Those who are visually impaired have access to many great books via the braille system of reading. When it comes to music instruction though, they are pretty well delegated to learning by ear. While learning by ear has many advantages, the use of tablature has become accepted for beginners. The visually impaired mostly miss the ease of using tab because there hasn’t been a real effective way to represent tab in a way that can be used by those who can’t see.
At the instigation, and with the help, of a visually impaired banjo player from the Netherlands, Patrick Costello has recently developed a system of tablature to be used by the visually impaired.
The system looks as though it is intended to be used with a screen reader. Several others around the globe have already taken up the system and sent in tunes arranged with this new format. If you are, or know someone who is, visually impaired, you might want to keep an eye on this post. Currently there are about 10 banjo tunes tabbed with this system.
It seems this idea should work for the other instruments equally well.
