Bach to braille: converting music by computer

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Summer, 1997 by Jana Ting

Unfortunately, year after year, blind music students like Nichole Robertson at Wilfrid Laurier University must confront such reality. For Nichole, music must either be ordered from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind or translated into Braille and typed in a Braille text editor symbol by symbol. Both methods are time consuming and frustrating for the student and teacher.

Two students in Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo are aiming to remedy this problem by automating the production of Braille music. This ambitious goal is the driving force behind a fourth year workshop project. Sasha Papayanis and Jana Ting are creating a computer program, Braille Automatic Conversion Helper (BACH), which will allow music to be printed on a Braille printer.

More specifically, this computer program will convert music from NIFF files into EDGAR files. NIFF (Notation Interchange File Format) is a new computer format for the representation of standard musical notation. It is now being incorporated into music editors and scanning packages for the computer. Meanwhile, EDGAR is a text editor for Braille which can be modified to print music.

BACH will lessen considerably the time and effort spent in acquiring Braille music. First, teachers will write a line of music into an editor or scan a sheet of music in order to save it in NIFF format. Next, BACH will convert the NIFF file into Braille notation, which can be printed from EDGAR. Et voila! C'est tout.

For more information, please consult our website: http://sail.uwaterloo.ca/~jeting or E-mail me at jeting@novice.uwaterloo.ca.

Jana Ting, from Winnipeg, was a CMC National finalist in piano in both 1985 and 1986. She is presently completing undergraduate studies in system design engineering at the University of Waterloo. She hopes that her career will combine her love for music, computers and Spanish.