[Menvi-discuss] Music Braille Comma for Beamed Note Groups

[themusicsuite at verizon.net]

Good afternoon,

Sorry for chiming in late. Somehow all the MENVI messages of the past week or so were getting sent to my Spam folder!

I am not a transcriber, but I have looked at a lot of music from a lot of different sources, time periods, and countries. Beaming isn't necessarily a concept that was always conveyed in Braille scores; in fact, it usually isn't. Grouping (where, for example, the first of a series of sixteenth notes is written including the dots 36 that show its true value, followed by pitch-only representations of all the other sixteenth notes within that beat) will often mirror how notes are beamed in print. There are also small-value and large-value prefixes that can be used before groups of notes in Braille to indicate other nuances like that. In certain situations (e.g., theory exams and study materials for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music that were produced by RNIB), brackets were used to show items in the print notation that might require special attention. While this was most commonly used to indicate which notes were to be considered in the identification of chords or intervals within a score, they were also occasionally used to show beaming conventions.

As far as I know, there is no specific guidance on beaming or how that is to be shown in Braille within the code itself. Transcribers often develop their own ways of doing things and will use these across all their transcription projects.

I think there are three main considerations when developing a way to show beaming in Braille that transcribers should be mindful of:

1. Whatever device is used should be explained clearly on the Special Symbols and Transcriber's Notes page.
2. The use of the signs and the particular dot combinations used to create them should always be developed and deployed with the main goal of presenting a Braille score that will help a blind musician quickly and accurately acquire the information they need for performance or analysis.
3. The technique used should not cause confusion with other practices or signs specified by the code itself.

In closing, I encouraged any reader to provide feedback to their chosen transcriber about how a particular score reads. What works in theory may not always work the way we think it will when someone else reads it. Braille is an evolving and dynamic code, just as the people who read and transcribe it are evolving and dynamic beings. We can all learn from one another in these situations where a print convention not usually shown in Braille needs to be conveyed, and perhaps the ideas that result from developing solutions will one day lead to an expansion of the code itself.

Stephanie Pieck     On Tuesday, October 29, 2024 at 11:34:19 PM EDT, Patrick Janson via Menvi-discuss <menvi-discuss at menvi.org> wrote:  
 
 #yiv2017027866 P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}Hi Vaughn,
I'm an experienced music braille transcriber and I can tell you when I use the device. I ONLY use it for irregular beaming, such as print beaming over a bar line or when print beaming doesn't match the time signature in a traditional way.
There are symbols for the music comma and a terminator. I use the music comma when the irregular beaming continues beat after beat, each time it is needed.  It can be re-shown without a terminator in the same way pedaling is used (we don't show a print "up pedal" symbol if a down pedal immediately follows). Sometimes a rest or a larger value note ends the beaming and a terminator is not used either. I use the terminator when the irregular beaming ends and it is not obvious it is ending.
Basically, I try to help the braille reader understand what the sighted reader is seeing when beaming is unusual.
Patrick JansonPresident of the National Braille AssociationOwner of Braille Music and Morewww.braillemusicandmore.comFrom: Menvi-discuss <menvi-discuss-bounces+patrick=braillemusicandmore.com at menvi.org> on behalf of Vaughan Cooke via Menvi-discuss <menvi-discuss at menvi.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2024 11:10 PM
To: menvi-discuss at menvi.org <menvi-discuss at menvi.org>
Cc: Vaughan Cooke <vjcooke at rogers.com>
Subject: [Menvi-discuss] Music Braille Comma for Beamed Note Groups Hello everyone! 
I was wondering if anyone would be able to share some insights into how often Music Braille commas are used to represent beamed groups of 8th or 16th notes. I came across this concept recently while prepping for a private lesson with my colleague, and this was completely new to us. 
While we things we have a good idea of how the music Braille comma is used in theory, neither of us have the practical experience to know how often this is used by transcribers. Is this a matter of preference, or is there a more specific set of rules about when this mechanism is used? Do transcribers always use this comma for beamed note groups, or is this omitted when grouping is clear without it?
Thanks in advance for any details anyone can share! This is my first the reading out here, but I've enjoyed keeping up with the great discussions here in my free time. 
All the best, Vaughan Cooke
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