[blindkid] .brf file & Music braille

Tue Jan 12 17:33:01 UTC 2016

Thank you , I will try to digest this information when I have more time.
I'm not sure if the band teacher is will to make these modifications with
the doh as C, etc.....

Thanks!!!
Traci

On Sat, Jan 9, 2016 at 10:40 AM, Bill via blindkid <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> Hello, Traci,
>
> If you did obtain that .brf file from the NLS Music Section, I think it is
> safe to presume that it has been proofed and is correct.  You should only
> need to run Duxbury and open it as a braille file.
>
> If the braille appears wrong, and your machine is running a screen reader
> such as JAWS, make sure that the screen reader is not translating the text
> of the .brf file.  That is, turn any automatic braille translation function
> of the screen reader off.  I am a subscriber to their service too so I
> could
> download a copy and check it out for you if need be.
>
> As Chris Nusbaum notes, we do make accessible music software but it creates
> formatted braille scores.  That is, it does not read formatted braille
> files
> such as .brf files but rather writes formatted braille output.  Our
> GoodFeel
> translator creates formatted braille files with the .gf extension.  Recent
> versions of Duxbury will recognize .gf files as formatted braille and open
> them.  For older versions of Duxbury, you can simply rename the .gf files
> to
> .brf and then open them.
>
> The NLS Music Section has some helpful online resources to get you up and
> running with music braille including a free download of a book I wrote with
> Richard Taesch entitled
> "Who's Afraid of Braille Music?"  available in both braille and print.
> This
> book explains the differences between the braille and print systems for
> notating music and why Louis Braille invented his ingenious system.
>
> Our book also debunks certain myths about the braille music system such as
> that it is just impossibly difficult to learn, etc., etc.  The book
> explains
> that Braille himself was French and called the note we call Middle C "DO"
> (pronounced doe).  Only certain Germanic languages like English give
> alphabetic names to the 7 degrees of the scale.  When Braille devised his
> system, he was definitely not thinking of C, D, E, F, G, A and B as the
> names of the notes but rather, Do, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA and TI (or some
> systems call it SI).  He decided to use the 7 dot patterns we know and love
> in literary braille as the letters D through J to represent the 7 notes of
> the scale.  He probably chose these patterns because each character has at
> least 1 dot in the top to rows of the cell.
>
> When teaching braille music, we always introduce the notes using their
> solfege names and not their letter names.  This approach helps students to
> train their brains to perform the required "code switching" needed to
> distinguish between music braille and literary braille.  The same kind of
> code switching is needed to know the difference between literary braille
> and
> math braille.
>
> Otherwise, teachers risk creating the following unfortunate but
> all-to-often
> situation:
>
> Teacher: "Today Joey, I am going to teach you music braille.
>
> Joey: Yay! Sound fun!
>
> Teacher: OK, Joey.  Here's a line of music notes for the note C, the first
> note of the scale.  C is dots 1, 4, 5.
>
> Joey: Wait a minute.  No it isn't!  The dots for C are 1, 4.  This system
> doesn't make any sense!
>
> Teacher: Hmm, you're right, Joey.  Let's move on to something else.
>
> Again, I am sure that Monsieur le Professeur Braille was thinking about
> geometric patterns to form the seven degrees of the scale and not letter
> names.  He uses the top 4 dots of the braille cell in combinations to form
> the scale degrees.  He uses the bottom two dots, dots 3 and 6, to indicate
> the duration of the note.  Consequently, under the tip of a finger, we can
> learn both the pitch and the duration of a note instantaneously.  For
> example, if I feel dots 1-2-3-4-6, I immediately know that it is a
> whole-note MI (pronounced me) or, in the English letter name system, the
> note E.
>
> NLS also has copies of Richard Taesch's series of courses for learning
> braille music which you can borrow for up to six months in both print and
> braille editions.  Look for:
> An Introduction to Music for the Blind Student
> And
> An Introduction to Piano for the Blind Student
>
> The NLS page is:
> http://www.loc.gov/nls/music/index.html
>
> If you want to order your own copies of these publications, just go to:
> http://www.dancingdots.com/main/braillemusicinstruction.htm
>
> Bill
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2016 13:10:25 -0500
> From: Chris Nusbaum <cnusbaumnfb at gmail.com>
> To: "Blind Kid Mailing List,    (for parents of blind children)"
>         <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] .brf file & Music braille
> Message-ID: <E795648E-90BC-4FD0-8FB1-D3BDEBB3E365 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=utf-8
>
> If you have the Dancing Dots suite, you may need to run it through Lime in
> order to format it correctly. You could then export it to Duxbury directly
> from Lime and emboss it. Just a thought?sorry I don't know many details. I
> read Braille music often, but don't know much about transcription.
>
> Chris Nusbaum
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Jan 8, 2016, at 12:36 PM, Traci W via blindkid <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hello!  I'm just at the very beginning of figuring out music braille.
> > My child will start band next year in middle and I can find the book I
> > need on NLS in braille - but I have no idea what to do with it now that I
> have it.
> >
> > I am a braillist (in the middle she will attend), and we use Duxbury,
> > I haven't figured out how to open it to make the braille correct.  It
> > isn't capitalizing anything, names, etc. so that seems odd.
> >
> > Does anyone have any experience opening a .brf file and getting it
> > open in Duxbury correctly?
> >
> > Thank you!
> > Traci
> > _______________________________________________
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> > blindkid at nfbnet.org
> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindkid:
> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/cnusbaumnfb%40gm
> > ail.com
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 08 Jan 2016 15:56:31 -0600
> From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
> To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [blindkid] Fwd: Re: Get 3 FREE braille books from Seedlings!
> Message-ID: <auto-000046784055 at mailfront2.g2host.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
>
> >
> >Great news! Every blind or visually impaired child (ages 0-21) in the
> >U.S. and Canada may now get 3 FREE books from Seedlings Braille Books
> >for Children!  Seedlings has expanded its Book Angel Program for 2016!
> >The program was originally called "Anna's Book Angel Project" in memory
> >of our Director's 19-year-old daughter who was killed by a drunk driver
> >in 2001. Each year, every blind child registered received 1 free book
> >in Anna's name, but thanks to Seedlings' generous donors, that number
> >is now 3! Just register your child or student by going to
> ><http://goo.gl/0LebRT>http://goo.gl/0LebRT
> >
> >Karen S. Smith
> >Community Outreach Manager
> >Seedlings Braille Books for Children
> >734-427-8552 x 301
> >www.seedlings.org
> >Follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@SeedlingsBrlBks)!
> >"Placing a book in a child's hands is like planting a seed."
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
> >To: seedlink7 at ameritech.net
> >Sent: Thursday, January 7, 2016 12:48 AM
> >Subject: Message
> >
> >You sent me a message about getting 3 free books from Seedlings.  I
> >accidently deleted it, can you send again.
> >
> >Dave
> >
> >
> >
> >         David Andrews and long white cane Harry.
> >E-Mail:  <mailto:dandrews at visi.com>dandrews at visi.com or
> ><mailto:david.andrews at nfbnet.org>david.andrews at nfbnet.org
> >
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Digest Footer
>
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>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of blindkid Digest, Vol 141, Issue 2
> ****************************************
>
>
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>

-- 
Traci Wilkerson
Cell – 919-971-6526