[MusicTlk] Braille Music Notator Update

[Toby Rush]

Hello, all! I posted this announcement earlier today to the MENVI list, so
I apologize to those who are subscribed to both for the duplicate message.

I'm happy to announce an update to Braille Music Notator
<https://tobyrush.com/braillemusic/notator/>, a free online utility for
creating and editing braille music scores.

Braille Music Notator displays braille scores graphically, in a way that
uses traditional music symbols but which retains the character and flow of
braille music. In this way, it allows sighted musicians like myself a
accessible way to create elegant braille scores. Scores can be saved in a
format native to Braille Music Notator, or they can be exported as BRF
files, suitable for opening on a NoteTaker or sending to an embosser.
Though the utility was originally designed primarily for sighted users, it
works with screenreaders like JAWS and VoiceOver and should be completely
accessible to all users. (And if you find some aspect of it that isn't,
please let me know!)

Today's update includes a bunch of smaller improvements and bug fixes, but
the two things I'm most excited about are the capability to enter notes
using a MIDI Keyboard (including intelligent handling of accidentals and
octave indicators!) and the ability to connect to BrailleMUSE
<http://braillemuse.net/> to import MusicXML files. (A big thanks to Dr.
Toshiyuki Gotoh, the developer of BrailleMUSE, for his kind assistance with
that last feature!) If you'd like a quick preview of these features, I have
some videos which demonstrate them on the site's new Videos page
<https://tobyrush.com/braillemusic/notator/guide/videos.html>. A more
detailed list of changes is available on my blog
<http://tobyrush.com/blog/2019/09/17/braille-music-notator-update/>.

Braille Music Notator is in beta, meaning I'm sure there are still quite a
few bugs that need fixing, but I hope that it is useful to some of you. If
you do use it and have suggestions for improvements, please let me know...
I genuinely enjoy tinkering with the program and am grateful for any and
all feedback.

Thanks!

-- 
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Dr. Toby W. Rush - trush1 at udayton.edu <trush1 at notes.udayton.edu>
Associate Professor of Music Theory and Technology
University of Dayton
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