[Menvi-discuss] Ideas for getting buy-in from students to learn braille music

[Sandra Gayer]

Hello,

Speaking as a Braille Music Teacher, in my experience, the most engaged 
students are the ones who need to learn Braille Music because they've 
hit a ceiling. This tends to be either talented younger students who can 
no longer hear the complexities of their pieces and need to be able to 
read them. Or, university students who have bobbed along learning 
everything by ear and then they find themselves having to listen to 
difficult pieces and turn in assignments, based on an incomplete 
understanding. I agree, it would be nice to get children reading music 
so that they don't encounter these issues later on.


Very best wishes,

Sandra.

On 22/10/2024 01:35, Stephanie Pieck via Menvi-discuss wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi,
>
> You are correct that it's hard to get buy-in from some students, 
> especially teenagers, or kids who are talented enough to pick up a lot 
> by ear. For them, there's no point learning to read since their ears 
> work a lot faster!
>
> For these reluctant readers, it may be helpful to start small, or even 
> alter the expectations. Maybe they will never read Braille music 
> fluently, but could they use aspects of it to enhance what their ears 
> are telling them? I might get a barrage of negativity for my next 
> suggestion, but using the ABC notation principles, with introduction 
> of flat and sharp signs, might be enough to get somebody intrigued 
> enough to want to learn "the real thing." Using the Braille music rest 
> signs (u, v, x, m) also works within this methodology.
>
> One can also teach the idea of rhythmic values first, using just the C 
> pitch, and get creative making up rhythms, not only in the rhythm 
> itself, but how that rhythm will be performed. Stomping, clapping, 
> knocking/banging on tables, metal trash cans, etc.
>
> The key is getting readers excited and encouraged. Too often, the 
> first words out of anyone's mouth are, "This is hard, but ..." Whoa! 
> Talk about setting somebody up to struggle! Little kids don't hear 
> that from every adult when they're exploring letters and numbers. 
> They're encouraged to try drawing them, making the sounds of them, 
> copying other people writing/saying them. And those letters and 
> numbers are everywhere! What would happen if we approached teaching 
> Braille music the same way? Put notes and rhythms everywhere! Make 
> little tokens and find ways to play games with them. When I was maybe 
> three or four, I was in a group music class. I don't remember a single 
> thing that was taught, but I remember how at the start of every class, 
> each kid got a little button that was either a "high note" or a "low 
> note" and we did things with them. This is what gets people hooked on 
> geo-caching, so why not make that magic work for Braille music. 
> Scavenger hunts; teaching sighted kids the same thing the blind kids 
> are learning. That would be teaching two lessons at once, right? Maybe 
> one of those sighted kids will get excited and curious enough about 
> this Braille music stuff to help dictate parts to their blind 
> classmate, or even one day go into transcribing.
>
> OK, sorry about the long rant. I love figuring out how to make Braille 
> music accessible to students. I will close with one caveat: Braille 
> music isn't for everyone, and there will be students who never get 
> interested, never get motivated, and that's OK. Sighted people don't 
> all read music. Some read staff notation, others read tablature, and 
> still others don't read anything. Yet they all engage with music. So 
> by all means, show people the value of Braille music. But also have 
> the grace to accept when someone doesn't go too far into that world. 
> It's not a failing of them or of any teacher. It's just the wide 
> variety within humanity that makes teaching, music-making, and 
> everything so interesting, challenging, rewarding, disappointing, and 
> worth never giving up on.
>
> Stephanie Pieck
> On Monday, October 21, 2024 at 07:05:08 PM EDT, Kaiti Shelton via 
> Menvi-discuss <menvi-discuss at menvi.org> wrote:
>
>
> Hi, everyone,
>
> I'm asking on behalf of an acquaintance of mine about how to best 
> promote braille music. This acquaintance and I have been members of 
> the same choir for about 2 years. She is a choir director at a local 
> high school and she approached me a few weeks ago with questions about 
> braille music, as she has a blind student in her freshman choir class. 
> Currently the student gets lyrics in literary braille, but does not 
> have braille music. The educator was concerned the student was not 
> actually getting adequate music education as she wasn't doing anything 
> related to rhythms, pitches, etc. For instance, she said she didn't 
> know what to do when the class was writing in solfege for one of their 
> pieces, and in conversation with the student to try to find an 
> alternative the student said it had never been necessary and they 
> didn't know a way to do it. The educator has seen me at choir 
> rehearsals using the braille music for our rep for 2 years, so they 
> know it gives musical information even if the ins and outs are new to 
> them. They recognize the value of a blind student learning braille 
> music, and I appreciate that they want to make sure this student gets 
> the same quality of a choir experience and learning that the sighted 
> students get.
>
> I've shared a ton of resources I have with the teacher and we are also 
> working on finding a day when I may be able to come to that class at 
> her school when my own school obligations will allow per the teacher's 
> idea. I also encouraged her to reach out to the student's TBVI to make 
> the connection and see if the TBVI has any familiarity with braille 
> music, though I have told her that often this isn't the case.
>
> I've taught braille music mostly in a summer intensive program 
> setting, but I have also seen kids struggle to buy into braille music 
> especially when it's taught to them late. I have explained to parents 
> and teachers that it's like expecting a kid who has never learned to 
> read before to just read Shakespeare because that's what they're 
> capable of speaking, even though they're at the level of reading See 
> Spot Run. I understand how frustrating that can be, especially because 
> I didn't start learning braille music until I was in 8th grade. But I 
> still am lacking any really successful ways to boost buy-in from 
> students to help get them over that hump myself. I'd love to be able 
> to share ideas with this educator who is trying to do right by this 
> student. Any ideas would be appreciated.
>
> All the best,
> Kaiti Shelton, MS, MT-BC
> Music Therapist-Board Certified
> https://www.credly.com/badges/ac95f05b-e4be-41fe-9e82-7300318d6685/public_url
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