December Meet-up – Joining the dots: braille music in the 21st Century

Wednesday 18 December 2024, 7pm UK time. Joining the dots: braille music in the 21st Century.

As the third and final part of our mini series on braille music, we are excited to announce our next Monthly Meet-up, featuring a presentation and Q&A with James Risdon! As part of the celebration of 200 years of braille, James will take a holistic look at how braille music fits into the practices of a modern-day classical musician.

Of course, everyone is welcome, but we believe this session would be of particular interest to blind musicians, and music educators supporting blind music students. The Meet-up will take place on Zoom – register below!

The session will cover a range of topics, including:

Sources of braille music and how to access them, including libraries, collections around the world, and helpful email lists.
Ways of getting music transcribed, including using transcription services, dictation, or a support worker.
How James uses automated transcription tools himself.
Tips for making braille music files as useful as possible.
How and when James uses braille as a tool alongside audio and other approaches to learn music.

James is a professional recorder player and a founder member of Paraorchestra. He appeared on their recent album ‘The Unfolding’ with Hannah Peel. James is also the Access Lead at ABRSM, where he is responsible for the day to day provision and administration of access arrangements and reasonable adjustments for candidates with specific needs. He is also a member of ABRSM’s Diversity and Inclusion group, and involved in several other projects relating to accessibility. Previously, James worked as Music Officer at RNIB for almost 10 years. He recently wrote an article for Sound Without Sight: Let’s talk about visual impairment.

James’ presentation will last around 60 minutes, with a further 30 minutes for questions and discussion. This will be a relaxed, informal event and audience participation is encouraged. We will be prioritising questions submitted in advance of the event, so we advise that you contact us with any questions you may have so that we can ensure that they are included.

Please note that this session will be recorded and published on podcasting platforms, so if you contribute during the session, you are consenting to appearing in the recording. This session is open to all ages, but we advise that children or young people wishing to attend the session should be accompanied by an adult.

We hope to see you there!

Register for this Meet-up Session

Please note this Meet-up takes place on a Wednesday, rather than the usual Thursday slot!

About the Meet-up Sessions

Sound Without Sight is a community-led initiative, which collates and commissions resources to support blind and partially sighted musicians, audio engineers, voiceover artists, and other industry professionals to thrive. We want Sound Without Sight to grow into a thriving community that showcases the work of blind and partially sighted creatives, and how they navigated the industry to find themselves in their current role.

Starting in February 2024, we will be curating monthly virtual Meet-up Sessions, which will bring together established professionals, community members who are just starting out, and everybody in between, creating a space to share knowledge, solutions, and tips for success.

The sessions will be open, informal, and supportive – we hope that all attendees will feel comfortable to ask questions as well as share advice. Please sign up via the link at the end of this page, as spaces are limited.

How will the Meet-ups be structured?

Each session will begin with a live interview between a headline guest speaker or panel and members of the Sound Without Sight team. The host will ask curated questions, including relevant ones submitted in advance by the community.
We will then open up to questions and discussion between attendees, which could be about anything related to music or audio.
Finally, we will round off the session by playing out audio submissions and sharing updates from community members. Got a new release coming out? Tried something new or achieved something that you’d like to share? Let us know at least a week before the session and we’ll carve out time to shout about it!

When and where?

Please note this session takes place on Wednesday 18 December, not the usual Thursday slot. Sessions will take place on Zoom and last around an hour, followed by some open Q&A time.

Previous Meet-up recordings

Recordings from previous sessions are published to the Sound Without Sight podcast. You can access this at the podcasting platforms listed below, or continue to browse individual episodes.