[MusicTlk] DottedNotes — bidirectional braille ⇄ LilyPond/MusicXML translator (built out of my own frustration transcribing orchestral scores)

Thu Jul 23 22:17:27 UTC 2026

On 2026-07-21 15:33, Ella Yu wrote:
> Hi Judith, Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I just ran a
> pretty straightforward orchestral instrument part XML through
> DottedNotes with full compression and I think the standard BANA
> template, and I'd say the main things I noticed is that as far as I
> could quickly glean from the online tool, there is no way to adjust
> how bar numbers are displayed, text expressions in the music don't
> seem to be preceded by a word sign but dynamic markings are rendered
> correctly, and the rule that each parallel must begin with an octave
> sign does not seem to be followed. If only there was a way Sao Mai's
> underlying braille music engine could help DottedNotes, since I know
> it takes a lot of effort and so on to translate between XML and
> braille, and going from braille to XML I anticipate to be even more
> complicated. I've never really considered learning LilyPond because
> it's quite a code to learn and it can take a lot to wrap my head
> around compared to a GUI like MuseScore. I suggest you also get on the
> MuseScore Accessibility group on groups.io [1], blind music readers,
> etc, so you can maybe cast a bit of a wider net. I'd also check
> out/maybe get in touch with those at the DAISY music braille project.
> I know their main activities recently wrapped up but I'm sure your
> initiative/ideas might capture their attention.
> Ella
> 
> On Tue, Jul 21, 2026 at 2:22 PM <judith at judithlung.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 2026-07-21 14:06, Ella Yu via MusicTlk wrote:
>>> Hi Judith, I think this is a really interesting tool, and I
>> definitely
>>> intend to experiment with it soon. Just out of curiosity, have you
>> 
>>> looked
>>> into Sao Mai Braille and MuseScore? MuseScore, despite being fully
>>> mainstream notation software, supports braille music input/output
>> at a
>>> very
>>> basic level now, though this is slated to be improved in the
>> future.
>>> While
>>> Sao Mai Braille is a MusicXML to braille translator and does other
>> 
>>> braille
>>> tasks as well outside of music, its translation is very high
>> quality
>>> for a
>>> free program. I know this may be a bit of a stretch, but you could
>> 
>>> perhaps
>>> reach out to the Sao Mai Center for the Blind, since they are also
>> the
>>> ones
>>> responsible for MuseScore's braille features, and maybe your ideas
>> and
>>> theirs could merge together to make your vision come true, since
>> their
>>> BungSang translation engine is incredibly well-developed for
>> braille
>>> music
>>> and they appear open to working with developers.
>>> I know this may seem like a stretch, but just some thoughts.
>>> 
>>> On Tue, Jul 21, 2026 at 11:50 AM Judith Lung via MusicTlk <
>>> musictlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Hi everyone,
>>>> 
>>>> I'm a blind composer, and for years my biggest bottleneck wasn't
>>>> writing
>>>> the music — it was getting it out of braille and into something
>> a
>>>> publisher, ensemble, or sighted collaborator could actually use.
>>>> Transcribing an orchestral score from braille into LilyPond by
>> hand
>>>> could eat several days of work before I'd even gotten to the
>> actual
>>>> engraving and proofing. That grind is what pushed me to build
>>>> DottedNotes.
>>>> 
>>>> It's a free, bidirectional translator between:
>>>> - Braille music (.brf / .brl)
>>>> - LilyPond (.ly, which compiles straight to publication-quality
>> .pdf
>>>> and
>>>> .midi)
>>>> - MusicXML (.musicxml / .mxl)
>>>> 
>>>> So you can go from a braille manuscript to a publisher-ready PDF
>> and
>>>> MIDI in one pass, or take a print/MusicXML score and get a proper
>>>> braille edition out the other end — with BANA validation built
>> in
>>>> (standard or strict profile), configurable compression levels,
>> and
>>>> layout presets for solo piano, art song, chamber, orchestral, and
>> lead
>>>> sheet scores, since orchestral formatting has its own headaches
>> that a
>>>> generic converter won't get right.
