Music Pedagogy for the Blind

David Goldstein

(this article was published in the
International Journal of Music Education, No. 35, May 2000.
Copyright of the article is vested in the International Society
for Music Education.)

From How to Read Braille Music: An Introduction, 2nd Edition. Copyright (c) 1998 by Bettye Krolick.

I am sure you are aware of people in the music world who are
blind. You may even know someone with a visual problem involved
in music. I run a summer Institute which brings together blind
high school students from around the United States for the
purpose of preparing for the serious study of music in college.
As I tell you about the program and the teaching techniques we
use, I hope it will start you thinking about how you might
include a blind student of any age in music activities, if one
should enroll in your class.

Our school is The Music and arts Center for the Handicapped,
a nonprofit organization headquartered at the University of
Bridgeport in Connecticut, about an hour from New York City.
Originally started for people with vision problems, it has
expanded to work with children and adults with a variety of
disabilities, and is increasingly involved with community
agencies to develop programs for youth at risk and sponsor city-
wide cultural events. As director of its National Resource
Center for Blind Musicians, I not only develop programs in
Connecticut, but answer inquiries that come from around the world
regarding braille music, accessible music technology, and
teaching techniques. Gradually we have gotten to know musicians
and teachers around the country whom we can call on for advice in
any particular area. Sometimes they live close enough to a
student to help out personally or serve as mentors.

The summer Institute came about because of calls for help
from students, parents and teachers. A first-year music major
entering college with several successful piano performances under
his belt was overwhelmed to find that he couldn't keep up in
sight-singing classes, was unable to submit assignments, and had
no idea what his peers were talking about when using terms like
bar lines and hair-pins. Moreover, he did not know what to
suggest to his professors when they asked how they could make
life easier. A piano teacher called looking for a place where
his young student from Mexico could learn enough braille music to
enter a Texas high school for the performing arts. A mother said
she was sure her son had the academic background, but felt he
needed more experience being on his own in a supervised setting,
to practice cane travel and such college survival skills as
getting through the cafeteria line and doing laundry. At one
time, students learned many of these skills at schools for the
blind. Now that most college-bound students go to local schools
with sighted children, there isn't enough time in the day or
staff with the background to teach skills beyond what is actually
needed for school. The braille music code is generally near the
bottom of the list. Another thing which all the students
unfortunately seemed to have in common was a lack of friends at
home. As hard as one tries, there seem to be certain stages in
life where "difference" doesn't go unnoticed. Participation in a
music group may help to bring about acceptance, but one needs to
know how to get in. Our goal became to develop a program where
students could get a start learning the special skills, practice
and perform with others on an equal footing, gain confidence in
their independence by being in a realistic situation with help
available, find friends, and have fun.

We have run the program four years now. It takes place for
three weeks each July. A maximum of ten students come to live at
Sacred Heart University, a rural campus ideally suited for cane
travel between buildings. Each morning, after walking to the
dining room for breakfast, students travel by van to the
University of Bridgeport for classes in braille music, computer,
theory, keyboard, ensemble, and coaching in their particular
instrument. Afterwards, students enjoy swimming, cookouts, trips
to cultural events, tandem bicycle riding, and workshops by guest
artists. We try as much as possible to bring in blind people
already employed in the music field to talk about how they got
into their careers and give advice. The students give two
concerts of both ensemble and solo pieces. They go home much
more confident about how they will handle the challenges ahead.
Problems are not over, of course. Students call me often for
ideas in locating a piece in braille, solving a technology
glitch, or ways they can work with a teacher on dealing with an
assignment which requires vision. The friendships they have made
during the summer pay off, as they compare notes with fellow
graduates. It has certainly made my life richer to be a part of
the exciting happenings of these special young people.

