[nabs-l] Reading braille music.

Wed Mar 26 13:53:34 UTC 2014

That sounds good.  Not sure if i could do the camp though, but 
the other options i could.  I have to find a transcriber.  We 
have a piece of music but I'm afraid to get it transcribed 
because the students say it looks really comfusing.  It's really 
easy, but there are the cues in their to listen to, which throw 
the students, including myself, off.  It's called Voodoo.  If you 
look up:
"Voodoo Arranged for high school honors band"
should be the second option i think.  Anyway, it's a fun song.

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 09:40:04 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Reading braille music.

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

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