>>>> 
>>>> It's also useful if you're a sighted composer, engraver, or
>> publisher
>>>> who needs to move a score between these formats, or produce a
>> braille
>>>> edition without knowing braille music code yourself.
>>>> 
>>>> Free to use here: https://www.dottednotes.net/
>>>> 
>>>> I built this to solve my own problem, but I know braille music
>>>> workflows
>>>> vary a lot person to person, so I'd genuinely appreciate feedback
>> from
>>>> other blind musicians — especially anyone who's dealt with the
>> same
>>>> orchestral-score transcription slog. Bug reports, edge cases in
>> the
>>>> braille code handling, feature requests all welcome.
>>>> 
>>>> Best,
>>>> Judith
>>>> 
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> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/musictlk_nfbnet.org/judith%40judithlung.com
>> Hi Ella,
>> Thanks for trying out DottedNotes, I would love to get your feedback
>> on
>> it!
>> It has been several years since I tried out MuseScore. I was using a
>> Mac
>> with VoiceOver, which unfortunately was not compatible with
>> MuseScore at
>> the time. This is why I looked into and ultimately switched to using
>> 
>> Lilypond. Lilypond is text-only and produces the highest quality of
>> printed notation, compared to all the other major players in the
>> space.
>> Since it is also free and open-source, it was an obvious choice of
>> format for DottedNotes to support. The only drawback is that
>> Lilypond
>> require the user to either set up a programming environment or
>> compile
>> the file via command-line, which may be more overhead than composers
>> 
>> want to deal with. Therefore, I put DottedNotes on the web, so that
>> users can avoid downloading another desktop app or setting up a
>> coding
>> environment altogether. Since DottedNotes also supports import and
>> export of MusicXML, it's possible to import into MuseScore for
>> editing
>> if that's what a composer prefers.
>> I tried out Sao Mai Braille recently, and it is very good! I used
>> one of
>> its output files, an orchestral score, to stress-test DottedNotes's
>> own
>> braille transcription. However, SMB doesn't support parsing of
>> braille
>> music files, which was what I most wanted. I didn't want to have to
>> type
>> in my music twice, once on my braille notetaker and again into the
>> notation program. This is what I used to do, and it more than
>> doubled
>> the number of mistakes I had to fix. It was also necessary for
>> DottedNotes to support Lilypond export, which would allow blind
>> composers to adjust layout via text instead of having to deal with
>> drag
>> and drop. DottedNotes is also open-sourced on GitHub, so anyone can
>> submit a bug, request a feature, or open pull requests with changes
>> to
>> improve the program.
>> Having said all that, I am quite impressed with the features of Sao
>> Mai
>> Braille, although I think the problems we solve are different.
>> Whereas
>> SMB is a multi-purpose braille transcription program, DottedNotes is
>> 
>> focused on parsing and rendering between different digital music
>> formats. Best of all, though, both are free, so you can experiment
>> and
>> switch between these programs as much as you want!
>> Thanks again for your suggestions, Ella, and please let me know if
>> you
>> have any more questions!
>> Cheers,
>> Judith
> 
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://groups.io
Thanks so much for reporting these bugs, Ella. While I was addressing 
them, more than 10 additional bugs and gaps were found and fixed, so it 
took me a while to get back to you.
Here are the main improvements:
- DottedNotes now correctly precedes each expression with a word sign, 
and a multi-word expression also have a word sign to signal its ending.
- When a measure begins on a new braille line, notes preceded by a rest 
were missing octave signs, and so were grace notes. Now they are 
prepended by an octave sign.
- Sixteenth-note groupings are now made by beat, not by measure.
- Supports parsing of less common MusicXML elements, such as 
quintuplets, notes with 3 dots, and key signatures with more than 7 
sharps or flats.
- Extract parts from full scores. To use this feature, upload a score in 
a supported format, select customizations, and click Translate Score. 
After translation is complete, a dropdown will appear after the 
Translate Score button, where you can select a part to download. This is 
an even more experimental feature than the rest of DottedNotes, so 
feedback is most welcome.
- Upgraded to Lilypond 2.26.0, to take advantage of improved auto 
beaming and support of more complex time signatures.
Best,
Judith