Braille music

Pitch and rhythm

As the "Notes" section of the music braille chart above indicates, a single symbol shows both the pitch and rhythmic length of a note. For instance, dots 1,4,5 indicate an eighth note (or 128th note) C. Every rhythm symbol in braille music does double duty—8th notes and 128th notes use the same symbols, as do quarter notes and 64th notes, half notes and 32nd notes, and whole notes and 16th notes. Beginners first learn the most common rhythmic value (8th, quarter, half, and whole notes). For advanced users there is never rhythmic ambiguity because the context, including time signature and bar lines, makes the intended rhythmic value clear. For instance, in a measure of 4/4 time that includes only the symbol with dots 1,3,4 (whole or 16th rest), context says the symbol must indicate a whole rest.

Octave marks

An octave mark is included before a note symbol to specify the octave of the note. For instance, the 4th Octave is the octave starting with middle C and going up to the B above middle C. Octaves are only specified when needed. For instance, a melody proceeding upward from the first octave can, if moving by step, proceed to the second, third, and fourth octaves without requiring additional octave signs. The rule is that, in the absence of an octave mark specifying otherwise, notes move by a unison, 2nd, or 3rd rather than a 6th, 7th, or octave. For instance, the following moves upward continuously, ending in octave 5:

Octave 2 C C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B B C C

The rule for 4ths and 5ths is different, however: in the absence of an octave sign specifying otherwise, a melodic leap of a 4th or 5th will stay within the same octave as the previous note. For instance, the following always stays within Octave 2:

Octave 2 C G D A E B F C G D A E

Because of the use of octave marks, clef symbols are not required in braille music. On occasion, clef symbols (bass clef, treble clef, or other) will be indicated so the visually impaired musician will be aware of every detail of the print score.

Musical markings

Musical indications like "dim", "cresc", or "rit" are inserted inline with the note and rhythm notation and, to differentiate them from note, octave, and other musical signs, always preceded by the "word sign" (dots 3,4,5).

Slurs may be indicated by a slur sign between two notes or bracket slur surrounding a group of notes to be slurred.

Musical signs such as staccato or tenuto are generally placed before the note or chord they affect. The musical signs shown on the chart are shown modifying a quarter note C (dots 1,4,5,6).

"Music hyphen" is used to indicate that a measure will be continued on the following line (this happens somewhat more often in braille music than in print music).

A "word apostrophe" indicates that the word will be continued on the following line.

Repetition symbols

Braille music tends to be rather bulky. Because of this, a system of repetition symbols—much more extensive than that in print music—is employed to reduce page turns, size of scores, and expense of printing.

The repetition symbol (dots 2,3,5,6) is used similarly to the musical repetition symbol to indicate that a beat, half measure, or full measure is to be repeated.

In addition, braille music often includes instructions such as "repeat measure 2 here" or "repeat measures 5-7 here". Such indications are in addition to the commonly used repeat marks and first and second endings.

Contrapuntal lines and chords within a staff

Unlike print music notation, braille music is a linear format. Therefore, certain conventions must be used to indicate contrapuntal lines and chords, situations where more than one note is played simultaneously within a staff.

Dealing with different staves

Printed music is often written on several different staves. For instance, piano music is typically written on two different staves combined into the grand staff: one for treble clef and one for bass clef, while choral music often has four different staves (one each for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass). The notes in different staves that play simultaneously are aligned vertically. Because of the linear nature of braille music and the fact that the blind musician can typically read only one staff at a time, multiple staves are handled in several ways depending on the complexity of the music and other considerations. Bar over bar format is most similar to print music. Simple piano music in bar over bar format is quite similar to print music, with right-hand notation on the top line and left-hand notation on the bottom line. Some degree of vertical alignment between the right and left hands is maintained. Other ways of dealing with multiple-staff music are line over line format, section by section format, paragraph style, and bar by bar format. As a rule these formats take up less space on the page but require more of the musician in working out how to fit the staves together. For instance, in a piano score notated in section by section format, the right-hand part may be written out for the first 8 measures, followed by the left-hand part. No attempt is made to align the parts. The same procedure is followed for measures 9-16, and so on, section by section, throughout the score. The blind musician learns and memorizes one section right hand alone, then left hand alone, then works out the hands together by memory and referencing various spots in the braille score to work out how the sections fit together. A note from the transcriber often clarifies the format used. However, with many older and more complex scores the format must be determined by examination of the music and context.