1st EBU International Conference on Education, 19-23 July 2000, Montegrotto Terme (Padua) - Italy
Good morning ladies and gentlemen,
I am very pleased to take the floor on this occasion. The Italian Library for the Blind in Monza is involved in many areas concerning the production and distribution of textbooks and documentation, in the framework of a network of services for the integration of the blind led by the Unione Italiana Ciechi (Italian Union of the Blind). Before I go into detail about its actual work in the domain of access to musical material, let me share with you some short considerations, for the subject I am going to deal with is closely related to the education and the development of a person with a visual impairment.
The Germans have a very appropriate term to express the idea of "respect", they say "beruecksichtigung", which means to look more than once, to look not only straight ahead, but, as we would say, in all directions. Respect means to watch and listen to a child, as he/she is, and to help him/her to become what he/she can become; that is to attribute value to his/her personal and family history, to his/her expectations; at the same time respect means to help him develop in every possible direction, with the awareness of limits imposed by nature, but aiming at all possible perspectives for him/her. Respect means to watch and listen to what a child and his family have to express, but also to watch and listen to what they dare not, or have no means to express. And music is among the many unexpressed wishes, a neglected corner in the education of the visually impaired. In this sense we want globalisation to stand for a school, a society, a world for all and for each of us. We do not want globalisation to be a rough standardisation, where everything looks the same and where there is no place for human peculiarity; this is our bet. If we have well-developed individuals, we will certainly have a richer community, a wiser society, a more cooperative one. Therefore we dare claim that what is good for our children and for their families is valuable and of benefit also for the community as a whole.
Thus we need a network of resources which can tailor education and teaching activities, the physical and social environment, equipment and service organisation to individual needs and potentialities and to the situation of his/her family.
Both of them aim at promoting music among the visually impaired by facilitating their access to Braille and digital scores through the use of the most recent computer applications and by coordinating the efforts of the most important libraries in Europe.
The first project is called MIRACLE, which of course is nothing extraordinary, although it can prove to be a little miracle if it succeeds, but for this we need the cooperation of each European organisation concerned with the education of the blind. What is MIRACLE? It is an acronym for "Music information resource assisted computer library exchange". The most important libraries in Europe are involved: SVB (Holland), RNIB (UK), SBS (Switzerland), ONCE (Spain), DBD (Denmark), BIC, SB and Shylock progetti (Italy). In sum it is a very simple idea: these libraries and a software house have joined together to establish a unique catalogue and a coordinated database of all their digital Braille music scores (over 20,000 titles). This catalogue at the moment is available on the web at the following URL: http://192.87.186.10/miracle/
Each individual, even you, can browse it. Once the desired work has been located, authorized users can download the score, that is they can retrieve it and store it in their own computer and braille it for the end user, that is the blind musician. So what we are going to have is: a) a central catalogue of music scores including different formats (Braille, large print, spoken music); b) a librarian-friendly way of browsing the catalogue; we are endeavouring to improve its accessibility for the visually impaired; c) a system of downloading the chosen score; d) a procedure for printing and delivering the Braille book; e) an accounting procedure, to track the various exchanges between partners.
MIRACLE also considers two alternative forms of presentation of a music score: large print and spoken music for visually impaired persons who for some reason are not familiar with Braille music notation.
I need not use many words to underline how important it is to coordinate efforts, in view of reducing costs and time required for the production and distribution of Braille scores.
Perspectives. - MIRACLE is now in its last stage as it will be finished in 2001. We want to use the results of our work to establish a consortium, aiming at running an ongoing, stabile, comfortable and efficient service for the benefit of all. But for this we need your help. I would like to call for the participation of all those organisations that believe in the great value of musical education for the visually impaired. They can become our correspondents. Being a correspondent has no costs and gives the right to take part in our work meetings and to access our database.
The second project is called "Play2". It is coordinated by Prof. Nicotra (Italy) and the following partners are participating: KFKI (Hungary), Paul Sabatier University (France), ONCE (Spain), ACAPO (Portugal), Sensory Disabilities Research Unit, University of Hertfordshire (UK), CNR Genova, UIC Verona, Biblioteca Italiana per Ciechi Monza, Arca Progetti (Italy).
Play2 aims at facilitating access to music by the visually impaired in its more recent forms, mainly computer related resources. Its duration is 3 years (2000-2003) and the major expected results are:
Play2 is still in its first stage, but one of its main characteristics is going to be participation and direct involvement of as many users as possible.
What is the sense of our work? In general we wish to reaffirm the importance of music education and of being able to play an instrument with a good understanding of music.
Music appears to be a neglected corner in the education of the visually impaired. Still it has great importance for the development of the individual, especially for the visually impaired child, in our case. Just think of all the skills it involves and promotes: expression skills, social skills, manual skills, but also memory, attention, concentration, etc.
Music is at the same time a very evolved and complex language and the only form of art fully accessible to blind persons. I have nothing against making music just by ear, but it is like being able to speak a language without reading it. It is a real deprivation, therefore, for the visually impaired child and it denies the principle of equal opportunities to develop his/her potentiality. Music has been and can still be a valuable job opportunity.
It is now necessary to recover our best traditions in the domain of music education and training, to value the heritage that Louis Braille has left us and that our special schools have received and developed, sometimes with excellent results! Let us accept the challenge coming from mainstreaming in relation to music education! We should fight so that our children and our youngsters gain benefit from all the possibilities offered by music and access the same treasures available to the past generation.
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