Braille Music. We give this top priority, as it is the area
in which students usually have least experience. It can make a
tremendous difference for the serious student. Braille music
provides all the information a sighted person sees on a page of
print music -- notes and their values, dynamic and expression
marks, and fingering. Of course, it looks much different,
because all the information must be given on one line that the
finger can read. The music staff is discarded completely.
Braille is made up of "cells" of up to six dots, of which sixty-
three combinations are possible. In music, the top four dots
show the pitch of the note while the presence or absence of dots
on the bottom show the rhythmic value. Special signs are placed
before the note to show the octave or an accidental. A measure
is ended with a space. A voice student can read braille and sing
at the same time. A piano student reads a few measures of one
hand part while playing with the other hand, then reversing hands
to do the other hand part. The segments are put together until
the whole piece is memorized.

There are a number of books used to teach braille music.
While the most ideal situation is for the teacher to be familiar
with braille, one does not have to be. The teaching books are
available in both braille and print, so that any music teacher
can follow along with the student. It would be best for someone
working with a beginner to have some training, or at least do
some reading ahead of time to understand potential challenges.
We have found that the learning of the braille itself is not as
much a problem as the resistance a student who has always learned
by ear may put up to reading music. It takes motivation to be
able to put all the information together and to avoid confusing
symbols that have different meanings in the literary braille
code. Many of our students, even those who have played for
years, have little understanding of the meaning of rhythmic
concepts and have extreme difficulty counting. The best thing
you can do as a teacher is to drill students on counting. Ear
training in intervals is extremely important, as braille music
uses interval signs any time notes of the same value are played
together. I will not mention specific books and resources for
braille learning here, as they will differ from country to
country. In the U.S. the biggest source is the Library of
Congress. There are good libraries in Australia, England,
France, Germany, Holland, and New Zealand. Gradually, databases
are being built so libraries can share their holdings. Soon
braille music itself will be available on the Web. I will be
happy to direct you to a local resource.

Technology. These days, computers are becoming a part of
all music curricula. They are more important for blind people,
as they can enable a student to produce assignments
independently, which previously needed to be dictated to a
copyist. Scoring programs are highly visual, and we are still
looking for the ideal notation editor. Some blind composers are
using such programs as Note Processor and Score, which allow
notes to be entered as letters and numbers from the keyboard.
Currently we mostly teach Cakewalk Pro Audio, a MIDI sequencer
with a printing option good enough to handle first-year theory
assignments. Blind students and studio musicians can use
Cakewalk to produce high-quality musical recordings and
arrangements. Access is provided by a Windows screen reader
which converts the output into speech or braille. Information
about third-party script files for Cakewalk access is available
from Dancing Dots Braille Music Technology, 1754 Quarry Lane,
P.O. Box 927, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0927
http://www.dancingdots.com
Dancing Dots' flagship product is the GOODFEEL(R) Braille Music
Translator, which will convert music stored in a computer, in
MIDI or files produced by the notation program Lime, into
braille. It is possible to scan music for braille conversion,
but it requires a great deal of editing that cannot be done by a
blind person. Many schools and studios use the Macintosh. Avoid
it. The student should have his own PC set up for his needs. If
necessary, files can be imported to different platforms.

Theory and Musicianship. Your rule as a teacher should be
to make sure the blind student has everything it takes to
function with other musicians, whether it be understanding
musical concepts, knowing how to perform with others in an
ensemble, and having good technique and deportment. It may not
be necessary for the blind student to know what all the print
notes and squiggles look like, but he should know enough to be
able to think in terms of the staff when working on a piece with
others. Here we show students the staff using a metal board with
raised lines and notes made of magnetized rubber. Don't be
afraid to comment on technique and posture. You know how
important they are, and you will do a disservice not to work on
them. The same holds true for appearance on and off the stage.
It's what people see first that makes the biggest impression.

Working with a blind student is a great source of creative
pleasure and fulfillment. Feel comfortable from your own musical
experience that you are probably right in knowing how to handle
things. If something isn't working or seems unreasonable, talk
to the student about it, or ask someone for help. There are many
people around who can provide excellent advice. Our lines here
are always open. You may reach me at the National Resource
Center for Blind Musicians
Music and Arts Center for the Handicapped
510 Barnum Avenue
Bridgeport, CT 06608
Phone 203-366-3300
E-mail info@blindmusicstudent.org

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