Braille Music Production at DZB Leipzig Matthias Leopold DaCapo

Overview What is DaCapo? Problem of Braille music production How DaCapo produces Braille music Working together with publishers Outlook

Project DaCapo II Financed by the German ministry for social affairs. Goals: –Individual Braille notes –Easy production of editions –Braille music production from publisher’s sources –As quick as possible –As good as possible –As efficient as possible

Why Section by Section? Focuses on Content, not on form Most effective with any kind of music Independent from complexity of music Breaks for musical reasons: Coda, repeats / variations, new themes / phrases / verses Changing form does not change content Efficient production of extracts or special editions

Formats and Editions Out of one score (example): Choir: A4 portrait format (due to neighbors, small enough for carrying) SCORE: Wide format Instrumental music: A4 landscape format to have it small enough for carrying Section by Section: Easy production of different editions Form does not affect the content

Production Process Scan notes using CapellaScan Process notes under Capella –Add symbols that are not supported –Add orders to influence transcription to Braille –Optimizer (Piano, Guitar, String instruments, …) Export score to CapXML Transcribe CapXML to Braille fully automatically

CapellaScan – Scanning Notes

Capella – Post Editing

What Scores can be Produced? All Instruments (Piano, Plucking-, String-, Wind-Instruments, Organ, Accordion, Basso continuo) Chord symbols, Lyrics, Rhythmical notations Including all Braille notations / symbols that are relevant with Section by Section

Publishers Software like SCORE or Amadeus Special data formats PostScript based More and more usage of modern software: –Finale –Sibelius Special data formats + Export/Import of MusicXML + Print to PDF

SCORE – Sources from Publishers SCORE format is widely used by publishers – ten thousands of scores PostScript based output Semi structured data format Create Braille from SCORE automatically Problems: –Note assignment (left hand / right hand) –Auto sectioning

MusicXML – The Idea Exact description of any entity Focuses on content A text is not a text but a tempo mark, a fingering, a title, a publisher’s note, a footnote, a fret … MusicXML can be imported and exported from / to any other Music format

MusicXML – The Reality The possibilities of MusicXML are not used – neither by software nor users Input files are generated to look correct, not to be correct (a simple text will do as fingering, problem of anchoring elements) Exporting software flatten structure (Finger → text) Loss of information (figured basses, harmony symbols, harmonics) Conclusion: MusicXML still is not powerful enough to be a basis for an automatic Braille score production process Anyway – Supporting MusicXML is essential

What‘s next? New publications in Finale, Sibelius, Forte ↔ a lot of different file formats Problem: MusicXML-Export Musical theory books are needed Publishers: different phases → different versions of the same product The later, the more product and sources are equal Idea: Focus on PDF