<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
span.EmailStyle20
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Years ago, I did use the method you described starting with eighth notes. It was a seventh grade multi-handicapped totally blind student who had a fantastic ear. I was a practicing music therapist at that time, and the goal was that she would figure things out instead of just making wild guesses. I had a point system, in which one point was figuring it out, even if she made an error. A little bit unorthodox, I guess, but it worked. Surprisingly, she started to make some more easy decisions such as where one should sit in a particular class rather than asking where she should sit all the time. I would hardly have guessed that those two elements would have been connected, but they seemed to be. I wrote out some easy things like Beethoven’s Symphony 9 main theme, and she was able to read with one hand and play with the other, and she was just thrilled!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>All the best, Kimberly<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Jeanne Gallagher<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Jeanne50.gallagher@gmail.com<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> Menvi-discuss <menvi-discuss-bounces@menvi.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Stephanie Pieck via Menvi-discuss<br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, February 20, 2023 10:14 AM<br><b>To:</b> 'This is for discussing music and braille literacy' <menvi-discuss@menvi.org><br><b>Cc:</b> Stephanie Pieck <themusicsuite@verizon.net><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Menvi-discuss] Young Braille music student/keep those suggestions coming/question<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Hi again,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Another thought is to go counter to just about every print music book out there and start with eighth notes instead of quarter notes. This way, you are teaching your student the basic pitches (which will never change) that only use the upper four dots of the cell: 1, 2, 4, and 5. Once they’ve gotten these pitches really solidly and can read/sing/play them on solfege syllables, scale-step numbers, and (don’t shoot me, anybody!) pitch letter names, introducing quarter notes and longer values is quite easy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>I have very successfully taught many students using this approach and find that they learn faster this way because they are taught how braille music is built. Remembering the dot formations for seven pitches and then just adding dots 3 or 6 or both for other note values is a lot easier than trying to memorize 21 different signs (for pitches A through G in quarter, half, and whole notes).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Another advantage to learning this way is that, since there are only so many dot combinations we can use, we’ll eventually have to “recycle” notes—for instance, whole notes can look like sixteenth notes. By teaching the sequence eighth notes, quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, and only then moving on to smaller-value notes, you are also reinforcing the importance of contextual reading in braille music. If a student knows that in four-four time, a whole note will be the only note that will fill the entire measure by itself, and they encounter a measure in four-four time with more than one note that “feels like a whole note,” they’ll be able to recognize, “Oh, that can’t be a whole note!” Kids think it’s pretty funny when I say to them, “That can’t be a whole note; if it was, along with all those other notes in there, you’d bust out of that measure because all those whole notes can’t fit in there.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Most important thing for teaching braille music? Have fun, experiment, and if one way doesn’t work for a student, try something else, and keep trying something elses until you find the thing that makes them go, “Oh! I get it now!” Plastic Easter eggs; coins; wooden blocks with pegs you can stick in them to form the braille cells; cookies; braille Scrabble tiles … you name it, I’ve probably done it!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Stephanie Pieck<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'> Menvi-discuss [mailto:menvi-discuss-bounces@menvi.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Kimberly Morrow via Menvi-discuss<br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, February 20, 2023 12:21 AM<br><b>To:</b> menvi-discuss@menvi.org<br><b>Cc:</b> drkimctvi@gmail.com<br><b>Subject:</b> [Menvi-discuss] Young Braille music student/keep those suggestions coming/question<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>First, I want to thank all of the wonderful people on this list who have offered suggestions for teaching an 11-year-old Braille reader to read Braille music. Now, yet another question. I’m confident he hasn’t covered fractions yet in school. So. . .what is the easiest way to explain note values to an 11-year-old? How can I simplify the process of rhythm to make it more comprehensible? <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Many thanks again!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Kimberly in KC<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>