MagniPy: A low vision music reader

I have a niece with low-vision who plays the baritone clarinet. If you want to see an approximation of what being legally blind is like, take a look at http://www.acbvi.org/albums/Vision/slide11.html.

The solutions for her reading music are few and very expensive. A large screen music reader goes for $4k! Doing a little research, I game across a system put together by Tom Green. It combined foot pedals with the $600 Finale music notation software.

I figured a little Python programming and an old laptop could go a long ways very cheaply. Here is what I came up with looks like:


What does "allegro animato" mean? "Comfortably fast", which is how I would describe the development of the this program. Or maybe "quick" and "easy". Amazingly, it is only about 600 lines of Python code.



It is not perfect, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I love my hobbies, and if I can use them to help someone else enjoy their hobbies, all the better! I'll share it with anyone that want to use it. So that would be $0.00 if you already have a laptop, $30 if you add pedals. Send me an email.
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8 comments:

  1. UnknownJanuary 19, 2014 at 9:57 AM

    how can i obtain the software for MagniPy: A low vision music reader ?
    i would like to see if it would work for my mother with low vision
    Thanks larry

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownAugust 4, 2014 at 3:22 PM

    Hi, my son has keratoconous and plays the drums. I am looking for a system like this - if you could share it I would be very grateful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KenAugust 4, 2014 at 3:39 PM

      Please send me an email (see my profile).

      Delete
  3. UnknownMarch 6, 2015 at 3:44 AM

    Hi Ken
    i have a friend with maculopathy. We play jazz together but my friend has to memorize all the chords (that i have to read for him), before to play. I would like to test if your software would be good for him. I would be very grateful if you could share it. Many thanks

    ReplyDelete
  4. BlkhwkPilotWifeyAugust 28, 2015 at 7:35 AM

    Hello!
    I have an adult who is visually impaired & a military wife & mother of 4. She stuggles daily with all her activities and still wanted to learn piano! She is trying very hard but is getting a bit discouraged because she has to lean forward almost to the music to see the notes and still has to write what the note is to play it. I found the Lime Light magnifying system but that is clearly too expensive for their family. How can she get your program & how much is it? It looks like it might be helpful for her to be able to play the piano!
    Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownAugust 31, 2015 at 4:08 PM

    I have a powermac laptop installed with the most recent operating system. Could I adapt your program to a mac? Thanks.
    Susan Andrus
    andrus.susan@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownAugust 31, 2015 at 4:08 PM

    I have a powermac laptop installed with the most recent operating system. Could I adapt your program to a mac? Thanks.
    Susan Andrus
    andrus.susan@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. pitbullJune 11, 2016 at 4:40 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

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