Braille music transcription and libraries

Braille music transcribers

Please contact any of the following for information on cost, transcription time, layouts, terms and conditions and further information.

RNIB Transcription

Tel: 0303 123 9999

Golden Chord

Kimberley
Kingstone
Hereford
HR2 9HE.
email: roger@golden-chord.com
Tel: 01981 25 99 18

Prima Vista Braille Music Services

Email: info@primavistamusic.com
Tel: 0113 2626 483

Angela Godsell

Email: angie.godsell@btinternet.com
Tel: 01684 77 24 69

Braille Transcan

Tel: 01743 35 09 26

Jane Ware

Email: jane.ware@ntlworld.com

Music from RNIB library services

The RNIB National Library Service has an extensive collection of braille music available for loan. We have approximately 14,000 titles covering a variety of instruments and musical styles.

The music collection is a valuable resource for blind and partially sighted musicians, both professional and amateur, and music can be lent to readers anywhere within the UK and overseas.

In addition to braille music, there is also a small amount of large print music and instructional CDs and cassettes, and the facility to borrow braille, large print, CDs and cassettes from overseas libraries.

For availability of braille music and to place orders contact the RNIB Music Librarian Megan Chivers by email to megan.chivers@rnib.org.uk or by telephone on 0161 429 1973.

For queries about the braille music code, transcriptions of printed music into braille or related issues, please contact Customer Services by email to cservices@rnib.org.uk or by telephone on 0303 123 9999.

Contrapunctus - braille music project

Contrapunctus was a European Union project, under the sixth framework programme priority two, information, society and technologies.

The aims of the Contrapunctus project were to:

  • provide a mechanism to preserve the hard copy music braille scores from libraries across Europe in electronic format.
  • develop a demonstration online portal to enable these files to be shared where copyright laws permit.
  • develop a standardised protocol, and software to translate MusicXML files into BMML (BrailleMusic Mark-up Language), thus allowing the conversion of electronic music files in a range of formats into Braille Music XML which can be shared among libraries and Braille music readers.
  • develop a flexible tool to allow BMML files to be read, interrogated and edited by blind musicians according to their specific requirements.

Music tools developed by the Contrapunctus Project

Resonare

A program aimed at libraries and transcribers which allows scores in MusicXML to be imported, edited, and transcribed into Braille music markup language (BMML). Each element in the score is given a semantic meaning, which in turn allows the resulting file to be viewed in a number of ways by the user.

Braille Music Reader (BMR)

This is a program for viewing the resulting BMML files. The music score can be accessed in three ways:

  • The accompanying scripts for JAWS allow the score to be navigated and for each element to be described, for instance "fifth octave sign" or "staccato."
  • The score can be read conventionally using a Braille display.

  • The score can be played in the Midi player.

The score can be displayed according to the user's preferences:

  • Many elements can be shown or hidden, such as fingering and articulation signs and dynamic markings.
  • Scores can be shown bar over bar or section by section.
  • Whole parts can be extracted and read in isolation.

The results can:

  • Reduce time and cost of production.
  • Reduce ease of distribution of Braille Music.

The software tools can increase the numbers of Braille music users by facilitating access to scores and encouraging music literacy in general. They provide a multimedia approach to Braille Music, thus helping beginners and increasing efficiency for professional musicians.

Who could benefit?

  • A beginner Braille music student who would find it helpful to hear a description of the symbols he or she is seeing and to hear the corresponding music, for example seeing a left hand G with third, fifth and octave interval signs which are first described and then sounded.
  • A teacher who wishes to show or hide certain elements of the score such as fingering, dynamic markings or articulation.

  • A professional performer who would find it helpful to hear the music whilst learning, and then practise playing his or her part with the accompaniment.

Download and use the software

The Braille Music Reader (BMR) software and user manual are available and free to download from the Braille Music Markup Language website.

Once you have downloaded and installed BMR, you can download and view over several hundred example scores. The majority of scores are for the piano, but there are also several instrumental and vocal works.

The Resonare program is likewise available to download and trial. We would encourage you to experiment with translating MusicXML files into the BMML format, and would be very interested to hear how you get on.

The library

The continued success and take-up of the tools outlined above depend largely on their adoption and use by national organisations and agencies involved with Braille music transcription.

Project partners

The project ended in the Summer of 2009. It involved the following partner organisations:

Please contact mas@rnib.org.uk for further information or to tell us what you think.

Contact: mas@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 30 November 2012

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