Musica Parlata : a Methodology to Teach Music to Blind People

摘要

Music education for blind people heavily relies on Braille. The use of Braille for music causes difficulties for the blind student: new meanings for the Braille symbols have to be learned and the reading of the music is not immediate. Moreover, in the majority of the cases, music teachers don't know Braille. Although Braille remains the primary means for music education for blind people, alternative methods can help. We propose a new methodology that helps the reading of music scores by means of a software that sings the name of the notes. Singing the name of the notes provides to a blind user a direct perception of the score. Moreover the information is directly conveyed to the student through the ear. Although the method has several limitations we believe that it is effective. The methodology is not intended to 'replace' Braille, but only to offer a different approach to the study of music.