Sept 2018 Wicked Local Hingham

Music, and particularly string instruments, have touched hearts and souls on every continent for millennia – providing a soundtrack for our lives in symphonies, the cinema, popular music, restaurants, weddings, funerals and almost every social event. Professional violist Betty Hauck’s expansive career includes performances at the White House for the Kennedys, for the Dalai Lama, with Yo-Yo Ma, the Boston Pops, and in concert halls across the United States and around the world. In recent years, due to gradual hearing loss, Betty came to realise she could no longer continue her life-long professional career. Yet, the love and talent for playing the viola still lived within her. A friend and hearing rehabilitation specialist, Geoff Plant, helped her reengage with music, and now, she is back playing for groups. Betty is recovering her music, finding new appreciative audiences, and inspiring hearing loss sufferers to find joy in music once again.

Last winter Betty was interviewed for the radio show “Here and Now” with members of the Boston Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America present. Being an invitee, Betty’s playing of the Viola was a revelation for me, as I suffer from hearing loss due to a fall of a few years ago. When Betty played, I heard the melodic sounds and rhythm of music, specifically the viola, clearly for the first time in years.