[blindkid] braille music notation?

[Susan Harper]

Alright I am a musician and I am not blind.  I read Music.  My friend says I
am paper trained.  My husband is a conservatory graduate and he reads and
transposes by sight, few can do this.  I have some very talented musician
friends who play by ear, in other words they can listen and play the music,
sometimes a little fine tuning is needed, but they do not use music.  I know
people who read and memorize music and play from memory.  Many music
teachers require their students to memorize their music for recitals.  Years
ago music was not written down, but learned by playing.  All these are great
skills.  However, not all musicians use all of these techniques and some
will say one is better over another.

Find your son's learning style and you can add to that.  A good music
teacher who isn't afraid to try and is interested will do fine.  Practise is
important.  It isn't important that the child practise two hours just before
lesson begins.  What is important that he practise daily even if just for 15
minutes.  If your child is truly interested, just like any other subject or
activity, they will learn.

I happen to believe that music taps into many learning skills that are for a
life time.  I used to play flute until my asthma got so bad I couldn't
control my breathing.  I have played piano all of my life, but have been
playing a wonderful pipe organ in Church that I had to teach myself.  But I
had the basic keyboard skills and music reading, I just had to learn a
different key touch and to dance with my feet too.

So go for it and don't be afraid to try several different routes to get to
your  son's goal.  I am betting he does fine with whatever method or
combination you decide on.   I'm looking forward to hearing how he does!

Blessings,
Sue H.

On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 9:27 AM, Rosina Solano <colemangirly at yahoo.com>wrote:

>
>
> Okay, I have a couple questions for both the kids and the parents:
>
> My sons love music, my ycounger one can read larger size, but my older one
> is strictly a braille reader.  What do you all think of braille music
> notation?
>
> I have read anywhere from, "you can't read braille music and play at the
> same time, so why bother"  to "just learn to play by ear".
>
> Or that "he is at a difficult time and just needs to concentrate on doing
> his math and regular braille better right now"
>
> Ok, that all said and done, how many of you learned braille music and do
> you really use it?
>
> My big thing is that if he really loves it, then I hate for him to have to
> wait for me or someone else to "read" to him the music or to have to find a
> copy of it somewhere for him to listen to.  Shouldn't all good musicians be
> able to "read" the music in the way it was written?
>
> Okay, so maybe he can't read and play at the same time, but he CAN
> memorize, after all he memorizes all his songs now and he does great with
> it.
>
> I just want him to reach his potential and he really LOVES music.  He is
> 12.5 years old and plays piano and drums.  He loves band in school and wants
> to take his piano even further.
>
> So if you are for or against braille music, please chime in and tell me
> about it.  And if you are for it, do you know of a good system to teach him
> this at home.  keep in mind I know NO music myself and don't know the pros
> or cons.
>
> Thank you in advance;
> Rosina
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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