[nabs-l] Reading braille music.

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi Marissa,

Here are some suggestions which worked for me:

Find a blind person who reads braille music, and see if they'll tutor
you.  If there are none in your area, there are some who will tutor
online.  A better place to ask about braille music stuff would be the
Music Education Network for the Visually Impaired (MENVI).  If you go
to Menvi.org and join their list serve, there are people on there who
can help you.  I know a woman named Sandra does tutoring over Skype,
and has gotten some pretty good results.

A more brutal way of teaching yourself, although it worked for me, is
just to borrow a copy of "The Dictionary of Braille Music Signs" from
NLS and read through it.  A lot of the signs are ones you'll never
have to read, like organ pedal markings, finger markings for stringed
instruments, but this way you've at least seen everything.  When you
come across a symbol for a general music term (such as crescendo or an
articulation), spend a little more time looking at it till you know
what it is.

You could also get in touch with the National Resource Center for
Blind Musicians.  They have a web site with all sorts of information
at blindmusicstudent.org.  The staff there is really awesome.

There are summer programs which teach braille music classes and
others.  I know of programs at Berkley in Mas, Michigan, Louisiana,
New York, Kentucky, and it wouldn't surprise me if there were some
relatively close to you.  Don't discount the programs which aren't
specifically geared towards blind students; one of the things which
really helped me to get proficient at reading braille music was
participating in honor bands, and sight reading braille music at
rehearsals.  Sometimes following along while the rest of the band is
looking at a measure, or when the conductor is saying something,
really helps to teach you new signs or put what you're reading into
context.  In the future, keep the Summer Braille Music Institute,
offered by the National Resource Center for Blind Musicians, in mind.
They're not having a program this year, but anticipate to start having
them again in 2015.  They typically take students 16 or older, but
there was a younger student the year I went (I think he was 12, but
was very advanced).  All you do is audition with a CD, and fill out a
paper application, and complete a phone interview.  There are also
scholarships which will pay for nearly half of your fee to attend.
(The year I went I was 16.  I managed to get a full scholarship for
$700, and fundraised the remaining $800 on my own.  I also remember
that instead of playing 2 solo pieces, I was able to put a piece I had
played in an honor band earlier that year which had me playing a short
solo on the CD, and they still took it.  The paper application and the
answers to the questions seemed more important).

The biggest thing for me was daily exposure to reading the code.   I
don't think I really got good at reading it until I started taking
classes which required me to read it every day.  IF you get a piece
your band is working on in braille, don't hesitate in asking your
director for clarification on signs you don't understand.  If you can
point out the measure number and what you think is there, they can
tell you what actually is, and correct your reading without even
knowing the code or braille at all.

HTH.

On 3/22/14, Marissa <pianogirlforlife7 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm not exactly sure, but neither one of my aids can read braille
> music, or have the time to help me learn, (they only come in
> math).  So I have to learn this all on my own.
>
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
> From: Lillie Pennington <lilliepennington at fuse.net
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 16:47:04 -0400
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Reading braille music.
>
> How do you feel we could best help you?
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>  On Mar 22, 2014, at 4:10 PM, Marissa
> <pianogirlforlife7 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Hey guys,
>
>  So, I know have the "An Introduction to reading braille music"
> by Richard Tesh.  I can read a little music now, but if someone
> can help me get better.
>
>  I can read all the eighth notes and the rest.  A whole note c.
> And the time signatures.
>
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-- 
Kaiti