CONTRAPUNCTUS - Preservation and unification of new and existing Braille Music digital sources for a new access methodology
CONTRAPUNCTUS has designed and developed an online library enabling visually impaired musicians to benefit fully from digital Braille music scores.
- Project type: STREP (Specific Targeted Research Project)
- Start date: 1 June 2006
- Duration: 36 months
- EU funding: € 1 378 000
- Number of partners: 13
- Project coordinator: Biblioteca Italiana per i Ciechi 'Regina Margherita', Italy
- Contact: Antonio Quatraro
Music has always been considered a crucial opportunity for education of the blind, as well as for their social integration and employment. There are, though, a numbers of barriers inhibiting those with a visual impairment to develop their potential in this domain.
Besides the fact that visually impaired musicians have to dedicate much time and efforts to memorising the score, since it is generally impossible for them to read and play at the same time, they also face problems regarding access to scores. Among those are difficulties in bidirectional written communication about Braille music (Braille scores are far less coherent with traditional notation than texts with Braille transcriptions), the high cost of production and distribution of Braille scores, and national variations in music transcription that create confusion for users and discourage interchange between libraries.
CONTRAPUNCTUS has tackled these barriers by developing:
- a standardised Braille music XML description in order to convert digital scores that currently exist in many different formats. This is to ensure compatibility of files and to enable libraries and users to share music scores.
- an integrated software package, called 'Resonare', capable of reading and interpreting Braille music scores, to enhance bidirectional communication between blind and sighted persons.
- an interactive Braille music XML reader for accessing digitised music by using vocal, sound and tactile information that supports the user in reading and manipulating scores according to their personal specific needs (beginner, blind music teacher, amateur, etc.).
Finally, CONTRAPUNCTUS has created an online portal as access point to a Braille score library, compiling files from the most important European libraries for the blind.
The project's work can contribute to reducing time and cost of production and distribution of Braille music scores. Another potential of CONTRAPUNCTUS is to increase the number of users by facilitating access to scores and to encourage music literacy in general.