News > Breaking Boundaries with Music Braille

The music department at NCW has been working on a groundbreaking project to make music scores and music Braille far more accessible to visually impaired musicians.

Music4vip (Music for visually impaired people) is a European project, whose aim is to remove the distance between Braille music and its non-sighted users by developing technology that will allow any piece of music to be translated into Music Braille quickly and effectively, opening up a world of music scores that were previously inaccessible.

Jonathan Darnborough, Music Teacher explained “Many visually impaired students initially learn music by ear but as they advance and the music becomes more complex they need to be able to access the detail that only Music Braille can give them. This project will allow them to read Music Braille far more easily and will also make much more music available.”

The music department and NCW students are helping the Music4vip project by testing the new software and helping the software company to refine the technology by giving feedback on how it could be improved. The new technology will enable our students to engage with music scores interactively helping them to read and listen back to in detail. Victoria Ward, Director of Music added,

“At NCW we have a commitment to promoting independent learning and actively encourage students to learn and use music Braille. This software will help to remove some of the barriers that exist in both accessing and learning to read Braille music.”

Further details about the project and the new technology can be found at www.music4vip.org