Preface
This edition of Music Braille Code has two main objectives. First, at the time of the previous edition reference documents were almost exclusively used in print; now they are used both in print and in various electronic media. This revision has been structured to facilitate its use in electronic media. Second, while the international agreements of 1992 through 1997 defined the meanings of braille signs, they left most matters of format to the discretion of the various countries.
The 1997 edition brought the BANA code into line with those agreements. Very few rules and procedures established in that edition are amended in this one. This edition is intended to extend consistent guidance regarding format.
Where appropriate, rules and procedures have been adjusted to comply with the adoption of The Rules of Unified English Braille and of Braille Formats: Principles of Print-to-Braille Transcription.
A section about transcribing music for harps, which is not included in the 1997 BANA code, has been added. It incorporates some signs that are not defined in either that work or in the New International Manual of Braille Music Notation. The content of this addition will be offered for consideration whenever a new worldwide conference may be convened with the purpose of updating the international agreements.
The Committee hopes that this reordering of the content and the relocation of signs in the tables will prove more helpful than troubling to veteran users, and will be convenient for new transcribers and readers.
Lawrence R. Smith