There are several computer options that can be used by musicians who are blind to notate, read, and record music. Examples are provided in the following paragraphs; however, mention of a product does not imply endorsement.
Musicians who are blind can use a program called Sibelius Speaking [1] in combination with JAWS [2] screenreader and the Sibelius [3] music program to notate music. Sibelius Speaking is a script that allows JAWS to interface with the Sibelius music notation program.
A musician who is blind can use a Braille music translator program like Goodfeel [4] to transcribe music from Sibelius or other music notation programs into Braille.
To record audio and Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) [5] files, a person who is blind can use JAWS screenreader with Caketalking [6] scripts to use the multi-track digital audio workstation Sonar. [7] With these programs a musician who is blind can edit MIDI files, add effects to them, and create the final output to make an audio CD.
References
- [1] Sibelius Speaking
http://www.dancingdots.com/prodesc/SibSpeaking.htm - [2] JAWS
http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/jaws-product-page.asp - [3] Sibelius
http://www.sibelius.com/home/index_flash.html - [4] Goodfeel
http://www.dancingdots.com/main/goodfeel.htm - [5] (MIDI)
http://www.midi.org - [6] Caketalking
http://www.dancingdots.com/prodesc/CakeTalkingForSONAR.htm - [7] Sonar.
http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/default.asp