[Menvi-discuss] piano methods

[Marc Sabatella]

As a sighted educator, composer, and author of educational materials 
myself, who is a newcomer to thinking about accessibility issues, my 
opinions might be a bit naive, but here goes:

I think it's kind of shameful the lack of attention given to this in the 
music publishing industry.  It seems we're in the position that the 
software industry was in 30 (?) years ago.  Somehow, even though they 
don't all do a good job of it, software developers as a culture decided 
to own the problem of making their products accessible; they don't 
expect others to do it for them.  Of course, it made technological sense 
to do it this way.,  It's harder to "translate" a software application 
after the fact; it's easier to bake accessibility in.  But I think it 
also makes sense for music.  It's the music publishers who have the 
"source code" for the music they publish.  With the right tools, 
training, support, and resources, it would be easier and cheaper for a 
music publisher to produce Braille editions of new titles in their own 
catalog than it would be for an independent Braille transcriber working 
just from the print edition.  Of course, this would require an upfront 
investment - and the necessary tools & infrastructure would need to be 
put in place  before it would start to pay off.

I wonder what would happen if laws like the ADA were expanded to require 
publishers to put out Braille editions of their work in order for it to 
be accepted for use in public schools?  Or perhaps some sort of subsidy 
/ tax credit to give them incentive to do so?

Marc