[Menvi-discuss] piano methods

[Bettie & Bill Downing]

Also keep in mind that Pres. Clinton signed a bill in Sept. 16, 1996 which allows books to be put into braille but not music, so every music publication has to have permission from the publisher to braille it for the public domain.


On Jun 6, 2014, at 1:04 PM, David Goldstein - Resource Center wrote:

> 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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