[MusicTlk] Getting music translation questions answered

[Ella Yu]

Hi Chris, I use Sao Mai Braille, which is a free MusicXML to braille
program. Its output quality is excellent, and I am very grateful for it, as
I, too, find Dancing Dots far too expensive. Getting the PDF to XML,
however, is going to be a bit of an issue, and basically it comes down to
finding a sighted person who is proficient with MuseScore, Sibelius, or
Dorico who can type up the PDF for you. Alternatively, you could get
PlayScore or SharpEye, which are musical OCR tools (I know SharpEye comes
with Dancing Dots, but you can get it separately), and make yourself a
rough copy. As you know, musical OCR will never be perfect so expect errors
and inaccuracies. However, if you can find a recording of the piano
accompaniment, you can use that to help you as well. I've also done some
piano accompaniment stuff before, and bunlike solo or orchestral
situations, being note perfect isn't absolutely necessary in my opinion,
it's about being as close as possible to the original while being musically
supportive. Hope this helps.

On Thu, Dec 4, 2025 at 9:52 AM Chris Nusbaum via MusicTlk <
musictlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hi Tracy:
>
> Good idea—thanks for the tip. I'm currently facing a similar dilemma. I
> have been asked to accompany a friend in his upcoming student recital, and
> I have a PDF of the print music for the piano accompaniment alone. He was
> also able to find audio recordings of the pieces which include both my part
> and his, and I think I could practice with those if necessary, but having
> the Braille music with the piano part isolated would be very helpful.
> Unfortunately, I don't have a Braille embosser at home, and I haven't
> bought a personal copy of the Dancing Dots suite yet, thinking it was far
> too expensive for a hobbyist; maybe this performance will make me do it.
> Perhaps I could use Aira as you suggested. If anyone else has any ideas, I
> would love to hear them.
> Chris Nusbaum
>
> > On Dec 4, 2025, at 10:01 AM, carcione--- via MusicTlk <
> musictlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >
> > I'm in the middle of translating some simple music into braille, but I
> had
> > questions about a couple bars.  I called AIRA and got a person who can
> read
> > simple music, and she was able to answer my questions.  I'm happy to have
> > that as a possible solution when things aren't coming out right.
> >
> > Tracy
> >
> >
> >
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