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Learning braille music notation lessons

Eighth notes (Quavers)

Measures (Bars)

As was already mentioned in unit 1, example 1.2. contained the C major scale written in eighth notes. Read it again and try to memorize all the Braille eighths. BMR/BME can read the names of the notes or, if you choose the “Braille” option, the respective Braille dots of each symbol.

Now we need to learn the symbol for the eighth rest, which consists of dots 1346. Note that all the eighths, except the rest, are contained within the four upper dots of the Braille cell.

Example 2.1. expresses a C major scale in eighths, starting from the middle C, in the ascending, and then the descending order, but this time each note is separated from the neighbouring one by the eighth rest
Example 2.1

Now check whether you remember all the eighths. The scale from example 2.2. is incomplete. Replace the rests with the missing notes
Example 2.2

You can do your written exercises using an ordinary Perkins brailler or your computer, preferably in BME.

The other important issue to be discussed in this unit is that of dividing a musical score into measures, or bars. The Braille barline is simply a space and thus bars in a Braille score are separated from one another by a space, very much like words in a literary Braille text.

In order to be able to divide a piece of music into measures it is necessary to indicate the time signature. In time signatures the conventions of printed music are followed closely. The time signature usually takes the form of a mathematical fraction, in Braille using the upper-cell and lower-cell numbers with the number sign only at the beginning, e.g. 2/4, 4/4, 6/8.

Example 2.3. has the time signature of six eighths. Listen to the broken triads written in eighth notes and read them carefully
Example 2.3

Now do the exercise 2.4. replacing eighth rests with the appropriate notes
Example 2.4

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