Ok this may seem like a strange question to ask, but I was wondering does anyone know how musicians with no eyesight learn pieces to play. I was watching a dvd of Marcus Roberts and his trio playing Rhapsody In Blue and other Gershwin classics with the Berlin Philharmonic, and it got me wondering how he learned the piano parts.
He is a fantastic jazz pianist, so I thought he may have just listened to recordings and learnt the parts by ear...or do they use music like us, except the notes are raised off the page...kind of like brail?

Have a look at this:

http://www.music-notation.info/en/compmus/braille.html

If you google the topic lots of sites come up.

I remember (many years ago!) listening to a blind organist at Birmingham Town Hall - he was fantastic.

My friend's blind, and she gets taught everything by ear when she learns piano. I think occasionally you have to position her hands or correct them, but she plays rond all turca extremely well!

I have an article in Pan (flute magazine) about a blind flute player, I'll have a look at it later.

They learn to play by ear - something all musicians should really be able to do. For sighted musicians, there's often far too much dependence on the printed page!

Violinia

Look no further than the late great Ray Charles,(piano), or the gifted Jose Feliciano(Guitar).

Check this Wikipaedia list out!

British jazz pianist George ShearingAmadou and Mariam
Frankie Armstrong, English folk singer and voice teacher, sight degraded in late teens onwards from glaucoma
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), became blind in later life.
Blind Blake
Andrea Bocelli, (born 1958), barely sighted at birth became completely blind at 12.
Archie Brownlee (of The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi)
Henry Butler
Jessica Callahan (1986– ), singer, blind from retinopathy of prematurity
Clarence Carter
Ray Charles, (1930–2004), blind from glaucoma after age 7.
Arizona Dranes
Blind Gary Davis
Blind John Davis
Blind Willie Davis
Jose Feliciano (1945– ), blind from birth due to congenital glaucoma
Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), jazz singer, went blind as a result of diabetes in her old age.
Blind Mamie Forehand
Clarence Fountain (of The Blind Boys of Alabama)
Blind Boy Fuller
G.B. Grayson, old timey fiddler from Ashe County, North Carolina, recorded in 1920s
W.C. Handy, (1873–1958), Blues composer, went blind in middle age
Jeff Healey
Heather Hutchison (1988– ), teenage pop-singer
Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893–1929), Blues musician & singer
Blind Willie Johnson
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935–1977), blind jazz saxophonist, perhaps best known for his ability to play more than one saxophone at once.
Kuzuhara Koto
Stalebread Lacombe, Jazz musician, went blind in middle age
Francesco Landini, 14th century Italian composer; blind from childhood, from smallpox
Corinna May (1970– ), German jazz singer, blind from childhood
Blind Willie McTell (1901–1959)
Ronnie Milsap
Moondog (1916–1999), musician and composer, blinded as a young adult
Ginny Owens, Gospel singer, totally blind from age 2
Paderevski
Maria Theresia Paradis
Conrad Paumann
Marcus Roberts
Joaquin Rodrigo, composer, blind from meningitis at age three
Gerlinde Sämann (1969– ), German soprano, blind from childhood
Diane Schurr
George Shearing (1919– ), jazz pianist.
John Stanley, composer, became partially blind as the result of a domestic accident at age 2
Surdas, a Hindu poet, saint and musician of India
Blind Joe Taggart
Alec Templeton (1909–1963), jazz musician
Lennie Tristano
Kelvin Tan Wei Lian Singaporean singer, became almost totally blind after late-teens
Art Tatum
Sonny Terry
Doc Watson, folk guitarist, blinded by a childhood eye infection at the age of one.
Stevie Wonder, blindness from retrolental fibroplasia caused by high oxygen concentrations in the incubator in which he was placed because of his premature birth.
Joana Zimmer (German singer and marathon runner, blind from birth)

Anybody still think blind musicians a rarity?

Oh, and read this:

http://www.wieniawski.lublin.pl/en/en_muz_01.html

Violinia

Deaf musicians aren't that unusual either. Evelyn Glennie is the most obvious name that comes to mind, but there is also a violist who works regularly with string quartets who's completely deaf. She manages by being very sensitive to vibratory movement of the instrument. Her name eludes me at the moment, but if you heard her play you wouldn't know she was deaf until you spoke to her.

I know who you mean, Amanda! Though I also don't know her name - saw her on the TV a long time ago - or if it wasn't her there are two highly accomplished deaf violists out there.