[blindkid] braille music notation?

[Mike Freeman]

I concur completely.

Mike Freman, member
Board of Directors
National Federation of the Bliknd

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817 at att.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 1:58 PM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] braille music notation?


>
>
> I am not a musician myself, but I know several serious blind musicians all 
> of whom are proficient users of Braille music.  I think the same argument 
> we make for literary Braille can be applied to Braille music code - if 
> being able to read notation is important for sighted students, it is 
> important for blind students as well.  A student who learns exclusively by 
> listening to the performances of others never has full access to what the 
> composer intended; he/she only knows how others have interpreted the 
> material.
>
> Debbie
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
> <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 12:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] braille music notation?
>
>
>> Sounds like you're already thinking of this the right way. Sighted 
>> musicians sometimes "play by ear" as well, but more successful and 
>> versatile musicians need to learn to read music.
>>
>> Does that mean that your kids can't enjoy and benefit from music  without 
>> knowing how to read braille music? Certainly not, but just  like some 
>> kids who could benefit from braille (print) but do not use  it are still 
>> successful, both readers and musicians could probably be  even more 
>> successful with the use of braille text and music notation  respectively.
>>
>> In some cases, like with piano playing, braille music readers can play 
>> the right hand part while reading with the left, then switch, and in  any 
>> case, you always have the option of reading a small passage then  playing 
>> what you just read. Among other things, braille music can (as  you 
>> suggest) ultimately let a musician-- unassisted and without a need  to 
>> play a recording, etc., read and play music-- that is a powerful  thing 
>> to be able to do.
>>
>> Another option it can allow is to listen to music, perhaps even a 
>> recoding of yourself and to compare it to the actual printed (or 
>> brailled) music and then observe that you did (or did not) play (sing, 
>> etc.) correctly (real time) and correct as appropriate. You can't  really 
>> do that just "by ear".
>>
>> The "difficult time" thing is hard to know about as every situation is 
>> different, but is sort of smacks of "I don't want to deal with  teaching 
>> this to anyone so why not wait till later"...
>>
>> Good luck!
>>
>> Richard
>>
>>
>>
>> On May 28, 2010, at 9:27 AM, Rosina Solano wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Okay, I have a couple questions for both the kids and the parents:
>>>
>>> My sons love music, my ycounger one can read larger size, but my  older 
>>> one is strictly a braille reader.  What do you all think of  braille 
>>> music notation?
>>>
>>> I have read anywhere from, "you can't read braille music and play at 
>>> the same time, so why bother"  to "just learn to play by ear".
>>>
>>> Or that "he is at a difficult time and just needs to concentrate on 
>>> doing his math and regular braille better right now"
>>>
>>> Ok, that all said and done, how many of you learned braille music  and 
>>> do you really use it?
>>>
>>> My big thing is that if he really loves it, then I hate for him to  have 
>>> to wait for me or someone else to "read" to him the music or to  have to 
>>> find a copy of it somewhere for him to listen to.  Shouldn't  all good 
>>> musicians be able to "read" the music in the way it was  written?
>>>
>>> Okay, so maybe he can't read and play at the same time, but he CAN 
>>> memorize, after all he memorizes all his songs now and he does great 
>>> with it.
>>>
>>> I just want him to reach his potential and he really LOVES music.   He 
>>> is 12.5 years old and plays piano and drums.  He loves band in  school 
>>> and wants to take his piano even further.
>>>
>>> So if you are for or against braille music, please chime in and tell  me 
>>> about it.  And if you are for it, do you know of a good system to  teach 
>>> him this at home.  keep in mind I know NO music myself and  don't know 
>>> the pros or cons.
>>>
>>> Thank you in advance;
>>> Rosina
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
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