[Menvi-discuss] piano methods

Fri Jun 6 14:04:49 EDT 2014

I guess some could call what you're suggesting naive, but the perspective I 
think most of us would say we have at such ideas is surprise.  We're so used 
to the way things are that when somebody views things with fresh eyes and 
shows that there's nothing unreasonable about it, it's a sort of refreshing 
shock that there the positive could be ordinary.

It's not just music--literary books and textbooks of all types have a 
different way of working than in the print world.  There are only three or 
four "presses" in the country.  Except for books used in school, usually 
brailled with one person in mind, all the other things we read, at least in 
hardcopy,  come from these presses, who ask the publishers for permission to 
republish, or use provisions in the copyright law to do so.  It would seem 
so strange to have braille books with different bindings and covers coming 
from different publishers.  It's not that it couldn't happen, it's just that 
we've never seen it happen.

I know you are on the cutting edge of open source software and work 
cooperatively with developers, but for those of us who are average computer 
users, I don't see all that much change from years ago, in terms of 
accessibility worked into programs, at least for Windows.  Most of the 
standard products--office may work pretty well, but just about anything else 
you find an ad for or hear people talking about can be assumed not to be 
accessible.  I wanted a utility to record audio from my computer.  I found 
several using Google, costing very little and sounding ideal.  But were they 
accessible?  No. I wrote to one company, and they acknowledged the fact and 
apologized, but that's about as far as it went.  Documentation isn't 
necessarily accessible, either.  I personally feel there's a long way to go, 
but again, it's so "normal" for the case to be that way that I don't find it 
something I personally feel I should be making a big deal about or push for. 
I'm glad you and others are making these things come about.  The next 
generation won't know what we're talking about when the word "accessible" 
comes up, like they can't imagine college without office of disabled student 
services.

David

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marc Sabatella" <marc at outsideshore.com>
To: <menvi-discuss at menvi.org>
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2014 11:45 AM
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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