Braille Music Division

Founded in 1992, SCCM’s Braille Music Division teaches music to blind and visually-impaired children, providing the specialized curriculum, teacher training, expertise, and technology required to serve blind students in the mainstream of its general music program. Visually-impaired students are trained to compete with their sighted peers. In addition to receiving a traditional music education, students learn to read braille music and sight sing, become familiar with keyboard geography, and develop applied listening skills. Basic distinctions, such as high and low variance of pitch, direction of pitch, dynamic ranges, and tempo variations, have been shown to provide insights beyond the obvious musical references which help the students relate more thoroughly to the world around them.

Free Access to Music Education

FAME is a unique program of the SCCM Braille Music Division, which provides weekly free individual and group music instruction to blind and visually-impaired youths culminating in quarterly public performances. Since an integral part of its mission is the belief that economic challenges should not stand in the way of a quality music education, SCCM has provided, when funding permits, free and discounted music education to thousands of underserved children over the past 36 years, many of whom touched an instrument for the first time at SCCM. Furthermore, SCCM is the only comprehensive year-round music conservatory in North America fully integrating its blind and sighted student body by holding all students to the same academic standards.

Blind Ambassadors Outreach

This revolutionary SCCM outreach program sends young blind and multi-disabled blind musicians into local elementary and middle schools to meet with and perform for sighted children. In most cases, this provides sighted children with their first interaction with blind children their own age. As the performance progresses, the fact that the performers are blind and/or disabled becomes secondary, and the audience finds itself enjoying music performed by its peers. For many younger students in the audience, this event marks the first time they consider playing an instrument themselves. Older students often express a renewed commitment to learn an instrument. The SCCM performers relish these occasions when they are viewed by their peers as leaders, rather than a group of children struggling with a disability.

Transcription and Music Library

SCCM houses an extensive braille music reference and resource library which includes over 5,000 music repertoire titles, methods, and collections. All materials are available to blind students, their instructors, and the community at large. The braille music portion of our curriculum is published and distributed worldwide by Dancing Dots Braille Music Technology.