[nabs-l] Reading braille music.

Wed Mar 26 13:55:52 UTC 2014

I tried signing up with Hadley, but it's a lot of paper work.  
I'll see if my aid can help me with that when I go back to 
school.  We're on break this week and my VI aid's breaks are the 
weel when we come back, so I won't see them for two weeks.  One 
of them is more helpful then the other.

 ----- 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 09:42:16 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Reading braille music.

Also, Hadley has a really great braille music course that is free 
to
take.  So if nothing else, you could get tutoring that way.

On 3/26/14, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com> wrote:
 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

--
Kaiti

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