[AERNet] FW: Braille music

Sat Mar 10 13:24:25 EST 2007

Dear Sheila and AERNet colleagues,

This thread has interested me, too.  I started college as a music major
and then decided to major in English Lit and education. Although I can
follow musical notation, sightreading was never a strong point, despite
all of the solfeggio classes.  I tended to rely on my memory and my ear
more than anything else, and I noticed that a good portion of my
classmates did the same thing.   

I feel that ultimately a visually challenged musician will need to rely
on his memory and on his ear more than on his braille skills, because
frankly, there is no way a sight-challenged musician can read braille
notation and play his instrument simultaneously (unless he's a
vocalist).  Besides, I have seen that most sighted musicians tend to
commit large portions of the scores they play to memory.  It's easier to
follow the conductor if you do not constantly have to shift your eyes
from the printed page in front of you to the maestro at the podium.

I agree that young visually impaired music-makers should be given the
opportunity to learn braille music notation and to become fluent in it.
It is important to "see" the notes and chord changes, especially if one
plans to become a professional musician, arranger or composer.  However,
I feel that it will not be THE major vehicle they use to "read" and
produce the proper notes and beats, any more than it was for me, a fully
sighted music student.  Moreover, if a visually challenged student does
learn to rely more  upon his ears and his memory to make music, is that
not also enabling him to develop another important survival skill? 

The main point of this posting is that overworked TVI's out there in the
field should not feel guilty simply because they are not music literate
and do not feel qualified to teach this skill--there are other routes
for budding young musicians to follow. I think Hadley has a free class
online for this skill. They can suggest that their students sign up and
take the class online. Independent study like this on the part of a
student will also develop important academic survival skills.

Take care and be well,

Lillian

-----Original Message-----
From: aernet-bounces at lists.aerbvi.org
[mailto:aernet-bounces at lists.aerbvi.org] On Behalf Of Sheila Amato
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 3:45 PM
To: Ike Presley; Cobb, Susan S.; Sierra; AER
Cc: Karen Gearreald
Subject: Re: [AERNet] FW: Braille music

Ike and other friends, I have been following this thread with much
interest, 
since I participated in band along with my deafblind student for 3
years. 
(see end of email message for a poignant and true story about this!)  I
went 
back looking for the original post because one of the questions in that 
original post struck a chord (pun intended!) with me.

I can't find the original, but the gist of it was something like this...
the 
TVI is teaching so many skills.. braille notetaker, braille, abacus,
etc.... 
all components within the core and expanded core curriculums... how to
find 
the time to incorporate music code, and the concern about how the
student 
will deal with having to learn yet another set of skills and knowlege.

I started to think about the things that the sighted kids learn daily as

part of their school-based education... algebraic equations and other 
esoteric math symbols (sorry, Susan O.... they're still Greek to me!),
the 
chemical formulas, abstract art, how to interpret political cartoons,
the 
Old English of Shakespeare, how to measure and cut in inches and
centimeters 
in carpentry class, how to measure in ounces, pounds, liters, etc. in
home 
and career skills, musical notation, the accents and graves in a foreign

language... and it's no longer just the letters of the alphabet for any
of 
our students - blind or sighted. So, why should learning musical
notation be 
any more difficult than learning that the Greek symbol Delta means "a 
change" or that funny L-shaped symbol is an integral?

Speaking from my own set of skills... I'm not comfortable teaching the
music 
code. I don't know print music. That would probably help. I didn't learn
the 
music code in my teacher preparation program. I give it a cursory
"here's 
the reference sheet" in my university courses now, because I just don't
have 
the time... and in all honesty, I just don't have the experience to do
more 
than the basics. I do know that I would assuredly be more willing and
eager 
to teach my students the music code if I felt more comfortable with it 
myself. This is a real need in our field... and I don't have any easy 
answers.

So... if you're read this far, please continue to read this true story.
It 
might put a smile on your face.

My deafblind high school student needed an art or music credit in order
to 
graduate. At this high school, all of the art courses were 2-D... not
gonna 
work, so we ended up in the music program by default. He could hear the 
drums, so he was placed in the percussion section. We worked as a team.
Most 
often, we were assigned to play the crash cymbals in the concerts. I
came 
into this venture without the ability to read music. Well... as we all
know, 
music looks like this: there are circles that are filled in, and circles

that are hollow. Some of them have sticks on them. Sometimes the sticks
go 
up - and other times the sticks go down. Sometimes these sticks have
little 
wavy flags on them, and sometimes they're attached to eachother. There
are 
also lines. These lines have hats on them. Sometimes, the hats are on
the 
top, and sometimes, the hats are on the bottom. Oh, yeah - don't forget
the 
wavy squiggles that can face to the right or the left. And those
colons... I 
can't tell you how many times I kept going forward when everyone else
went 
back to some arbitrary beginning to start again. Don't even get me
started 
on 2/4 or 3/4 or 4/4 ... it's no fun to be counting by threes when
everyone 
else around you has changed and is counting by fours!

