[Menvi-discuss] piano methods

[Stephanie Pieck]

Unfortunately, there isn't enough money in it to make the politicians or the
music publishers get on the bandwagon.

Some publishers, when approached directly, are eager to have their music
produced in Braille. Mostly, they just have no idea that anyone would need
such a thing. If memory serves, some of the Hal Leonard popular piano stuff
was produced in Braille with HL actively involved in the process. (Not the
transcribing, of course!)

What about having music publishers hire a transcriber in-house? (Gee, sounds
like I'm coming up with as many pies in the sky as anyone else!) My thought
is that, if a transcriber was hired, even as an independent contractor, then
we might be able to get some traction.

For big publishers, the contractor could start by focusing on the areas of
the catalogue where the Braille would have the most impact--i.e.,
educational stuff for school music programs, then branching out into piano
methods, etc.

Methods are great, but one of the things that I think we really need more of
is intermediate-level repertoire collections that aren't classical. Yeah, I
know; I was a piano performance major in college! But not everyone is going
to get turned on about Beethoven or Mozart. There are many excellent
composers producing attractive music today for this part of the demographic.
But in Braille, it seems there are lots of things for beginners, and lots
for really advanced players, with a big gap in the middle.

Stephanie

-----Original Message-----
From: Menvi-discuss [mailto:menvi-discuss-bounces at menvi.org] On Behalf Of
Marc Sabatella
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2014 11:46 AM
To: menvi-discuss at menvi.org
Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] piano methods

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


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