[Athen] Music Braille software

[Wink Harner]

Dear Athen-ites

And to add to Gaier's great response, if you use Finale with a midi input
device, you can even play a recording of the music you're using into the
program, excerpt the part needed and export through the Braille plug-in to
produce the Brailled copy. I suppose if you sang well enough you could use
a mic and...well, you get the picture! We worked with our music dept. to
share the cost of the music Brailling system. They "let" us play with Finale.
We got a system that worked great for our music majors who are blind.

Hope this info. helps.

Blessings in abundance,

Wink Harner
Manager
Disability Resources & Services
Mesa Community College
Mesa, AZ 

>-- Original Message --

>From: "Gaeir Dietrich" <gdietrich at htctu.net>

>To: "'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'" <athen at athenpro.org>

>Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 18:19:02 -0700

>Subject: Re: [Athen] Music Braille software

>Reply-To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network <athen at athenpro.org>

>

>

>Hi Theresa!

>

>I know that our local state university has been using Dancing Dots to create

>Braille music for a blind music major and been quite pleased with the

>results. They hired a sighted music student to learn the program and set-up

>the files and it has worked very well.

>

>My only other thought would be the Braille Music Kit. It is a plug-in for

>Finale, and the nice thing about that is that Finale is pretty much the

>standard for music notation programs. With the Braille Music plug-in, you

>can do all your work in Finale, taking advantage of Finale's tremendous

>power in terms of pulling out parts, separating the two hands, etc., and

>then just run the plug-in.

>

>I know that you can also work in Finale and then export MusicML that can

>be

>imported into Dancing Dots, but it requires a few more steps.

>

>If you want to check it out, here is the site:

>

>http://www.dodiesis.com/asp/bmk.asp?language=2

>

>It seems that they charge for the product that allows you to work directly

>in Braille. The plug-in itself appears to be free (although you would have

>to have Finale) so might be worth trying.

>

>I haven't used Toccatta so can't speak to that one.

>

>In terms of having the Braille done, there are fewer transcribers of music

>Braille than there are of just about any other Braille system (with the

>exception of chemistry Braille). It's a good idea to look at doing it

>in-house.

>

>******************************************************

>Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich

>High Tech Center Training Unit of the

>California Community Colleges

>De Anza College, Cupertino, CA

>www.htctu.net

>408-996-6043

>

>-----Original Message-----

>From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On

>Behalf Of Teresa L. Wells

>Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 1:09 PM

>To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network

>Subject: [Athen] Music Braille software

>

>Greetings.  Can anyone give me opinions on various music Braille products

>on

>the market, such as Goodfeel, Dancing Dots, Toccatta, etc?  I'd like to

know

>how user-friendly they are, how much labor is involved in transcribing a

>typical piece of music, any pitfalls you know of, etc.  We have never

>produced music Braille before and are considering getting into the business

>given the increasing number of requests we are receiving for the service,

>so

>I'd like to invest in the best possible product from the beginning.  Your

>opinions are appreciated!

>

>Thanks in advance,

>

>Teresa Haven

>University of Arkansas

>

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Ms. Wink Harner
Manager
Disability Resources & Services
Mesa Community College
Mesa AZ

480-461-7447