Well, one day, we were crashing away, and the music teacher stopped the
band 
and called up to the percussion section (in front of 110 students!),
"the 
cymbals have to come in at the right time." Oops. I called back down,
"We're 
in the ballpark!" to which he replied, "It's not enough to be in the 
ballpark - you have to be at the plate." I started to cry.

After class, I went down to the teacher, and handed him a
half-interlined 
page of braille (I always carry braille with me; never enough time to 
interline, so I use spare minutes) and I handed him the sheet of braille
and 
said, "here - you finish this." He looked at it - looked at me, and
said, "I 
don't read braille." I replied, "I don't read music."

He finally got it!

Have a good day,
Sheila

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ike Presley" <presley at afb.net>
To: "Cobb, Susan S." <Susan.Cobb at dbvi.virginia.gov>; "Sierra" 
<sierra at fiber.net>; "AER" <aernet at lists.aerbvi.org>
Cc: "Karen Gearreald" <karen118 at cox.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: [AERNet] FW: Braille music

> Ok, I've set on the sidelines long enough. Here's my question. If
other
> students are learning about music, why can't our students?
>
> I can remember learning some real basic stuff about music in early
> grades and it was part of the stimulus that got me interested in
playing
> in the band. As a kid growing up with "Coke bottle glasses," who
> basically stunk at sports, I can't tell you how much being in band
> helped with my self concept and development of self confidence. Band
was
> the one place where I could function socially on a relatively level
> playing field. I know it's not for everyone, but it sure is good for
> some of us.
>
> Anyway, I think it's worthwhile to give our students as much of the
> regular curriculum as we possibly can, even if it means begging
teachers
> to let us know in advance what they are gong to be covering in various
> subject areas.
>
> This brings up another thought. Has anyone developed a good set of
> questions to ask teachers at the beginning of the year, and then
> periodically throughout the year, that will help the TVI know what's
> coming which might give us a fighting chance to prepare the student
and
> materials for those activates? (Boy, I hope my English teacher doesn't
> see that question!)  Having taught for many years I know a lot of the
> questions, but if someone had a good list it might be a great thing to
> share with new teachers and students in the personnel prep programs.
>
> I'm sure you've heard enough from me for one day, so I'm outta here.
> Ike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: aernet-bounces at lists.aerbvi.org
> [mailto:aernet-bounces at lists.aerbvi.org] On Behalf Of Cobb, Susan S.
> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 10:44 AM
> To: Sierra; AER
> Cc: Karen Gearreald
> Subject: Re: [AERNet] FW: Braille music
> Importance: High
>
> Contact Dr. Karen Gearald in Norfolk, Virginia.
> She's a teacher, lawyer, pianist, and vocalist, ....blind since birth.
> Karen's now also working with the National Library Service, Division
of
> Braille Music.
>
> I feel with some certainty, "Dr. Karen" can share some real insight as
> to why the children we serve should be instructed in reading braille
> music :)
>
> Susan Cobb, Education Coordinator
> Dept. for the Blind and Vision Impaired
> Richmond, VA.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: aernet-bounces at lists.aerbvi.org
> [mailto:aernet-bounces at lists.aerbvi.org] On Behalf Of Sierra
> Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 7:47 PM
> To: AER
> Subject: [AERNet] FW: Braille music
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sierra [mailto:sierra at fiber.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 5:47 PM
> To: morrowmediakc at yahoo.com
> Subject: RE: [AERNet] Braille music
>
>
> I think more people would learn braille music if the "c" on the piano
> were
> written as as "c" in braille music.  Most of the way braille music is
> written is very logical, but it's difficult to teach a child that  "c
is
> d
> and d is e, etc."  Any chance of getting that changed?  I was told
that
> the
> reason for braille music starting with c as d is that originally,
music
> was
> written and taught as "do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do" and "do"
starts
> with
> d??????
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: aernet-bounces at lists.aerbvi.org
> [mailto:aernet-bounces at lists.aerbvi.org]On Behalf Of Kimberly Morrow,
> PhD.
> Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 2:34 PM
> To: dwalters at cesa6.k12.wi.us
> Cc: aernet at lists.aerbvi.org
> Subject: Re: [AERNet] Braille music
>
>
> I suppose the question you need to ask is: Why is it
> important for the other children to learn how to read
> music? Personally, I believe there is definite value
> in at least learning the basic notes. And--the student
> should learn that when his class is studying the
> staff, there *is* no staff in braille music. I dont
> actually use braille music very much these days, but I
> do occasionally enjoy picking up a book of braille
> music and learning a Scott Joplin or Chopin piece on
> the piano. Braille music opens up a world for the
> blind student in terms of then being able both to
> understand basic music theory and being able to play a
> piece note for note if the occasion warrants it. I
> would urge you not to sentence your student to a high
> school experience where all the other students had the
> oppoertunity to begin music training years ago and he
> never got the chance.
>
> Kimberly
>
>
> Kimberly Morrow, Ph.D.
> <morrowmediakc at yahoo.com>
>
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