ABSTRACT

This paper aims to identify the limitations and dilemmas of Braille music as a medium of learning standard music for the musicians with visual impairment. The discussion of this paper is based on two research questions: first, what are the characteristics of Braille music as a mediation for music learning and how they affect the affordability of Braille music?; second, what modalities are used in actual music practices and what are the realities and problems of technical support? Based on these questions, by conducting interviews with the music teachers and the students with visual impairments, this paper suggests a new structure for expanding the multimodality of Braille music. The results of the analysis highlight that, due to the sole reliance on haptic sense, Braille music is not fully utilized and the technical supports are not capable of perfectly representing standard music. Based on this analysis, this paper argues for the necessity of multimodal approaches in musiceducation. Finally, this paper discusses some principles for expanding non-visual modality and the significance of it for music education for the visually impaired.

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