[Menvi-discuss] Dancing Dots, Good Feel, and Muse Score

[Bill McCann]

Hi Kim,

As Eileen pointed out, Dancing Dots is actually the name of our small business and GOODFEEL (pronounced Good Feel) is our suite of accessible music notation software.  When I started out years ago, I wish I had named the software Dancing Dots because that’s what most people call it.  😊

The GOODFEEL suite has a number of component applications that each accomplish separate but related tasks.

Blind users can read and write scores using the Lime notation editor component.  Lime is comparable to applications like Finale, Sibelius and MuseScore.  But we have made Lime extremely accessible to blind and low vision users.

Sighted users like to use Lime and GOODFEEL to produce braille music scores even if they themselves know little or no braille.  Lime presents the score in conventional staff notation on the screen while our Lime Aloud scripts offer the option to simultaneously present the same information in braille music on your braille display.  Once the sighted user is happy with the print music on screen, he or she can launch the GOODFEEL component directly from Lime’s File menu an produce a hardcopy or “soft copy” (.brf) version of the equivalent braille music for their student or colleague.

Duxbury Braille Translator is an excellent tool for text and math transcription to braille.  But it does not include any facility to transcribe staff notation to braille music.

Duxbury can open the .gf and .brf files which GOODFEEL produces.  But one definitely need not have the Duxbury software to use GOODFEEL to create hardcopy braille scores using a standard embosser.

The SharpEye Music Reader music OCR component is an excellent option for scanning print scores and exporting them in the MusicXML format which Lime can import.  SharpEye, though excellent, is definitely not perfect and scanning errors are inevitable.

SharpEye was created by a third-party developer.  We at Dancing Dots distribute it by special arrangement.  Unlike Lime and GOODFEEL, SharpEye has limited accessibility for us blind users.  However, the good news is that sighted musicians can learn to use SharpEye’s graphical editor to prepare scores for import into Lime without having to know anything about braille or screen readers, etc.

Although I have scanned numerous print scores without any errors, sooner or later there will be one or more of them.  When that happens, I need sighted assistance because I cannot see the original image of the print music to determine what SharpEye got wrong.

Please see my note to the MENVI list of earlier today for more details on our software.  I invite you to evaluate it at no  cost for your needs whenever you are ready.  Just email me off-list using my info at DancingDots.com<mailto:info at DancingDots.com> address or click the “GOODFEEL” link on our www.DancingDots.com<http://www.DancingDots.com> site.

Bill McCann, President, Dancing Dots
Visit our YouTube page:
www.youtube.com/DancingDotsAccess<http://www.youtube.com/DancingDotsAccess>


From: Menvi-discuss <menvi-discuss-bounces at menvi.org> On Behalf Of Eileen Scrivani via Menvi-discuss
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2023 9:43 AM
To: 'This is for discussing music and braille literacy' <menvi-discuss at menvi.org>
Cc: etscrivani at verizon.net
Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] Dancing Dots, Good Feel, and Muse Score

Hi Kimberly,

I don’t think this one point was clarified for you in the responses. You asked if people have a preference between Good Feel versus Dancing Dots. Dancing Dots is the company that produces & sells the Good Feel suite of software. Bill McCann is the president of Dancing Dots and he is on this list.

HTH.

Eileen
From: Menvi-discuss <menvi-discuss-bounces at menvi.org<mailto:menvi-discuss-bounces at menvi.org>> On Behalf Of Kimberly Morrow via Menvi-discuss
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2023 12:38 AM
To: 'This is for discussing music and braille literacy' <menvi-discuss at menvi.org<mailto:menvi-discuss at menvi.org>>
Cc: drkimctvi at gmail.com<mailto:drkimctvi at gmail.com>
Subject: [Menvi-discuss] Dancing Dots, Good Feel, and Muse Score

Embossing music in Braille—programs & prices              I’minterested in knowing what programs are out there that allow one to write and emboss music in Braille. I have Duxbury and JAWS, and am wondering what Good Feel or dancing Dots do that Duxbury does not in terms of transcribing music from a .brf file. Do people “here” have a preference of Good Feel versus Dancing Dots? What about the cost of each program?

Also, how does Muse Score work? Is it fairly accessible, or are there accessibility issues to work around?

Many thanks in advance!

Kimberly

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