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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2019 - 02 - 05 - ID#anlwod
3
I'd like to help a visually impaired musician (self.Blind)
submitted by asimplekitten
Hey, I'm in a choir at a local college. A new student has joined and I believe she is legally blind or close to it. The director knows and printed out large copies for her. I noticed she still had difficulty following along, holding the music less than two inches away from her nose for the vast majority of rehearsal.

I saw online that there is braille music and programs to convert music. Does anybody have a recommendation for a specific one? I did see GOODFEEL, but it is cost prohibitive for a community college. And a silly question, but how does one print out braille music?

I do apologise if this is offensive- and please, let me know if it is. I love music and only want it to be accessible for her as well

ETA: I am aware she may not know braille. I wasn't trying to assume that! Sorry
KillerLag 6 points 4y ago
Before getting braille music, someone may want to ask her if she can read Braille, and if she can read music Braille. Not everyone can read Braille. If she has enough vision that she can read large print, she may not have learned it.

Does she have an iPad? If someone can provide the music to her in an electronic format, she may be able to enlarge it enough to follow for herself. Not as light as paper, but she would have control over how much to magnify and may also adjust the contrast.
asimplekitten [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Much of the music is visually busy. I'm not sure how much of her challenges came from not being able to follow everything all at once compared to not being able to read it at all. Especially as a complete stranger, I didn't want to ask her and put her on the spot like that

I will ask her if she has an iPad or something similar. Thank you!
KillerLag 1 points 4y ago
Probably the easiest thing to do is introduce yourself, and ask her. Hopefully she knows what sort of accessible tools she has available to her, or at least know how to check what works for her.

Some people also just memorize the entire songbook the choir uses. Not everyone can do that, but I've known a few people who have done that before.
Amonwilde 5 points 4y ago
I wouldn't assume that she knows Braille, and even if she does know Braille, it's even less likely she knows musical Braille. I would go so far as to say that if she did know musical Braille (highly unlikely), she would already be using it.

To print out Braille, you need a Braille printer, which is also expensive. There are Braille printing services that will send you Braille but they can also cost a decent amount, and Braille can get really bulky really fast.

Here's something that might be practical for a low vision musician who can still kind of see paper. Put the music on an iPad and invert the colors using the accessibility feature. This may or may not help, but for many forms of low vision or partial blindness a screen is a lot easier to read than paper, for whatever reason, and for many others high contrast black backgrounds are also easier to read. Certainly not universal, but worth a try, and it might be something she hasn't yet realized herself yet.

Before doing anything unilateral, it's definitely worth having a conversation with your choirmate! That is pretty much always true in these kinds of situations.
asimplekitten [OP] 1 points 4y ago
I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to assume she knew braille or braille music.

There is a large university nearby that might have a braille printer, if that ends up being something that would help her.

I'll ask her about the iPad. I'm sure the director has at least some of the music in an electronic format already!

I will definitely talk to her. I didn't want to try and ask her a bunch of questions as a complete stranger. I also had no idea of what would help and what wouldn't, so thank you!
theWriteAmy 2 points 4y ago
I wouldn't do anything without asking her first. One, you can find out what kind of help she needs. Two, you can find out whether she wants any help or not. I know you're trying to be nice and considerate but there's a possibility she doesn't want/need your help and will only feel patronized if you try to give her something she didn't ask for. It'll save you some awkwardness. :)
BrailleNomad 2 points 4y ago
I would talk to her to ask her if she needs any help; it’s actually pretty normal for people with visual impairment to hold things that they are reading really close to their face. You could offer to do some cutting and pasting - kind of revamping the music so it only has the soprano or alto part and measure numbers, and spaced further apart, for instance. That would make it less visually cluttered and would probably help her out quite a bit, actually. That’s just my suggestion.
the9thpawn_ 1 points 4y ago
I have a music stand that I attach to a cymbal stand that gets closer to my face. For band I also type out my music so the spacing between the lines of the staves is bigger. It really helps when I’m playing vibes because I can’t read sheet music if it’s farther away than if I was at a piano providing its large enough but for drumming since a lot of it is ostinato I just memorize.
jr2thdoc -1 points 4y ago
Marry her....
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