About File FFormat, reading methods And Pagination
Our braille music scores are in ASCII braille format, and is mapped using American computer braille standard. To read these scores, we have four options:
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For sighted users: Under every item, there’s a section called "Score Preview", where the beginning of the work is presented as braille dots. This is for sighted people to preview the braille score. If you want to read the entire braille score, please download the file and unzip it. Usually, the extracted braille files have the extension .brf. If you have a professional braille editor such as Duxbury Braille Translator, just open the file with it. If not, before doing anything, first download the SimBraille truetype font and install it to your font directory. In Windows, the location is "C:\Windows\fonts". Just copy the .ttf file into it. Then use Notepad or any text editor to open the score, and set the font to SImBraille. The screen will display ASCII codes as braille dots.
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For blind users who have a braille display or notetaker: Download and unzip the braille file. If using a braille display, please use Notepad or other text editors, or even a professional braille editor such as Duxbury Braille Translator to open it. Use screen readers such as Jaws or NVDA to navigate in the file, turn off the speaker volume and use your braille display to read the score. If you have a braille notetaker, just copy the files in and open to read. Note that you should switch the braille output table to North American computer braille in order to display the braille correctly.
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For blind users who don’t have a braille display: Download the score and send it to a service who can provide braille embossing, and get the hardcopy.
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Finally, no matter if you are sighted or blind, if you wish to read the braille scores using Unicode braille encoding, please download Sao Mai Braille on this page. After installation, open a BRF file of the score, and select all. Choose Tools ➔ Braille encodings ➔ Braille ASCII to Unicode, to convert the entire file in Unicode format. Save the file, and you can read it in Unicode braille.
Most of our scores are formatted using 40 cells per line. We don’t set how many lines for a page, because this is more covenient for users with a braille display. But the files are easy to format anyway.
About Transcription Rules And Information In The Scores
The rules used for transcription of the scores in our site are based on New International Manual Of Braille Music Notation. You can download this manual in zipped Grade 1 and 2 braille formats Here from the Swiss Library For The Blind And Visual-Impaired.
In most of the scores, interval directions and other unusual signs are provided in detail in Transcriber’s Notes before the music. It’s highly recommended to carefully read these notes before reading the scores.
Generally, most keyboard and solo-with-keyboard scores are formatted as bar-over-bar, some are however section-by-section. Solo vocal scores are in paragraph format. Most orchestral scores are transcribed using a customized format between bar-over-bar and line-over-line, i.e., in a multimeasure braille parallel, line break in a single instrument is not allowed, while in a single-measure braille parallel, line breaks are allowed freely. Some ensemble scores with vocal parts, or scores with very short bars throughout the music, are transcribed as section-by-section, and every section represents a full system in print. Silent instruments (thus measure rests only parts) are removed in braille to save space, unless there are texts, symbols and/or different time signatures shown.