[Missouri-l] Braille hymnal

[Mike Jolls]

Since I'm a Braille reader, I was also interested in Braille music, so this
email sparked a couple of questions.  Perhaps you folks in the know about
Braille music can answer them.

 

First, how is Braille music laid out?  I've done a little research, and as I
recall, Braille music uses a cell to both denote the note value and the time
duration.  OK, fine.  Then you can have one line of Braille to represent a
single note melody line.  But, how about for piano music, where multiple
notes for chords must be represented?  Would Braille publishing software
have to "stack" the notes .. (i.e. have multiple lines printed in Braille on
successive physical lines) so that you can tell where the notes fall
together?  That's the way it's done in regular print music . the notes are
stacked on top of each other so you can tell which notes are played
together.  It's the only logical way I can think that you could show the
note relationships.

 

Second, and this question relates to the hymnal, would the words have to be
printed on yet another separate line from the music?  Again, that would make
logical sense.  If that's the case, then is there a lot of "dead space" in
the printing of the music, to allow enough space for the word to be printed?
If so, I would imagine the measures would have to be elongated just as print
music measures must be to allow the words to be printed within the measure.

 

Third, I can only guess that printing these multiple lines and having to
elongate the measures for the words would make a Braille music publication a
large piece of work.  I'm wondering how cumbersome such a book would be to
hold it and read it at church.  I'm also guessing such printing methods
would require that the hymnal be published across multiple volumes.

 

Fourth, if a hymnal was very large, and if the music had multiple lines as
I've surmised above, how practical is it for a person to hold and read the
Braille music if they don't know the music ahead of time?  If the music has
multiple lines to represent the words and melody line, I would guess you'd
have to have both hands coordinated to read both parts.  Unless you had a
lot of practice doing that, and were somewhat familiar with the hymns to
begin with, I could see where reading a hymn with no prior knowledge of it
could be a challenge . if for no other reason just the coordination of the
hands.  So, do most blind people that need to read a hymnal (or other
Braille music) have to memorize the music so the job is easier when it comes
time for them to play or sing it?  In other words, how practical is it to
"sight read" Braille music cold?

 

If you folks who use Braille music could reply, that would be great.  I'm
just curious how you folks work with music who have to read it in Braille
format.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

From: missouri-l-bounces at moblind.org [mailto:missouri-l-bounces at moblind.org]
On Behalf Of KCAgape at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, May 03, 2009 6:54 PM
To: tomboy21 at sbcglobal.net
Cc: Missouri-L at MoBlind.Org
Subject: Re: [Missouri-l] Braille hymnal

 

Dear Songbirds,

 

I know you, Tom, and Bev are also Presbyterian, and my appeal had you in
mind.  Bev K. said her Methodist Church has a Braille hymnal and John W.
said Lutheran Workers produce them, too.

 

I also sent an e-mail to a gentleman who is a blind consultant with the
Presbyterian Church (USA), and perhaps he will direct me to additional
resources.  

 

If all else fails, I can do what you did, Tom, and dictate the words of the
songs for our blind visitor.

 

Thanks to all who responded!

 

Scott  

 

 

 

 

 

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