Top of page

Category: Braille Technology

Close-up of the fingers of two hands as the touch a paged filled with raised dots

A Community Music School for Blind and Visually Impaired Students, Part 2

Posted by: Donna Koh

Continued from last week. Part 2 My second day at the school, which was a Saturday, was spent observing private lessons and group classes. Saturday at the school is mostly reserved for the youth programs. I was eager to attend as many lessons as possible and what I saw was fascinating and memorable. I attended …

Close-up of the fingers of two hands as the touch a paged filled with raised dots

Digitizing Braille Music 2018

Posted by: Donna Koh

This is our fourth blog on the digitization of braille music. So, what is new with this project? First, we are boosting our production by outsourcing the proofreading of scores scanned using Optical Braille Recognition (OBR). Our braille music specialist Gilbert Busch continues to review all the scans completed on DotScan so we can provide …

Close-up of the fingers of two hands as the touch a paged filled with raised dots

Tactile Staff Notation

Posted by: Donna Koh

Today’s post is about the braille books in our collection that explain to blind readers how staff notation (print music) works. In case you are wondering why blind musicians need to know staff notation, two important reasons come to mind. First, music teachers who are visually impaired must be able to help their sighted students …

Close-up of the fingers of two hands as the touch a paged filled with raised dots

Aiming Beyond Graduation: Creating Inclusive College Music Courses for Blind and Visually Impaired Students, Part 1

Posted by: Donna Koh

Part 1 The end goal for most college music students is to develop and cultivate skills to prepare for a successful musical career after graduation. For some music students with visual impairment (V.I.), just getting through the college degree program can be challenging.  Here are some common reasons: inability to learn a large amount of …

Close-up of the fingers of two hands as the touch a paged filled with raised dots

Digitizing Braille Music

Posted by: Donna Koh

“You are beautiful! You make me so happy.” This maybe a typical remark of an ardent dog lover fussing over her Pomeranian, or a declaration by a young bridegroom as he gazes at his fiancée walking down the aisle in her gorgeous wedding gown. However, here in the Music Section, such sentiments are usually uttered …