JAVS Fall 2008

Braille music is time-consuming and difficult to navigate with end less numbers of symbols. Braille music—as well as regular Braille—roughly consumes three or more twelve by twelve inch pages to one page of print. Thus, one small piece of Braille music is bulky and cumbersome in com parison to print music. Rebecca has reported that Braille music often has discrepancies in the notation depending on the source and the transcriber. New tech nologies sometimes rely on scan ning print music and transcrip tion by computer. Based on Rebecca's experiences with Braille piano music, she feels computers frequently misinterpret markings the composer intended, and mis takes are usually numerous in more difficult pieces. Finally, it is impossible to read Braille music and bow at the same time. Regardless of the downside of Braille notated music, I felt it might be valuable for Rebecca to have a Braille copy of the music she was studying for reference. I was concerned that without Braille music, individual interpre tation of a piece might be lost. Sadly, upon checking with the Library of Congress, I found almost no viola Braille music to exist, unlike the copious amount of piano music archived there. Some early or beginner viola books are available, but nothing past an elementary level. Currently, they have only three pieces of advanced Braille viola music and those are quintets! Thus, it is easy to understand why I teach Rebecca with words, demonstration, and recordings.

Braille piano music.

her attention. Once at home, Rebecca removes the compact flash card from the recorder and makes a CD of what I have recorded for her to learn, or of our weekly les son. The CD can then be used to study any part of the music that is in question. The recording acts as an instant reference tool for prac ticing current lessons. Rebecca finds that the CD library she is building is of value as well, review ing lessons from the past that involve repertoire she wishes to bring back for competitions and/or auditions that require pieces she learned earlier. The CD has proved to be the most efficient and space saving recording medium as tapes

Without the benefit of Braille music, we realized early on that the use of a recorder could be an invaluable tool. Currently, we employ a small digital recorder with a compact flash card available at any sound shop. We record each lesson, and Rebecca makes and catalogs a CD to prepare for a les son the following week. When I begin teaching a new piece, I record segments of the piece for her to study. Usually, I begin the recording by playing through the piece so that she has an idea of where the piece is headed. I play the piece at tempo, and then play it slowly followed by comments on specific measures I want to call to

J OURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETY 52