MENVI Specialists Team Expanded

MENVI Specialists and Advisors

We now have 12 officially appointed Specialists on the MENVI team. Our newest specialist is Judith Bushnell, University of California - Disabled Student Services. Specialists in the following areas are available for consultation through the MENVI network:

• Braille Piano Music Library Resources;
• Braille Music textbooks and Formats;
• College/University Disabled Student Services;
• Electronic Music and VI Computer Music Arts;
• International Braille Music Code;
• Transcriber Training and Certification;
• National Braille Association Music Committee;
• Professional Transcriber Software and Technology; Student Certification (Practical/Theory Examinations);
• VI Computer Assisted Technology; Braille Literacy; VI Resource Teacher (Middle School/High School)

We are also pleased to announce the addition of two new student advisors to our team as well. Andrew Meyer is a trumpet player from Eugene, Oregon. He is quite knowledgeable on the use of the "Braille Lite" for music applications. Our other student advisor is Jared Rimer. Jared is a student at SCCM and is well experienced in the use of "MegaDots" for braille transcription and translation. Jared will now be handling the braille translation for our newsletters and rosters. All MENVI advisors are blind musicians and/or teachers and students.

PROBLEMS - SOLUTIONS

Following, is an excerpt from "MUSIC IN EDUCATION" by Richard Taesch, appearing in the CTEVH Journal (Summer, 99).

Guidebook Planned for College Professors

Plans are moving toward a guidebook resource for helping teachers to better provide for blind students in mainstream music departments. Below is a short summary of information that the book will contain. Perhaps those reading this article might consider distribution of these little points to teachers of all levels. If you have ideas to contribute, they will be very welcome.

1. Problem 1: Music theory and anthologies are often large books with editions changing yearly. Requesting full braille transcription of such books is often impractical, especially if book lists are not available to students until near the start of a semester.
   • Possible Solution: Request copyright permission to duplicate ONLY those pages containing music excerpts, taking great care to select and circle only those you are sure you will use (others can easily be added later). Provide them to Disabled Student Services office as soon as possible and/or fax them ahead of time to a music transcriber, requesting the MUSIC ONLY! Where time is short, text can be read to the student, or print to braille translation can be pursued. Give thought to whether you will need the entire music excerpt perhaps a few measures will get the job done.
2. Problem 2: Analysis of numerous print excerpts is required with in-class listening and lectures. The book is the size of a telephone book, and excerpts are difficult to read with complex early notation and score form.
   • Possible Solution: In these kinds of classes, often a basic understanding of the visual appearance and format of the music is required rather than a note-for-note reading. Most sighted students are not even capable of following such notation while listening up to tempo. A suggestion is to ask the transcriber to braille only a few of the initial measures of each score in order to give the student a point of musical reference. In this way, it may become possible for the transcriber to keep up to the professor's lecture and syllabus plan. Again, text and descriptive headings can be recorded or read in class. In bar-over-bar score formats, much time can be saved for the transcriber if he or she is encouraged to use "line-over-line" formats instead (The differences in these formats will be explained in our handbook). In some in- class situations, line-over-line is even easier for a student, as each line is considered separately as opposed to vertical alignment.
3. Problem 3: Subjects such as sight-singing or functional piano skills, though normally required in a college music program, are difficult for a sight-oriented school to carry out for a blind student.
   • Possible Solution: Encourage the college to grant credit for outside study of these areas with a qualified private teacher. The school can offer to test the student on the requirements at an appropriate time, thereby eliminating unnecessary student unit-load and allowing more time for real college-level materials.
4. Problem 4: A class is required and no braille materials are available.
   • Possible Solution: If the professor is willing to organize the specifics of his or her testing criteria and send exam requirements with the student to a private music teacher, outside preparation can be made in advance of the exam date. In one such case, an SCCM student in college could have avoided nearly failing a theory class had the professor communicated with us and required that the student spend lesson time on class materials. The tragedy of an unnecessary failure due to lack of communication cannot be tolerated.
5. Problem 5: A performance ensemble is required of the blind student. The student is an experienced and capable player accustomed to learning parts very well aurally, and yet has been disqualified or dropped from the ensemble.
   • Possible Cause and Solution: No matter how well a blind student with a good ear can adapt to a musical situation, there are subtleties such as accents and dynamics written within a band part that he or she may never even know were missed. Most directors and fellow students have not the time nor the patience to spoon-feed a blind student on things the sighted players can see, and moreover, have not the expertise to communicate with them effectively without a written point of reference. Playing "by rote" in garage-band style is not appropriate for a college jazz or chamber ensemble. A simple solution is to make sure the blind student has a chance to obtain copies of the music. The student should take such copies to Disabled Student Services offices for them to seek professional transcription. Better yet, if professors are willing to send such music themselves directly to DSS Office with a request for specialized media, time can be saved and problems avoided. Band parts are often very easy for a transcriber to do quickly and can, at times, even be abbreviated.

Summary: A suggested formula to solve problems involving the need for specialized media such as recording or braille is a circle of events:

• Informed Student and Private Teacher Disabled Student Services
• Organized teacher
• Disabled Student Services
• Informed Student and Private Teacher/Specialist

BRAILLE LITERACY (Editorial)

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times on the decline of braille literacy re-confirmed the fact that nearly 70 percent of blind people in America are un-employed. An interesting parallel was also revealed in that nine out of ten blind adults who do have jobs READ BRAILLE! This leaves us to conclude that only a few of the 85,000 braille readers among the 1 million legally blind people in America will have the chance to become truly independent in their lifetimes. The rest will, sadly, remain illiterate.

