martin: has a built in tuner and amp and equalizer and that stuff.
Precious Perez: This has pickup and all the little controls for treble, mids, um, and it's very tactile. What I love about this is that when this button is pushed in, I know the pickup is off. Um, And then when it's out, I know that it's on, so I can easily tell, like, because with other ukuleles, it's like a button that you press, and there's a little screen, and I'm like, I can't ever tell unless I play trial and error, and then even if, I might still have the battery on by [00:42:00] mistake.
Um, I'm using the capo with it because, um, The baritones have different tunings, and, um, it's the same chord shapes, but they are different chords, but I just kind of bring it back up a fourth and play it like a regular uke, because that's just what we're doing, you know? Um. So I'll actually play one of my latest newer era songs because a lot of what I did previously, um, was a lot of like pop and a little R& B and now I'm finally in the Latin space where I really, really have always wanted to be.
So my evolution is, is in, is in progress at the moment. Um, And I am going to be making a new project with the same label that I worked with to make this song here. Um, shout out to We Could Be Music based out of Costa Rica. This song is called Rosé. Um, it's in Spanish [00:43:00] and it essentially is talking about like, you know, you're sitting with somebody you love and they're going through a hard time and you're like, I, I know you're sad.
I know it's tough right now. Uh, but, you know, tomorrow, whatever happens tomorrow happens tomorrow, but right now I love you and we're here, we're gonna sit on the couch, and we're gonna drink rosé, and it's gonna be fine. So.
Sean Martin: Nice.
Precious Perez: What happened and I feel sad thinking about what happened. With your face on Monday you told me.[00:44:00]
The teleporter ya casi amanece Todo lo rico y bueno te mereces Mañana es mañana, un fuerte abrazo fuerte Las paredes sirven de testigo Del frÃo con el roce Que cenamos tienes mi cariño De tu cabeza a los pies Ya sabemos que hay espacio en el sofá para no pasar la mal. Espera, llego. Dile a los vecinos ya porque vamos a gritar que esta noche no es para siempre.
Las emociones se sienten más fuerte. Todo lo rico y bueno te mereces. Mañana es mañana. Hoy te quiero fuerte. Los buenos ratos también aparecen. I don't know what [00:45:00] to do with my life. No rico y bueno te mereces Hay calor con el rosé Vete de fuerte que amanece Hay calor con el rosé No rico y bueno te mereces Hay calor con el rosé Métele fuerte que amanece El calor con el rosé Esta noche no es para siempre Las emociones se sienten más fuerte Todo lo rico y bueno te mereces Mañana es mañana Hoy te quiero fuerte Los buenos ratos también aparecen Métele fuerte ya casi amanece Todo lo rico y bueno te mereces Mañana es mañana Hoy te abrazo fuerte Um, uh, Um, Uh, Hay espacio en el sofá para no pasar la mal Um, uh, Um, Uh, Tire a los [00:46:00] vecinos ya porque vamos a gritar Um, uh, Um, Uh, Um, uh, Um, Uh,
Sean Martin: Oh my goodness.
Precious Perez: I just realized that this is not all the way in tune and it was in the wrong key But we just went for it anyway, because you know, performing
Sean Martin: You know, performing. And that's, that's my kind of song right there. That was beautiful.
Precious Perez: Thank you,
Sean Martin: That was beautiful. And I, I thank you. so much for sharing that with me and for everybody listening and watching. Precious, you are incredible. You're an inspiration. I love what you're doing. And, um, I wish you the absolute best success in all that you're doing for, for yourself, your own career, and, and those around you.
Uh, and, and ramped as well. [00:47:00] And I'm so glad you joined me today.
Precious Perez: Me too. Thank you for reaching out. I was like, whoa, this is cool. Yes, absolutely Yes,
Sean Martin: I hope, uh, this isn't the last time we get to chat and hopefully I'll get to see you perform somewhere, perhaps at NAMM next year, or if you're in New York, let me know.
Precious Perez: let's see
Sean Martin: I'll
Precious Perez: manifesting the future let's do it
Sean Martin: There we go. There we go. Well, precious. Thank you so much. And everybody listening and watching the show today, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
And, uh, enjoyed the music from Precious and her story. And please stay tuned for more Music Evolves. Uh, we'll continue to explore how technology and humans interact. And, uh, to create, create amazing things like we just heard. Thank you all.