[MusicTlk] Braille music transcription

[carcione at access.net]

Hi Tara.
I have used the Dancing Dots/Goodfeel suite of programs for decades, so I'll tell you about that.  
Last time I bought an update, years ago, they had 2 flavors--one for music with 1 stave, like flute or violin, and one for 2 staves, like piano or harp.  I play harp, so I have the 2-stave programs.  My flavor can also handle lead sheets.  I imagine the other set can too, but I don't know for sure.

Ella is right; musicxml is the easiest electronic file format to use.  I can also take music from a PDF, but it requires more steps and it drops useful stuff like fingering, and sometimes grace notes.  It also requires another printing program, which wasn't crazy expensive but wasn't cheap either.  I can go from pdf to musicxml, or, if I'm lucky, get a teacher to give me the musicxml.
I don't think it's really hard for her to do it.  I think she prepares the music for the sighted students in Finale, then does another save as musicxml for me.

Once it's in musicxml, I pull it into a program called Lime.  Sometimes I need to make some small changes in Lime before passing it on to Goodfeel, and sometimes not.  I could edit the music in Lime, but I prefer to edit in Goodfeel, where I can just read the braille music and make any fixes I want or need.

I can go from a good musicxml file to braille in 20-30 minutes.  Going from pdf to braille takes maybe an hour, sometimes more, depending how much fixing I need to do.

I vaguely recall pulling midi files into Lime and transcribing from that, and it worked, though I haven't gotten a midi file in a long time.

The Goodfeel suite of programs cost me quite a bit, but they've worked well for a long time and have been worth the bucks for me.  NLS has quite a bit of music for flute, violin, piano, guitar, and such, but not much for harp, and even less for Irish harp.  Being able to transcribe music for myself has allowed me to play with other people a lot more than I think I could if I had to learn everything by ear.  I can learn it that way, but remembering it is a whole other thing.
Tracy

-----Original Message-----
From: MusicTlk <musictlk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Tara Briggs via MusicTlk
Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2025 10:25 AM
To: Musicians Music Talk Mailing List for Blind <musictlk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Tara Briggs <thflute at gmail.com>
Subject: [MusicTlk] Braille music transcription

Hi all! I have a few questions about braille music transcription. First of all, I have spent the past 10 months learning braille music with a private Braille music teacher, and I’ve loved it! Leslie is so knowledgeable and inspirational, because as a professional, blind cello player, she uses Braille music all the time herself! During my  flute lesson  yesterday, we used Braille music for the entire hour, and it was fabulous! My flute teacher has commented that I am much more solid in my playing, and it has made a difference!
 So here are my questions. First of all, I gather that a human transcriber is still necessary. I know dancing dots has a music transcription program, and I recently heard about a program called sao mai Braille that can translate an electronic music file into braille music. Does anyone have experience with these programs? I just find it so strange that there doesn’t seem to be a way to easily translate an electronic music file into braille music. I would love to hear about anyone’s experiences with these programs.
My daughter recently successfully auditioned into the advanced Orchestra at her middle school. She’s very excited! However, her one area where she struggles is reading music. I now have the knowledge to help her. Has anyone had success in having your child’s school give you access to their music in braille? It is  my understanding that under the Americans With Disabilities Act, I have the right to access my child’s education. Any help with these two questions would be great! Thanks so much!
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