The article titled: "Technology Replacing Braille," pointed out the fact that audiotapes, magnifiers, and other technological assistance has tempted most blind readers to avoid learning their language in the same way as the sighted. In the same sense, Internet technology for blind users has somewhat poisoned itself by means of Web site graphic images that "... wreak havoc on the vocalization programs, rendering them ineffective about 70% of the time, ..." So it would seem once again, that which appears to be the easy way out in the beginning, will undoubtedly return to work against us.

The good news that the Times article did not address was the fact that technology itself is not always the two-headed monster it might appear to be. Clearly, if it were not for technology like computer-assisted braille output, much of the fast-growing interest in braille music would not have occurred. Music literacy among blind students is on a dramatic upswing as we see it from a music educator's perspective, and technology such as Goodfeel, ED-IT PC, MegaDots, and many more, has been a major influence and helpmate to professional transcribers and all others who believe in the value of literacy for all.

- Richard Taesch

Articles From Our Members

Jared Rimer is our newest MENVI Student Advisor. Jared is a student at SCCM, and has contributed thisarticle on his experiences with the MegaDots software.

Hello, my name is Jared Rimer, and I would like to share with you some of my experiences with MegaDots. MegaDots is a software program used for braille transcription with computer keyboard or six-key entry, and for literary translation. For example, it is very useful for transcribing computer braille such as E-mail addresses and web sites. Also, you can transcribe books, menus, manuals, and mathematics with version 2.0 of the MegaDots program. You must, however, have the MegaDots Nemeth add-on, but it can provide any type of math that the program is capable of. Today, I will be speaking of "shortcuts" and other related subjects. Assuming that you do not know MegaDots, I will begin with the very basics.

MegaDots can be used as a regular word processor such as WordPerfect, and can also be used as a braille translator. This is how to open a MegaDots file:

To access MegaDots, type mega enter and your in. Type the command without the "less than" and "greater than" signs of course!

Next, if you would like to start typing, go ahead. It will do all of the formatting that you need without asking. It knows all types of braille as I mentioned above including computer braille, Nemeth, reversed computer braille, literary, textbook, and the company is working on an update that will enforce the new Textbook Code rules of braille. The cost is $540.00 for the product software. You can receive a demo from http://www.brailleplanet.org. The current update is version 2.04. To contact Braille Planet, dial (608) 257-8833 or 1-800-347-9594 for sales information, or write to them at: 408 South Baldwin Street, Madison, WI 53703. Send E-mail to info@brailleplanet.org.

MegaDots will do most anything. It can do spell checking, word processing, and become very sophisticated by telling you what type of document you have open. The extension of the native MegaDots files are a meg file. It can import over 140 file types including WordPerfect and other types of files. Some files can be imported to what is called the "basic package." The other type of package is the "supplementary package" which does more file conversions. To open a file, type F3 from your keyboard, then give your path and file name and hit return. For example, to open this file in MegaDots, type c:\myfiles\megado~1.wpd. You type the tilde ~ because the file name is too long for DOS.

If you'd like a copy of my DOS book, please contact me. For other basic tips, visit my home page at: http://www.homestead.com/jared5/jaredrimerindex.html.You can also E-mail jrimer@ix.netcom.com. My web page will have basic ideas on how to use and make a shortcut for MegaDots. I add shortcuts often as I remember them. Please visit and sign my guest book today!

Roster Changes

• Sarah Jane Blake's e-mail address is grayce@iquest.net;
• Leslie Saxton is married with a new last name of Costello;
• Patricia Jones e-mail is TVNPOBC @aol.com;
• Ann Loftis has a new area code of 323;
• Bill McCann of Dancing Dots is now at P.O. Box 927, Valley Forge, PA 19482 (phone will appear in new roster);
• Sonya Patel's e-mail is soniyap@netzero.net;
• Judy Penning's last name is Denning, NOT Penning;
• Jared Rimer's Zip code is 91436;
• Patricia Rimm has moved to 980 SW 14th Dr., Boca Raton, FL 33486

Welcome New Members!

A hearty welcome to all new MENVI members. At least 15 applications have been received since the roster was sent last quarter. New members will appear in the next roster to be mailed next quarter. A very special thanks to Braille Institute of Los Angeles for taking over the embossing and mailing of MENVI's braille materials!

This concludes MENVI newsletter 8. Note that Jared Rimer's web site at homestead is no longer valid. It was invalid last check this year when they went paid. He forgot to update his information, and the software to make their sites is not accessible. He is no longer with netcom either. Braille Planet merged with Duxbery systems and braille planets web site will allow you to go there. Please now choose from the following links to continue.

Notes From the Webmaster

If you find broken links on this Web page, please Contact MENVI. Kindly be specific when reporting broken links, as this will aid in repairing problems more quickly.

You may call the Webmaster at 818-921-4976. You may also text the webmaster or voice on Whats App by using 804-442-6975. Please leave a message if there is no response. Include your name, phone number, and the nature of the problem. We will only contact you if we need aditional information. Enjoy the Site!

Copyright and privacy statement

MENVI takes your privacy of your personal information very seriously. Since 2003, we've never sold, rented, disclosed, distributed or given any member information to anyone that is a non-member of this network. Contact information we have is not for sale! MENVI advisors info is for the public, and our web site has email links, and we can freely give out other information about them. Questions? Please contact us!