In Part I of this blog, I introduced the subject of American Braille, and pointed out that some NLS music scores use this system. Now, in Part II, I offer this list of American Braille symbols to help you if you ever receive such a score.
Each letter or symbol in the left column is followed by its American Braille equivalent in the right column. Where the American Braille sign is different from English Braillle, I will provide dot numbers for the American Braille sign:
Letter | American Braille | Dot numbers |
a | a | |
b | < | 1-2-6 |
c | j | 2-4-5 |
d | d | |
e | 1 | 2 |
f | f | |
g | g | |
h | h | |
i | i | |
j | y | 1-3-4-5-6 |
k | r | 1-2-3-5 |
l | l | |
m | m | |
n | + | 3-4-5 |
o | e | 1-5 |
p | % | 1-4-6 |
q | q | |
r | c | 1-4 |
s | k | 1-3 |
t | b | 1-2 |
u | u | |
v | v | |
w | w | |
x | ( | 1-2-3-5-6 |
y | > | 3-4-5 |
z | ] | 1-2-4-5-6 |
Punctuation
Comma | ‘ | 3 |
Semicolon | ; | 2-3 |
Colon | 0 | 3-5-6 |
Capital | – | 3-6 |
Period | – (same as capital) | 3-6 |
Question Mark | 4 | 2-5-6 |
Exclamation Point | ) | 2-3-4-5-6 |
Dash | — | 2-5 2-5 |
Parenthesis (left and right) | 7 | 2-3-5-6 |
Apostrophe | @ | 4 |
Hyphen | 3 | 2-5 |
Double quote (open and close) | 8 | 2-3-6 |
Single Quote (open and close) | 88 | 2-3-6 2-3-6 |
If you had any problems reading this, or if you know of any symbols that were incorrect, please let us know.
For now,
-I hep1 bhab bhik <leg hak <11+ h1l%ful-
(I hope that this blog has been helpful.)