A music professor Tim Kolosick leans over the Macintosh
keyboard, staring at the screen.
"Computer _ Nightingale," he says.
The computer hums quietly. Suddenly, empty music staffs appear on the screen.
Kolosick has started up a musical notation program that he will modify to allow blind musicians to develop scores for the sighted world.
The program, called Nightingale, is made by Temporal Acuity Products Inc., a music education software company in Bellevue, Wash. Kolosick said he used grant money he recently received from newspaper publisher Nina Pulliam to hire programmers from the company to help him rework Nightingale.
The revamped program would make blind composers more "independent and competitive in today's marketplace," Kolosick said.
Kolosick said he hopes to integrate Nightingale into a work station in which a blind user can "sit down and develop a musical score for a composition, for an arrangement or for a homework assignment for a music class."
The program should be ready for testing at the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind in mid-November, he said.
Michael Brockman, a Temporal Acuity programmer assisting Kolosick, said modifications are going well and early results are "very, very favorable."
But Amy Murillo, a blind UA vocal performance and choral education senior assisting Kolosick with the development,
"There's a lot to still work out."
The software must not only listen to the user's vocal commands, but must also use synthesized speech to tell the blind user what is happening.
"There's lots of different ways I could use it," Murillo said. "It could be hooked up to a Braille printer in the long
"We now have the software that allows us to speak to the machine and to get a reasonably good response," Kolosick said. "We're now designing the portion of the interaction where the machine responds to us."
The program still needs a screen reader which will identify and explain what is going on using synthesized
Kolosick said he is working with a new generation of Apple Macintosh computers, the Quadra AV (audiovisual) series which are capable of recognizing speech and carrying out vocal
Kolosick began working on software for the blind in 1986. He initially worked with Apple II computers.
"We crammed every inch full of code in those little Apple IIs," to develop a program that translated Braille scores into printed sheet music, he said.
Kolosick said he hoped to develop a marketable product but "the money simply wasn't forthcoming."
He said his first grant application was turned down because few blind musicians were writing scores for the sighted world.
He found a benefactor last year in Pulliam, who gave him a three-year, $100,000 grant to create the program.
"As a young lady [Pulliam] was blinded temporarily because of a reaction to printer's ink," Kolosick said. "She then understood first hand the problems of the blind and has dedicated herself throughout her life to supporting projects for the blind."
Kolosick then discovered Apple's Quadra AV series. But technology is changing so rapidly that he decided not to buy any equipment "until we absolutely needed it because things improve so quickly."
Kolosick and Temporal Acuity said they hope to come up with a marketable product, though it would be expensive.
The completed system _ including the computer and software _ would cost more than $5,500, according to retail prices published by Apple Computer Inc. The software alone retails for $495 in the unmodified version. The cost could pose serious problems for individual composers.
"It's not something people could get out of their pocket change," Murillo said.
But the cost of the computer and software might decline over time.
And though the demand for his program is not overwhelming now, Kolosick said he believes by creating the program he will create a market.
"There is not a large population of blind composers," he said. "However, most blind individuals are musical in some way. This program will create a market, an opportunity." "There's a lot to still work out."
The software must not only listen to the user's vocal commands, but must also use synthesized speech to tell the blind user what is happening.
"There's lots of different ways I could use it," Murillo said. "It could be hooked up to a Braille printer in the long
"We now have the software that allows us to speak to the machine and to get a reasonably good response," Kolosick said. "We're now designing the portion of the interaction where the machine responds to us."
The program still needs a screen reader which will identify and explain what is going on using synthesized
Kolosick said he is working with a new generation of Apple Macintosh computers, the Quadra AV (audiovisual) series which are capable of recognizing speech and carrying out vocal
Kolosick began working on software for the blind in 1986. He initially worked with Apple II computers.
"We crammed every inch full of code in those little Apple IIs," to develop a program that translated Braille scores into printed sheet music, he said.
Kolosick said he hoped to develop a marketable product but "the money simply wasn't forthcoming."
He said his first grant application was turned down because few blind musicians were writing scores for the sighted world.
He found a benefactor last year in Pulliam, who gave him a three-year, $100,000 grant to create the program.
"As a young lady [Pulliam] was blinded temporarily because of a reaction to printer's ink," Kolosick said. "She then understood first hand the problems of the blind and has dedicated herself throughout her life to supporting projects for the blind."
Kolosick then discovered Apple's Quadra AV series. But technology is changing so rapidly that he decided not to buy any equipment "until we absolutely needed it because things improve so quickly."
Kolosick and Temporal Acuity said they hope to come up with a marketable product, though it would be expensive.
The completed system _ including the computer and software _ would cost more than $5,500, according to retail prices published by Apple Computer Inc. The software alone retails for $495 in the unmodified version. The cost could pose serious problems for individual composers.
"It's not something people could get out of their pocket change," Murillo said.
But the cost of the computer and software might decline over time.
And though the demand for his program is not overwhelming now, Kolosick said he believes by creating the program he will create a market.
"There is not a large population of blind composers," he said. "However, most blind individuals are musical in some way. This program will create a market, an opportunity."
"There's a lot to still work out."
The software must not only listen to the user's vocal commands, but must also use synthesized speech to tell the blind user what is happening.
"There's lots of different ways I could use it," Murillo said. "It could be hooked up to a Braille printer in the long
"We now have the software that allows us to speak to the machine and to get a reasonably good response," Kolosick said. "We're now designing the portion of the interaction where the machine responds to us."
The program still needs a screen reader which will identify and explain what is going on using synthesized
Kolosick said he is working with a new generation of Apple Macintosh computers, the Quadra AV (audiovisual) series which are capable of recognizing speech and carrying out vocal
Kolosick began working on software for the blind in 1986. He initially worked with Apple II computers.
"We crammed every inch full of code in those little Apple IIs," to develop a program that translated Braille scores into printed sheet music, he said.
Kolosick said he hoped to develop a marketable product but "the money simply wasn't forthcoming."
He said his first grant application was turned down because few blind musicians were writing scores for the sighted world.
He found a benefactor last year in Pulliam, who gave him a three-year, $100,000 grant to create the program.
"As a young lady [Pulliam] was blinded temporarily because of a reaction to printer's ink," Kolosick said. "She then understood first hand the problems of the blind and has dedicated herself throughout her life to supporting projects for the blind."
Kolosick then discovered Apple's Quadra AV series. But technology is changing so rapidly that he decided not to buy any equipment "until we absolutely needed it because things improve so quickly."
Kolosick and Temporal Acuity said they hope to come up with a marketable product, though it would be expensive.
The completed system _ including the computer and software _ would cost more than $5,500, according to retail prices published by Apple Computer Inc. The software alone retails for $495 in the unmodified version. The cost could pose serious problems for individual composers.
"It's not something people could get out of their pocket change," Murillo said.
But the cost of the computer and software might decline over time.
And though the demand for his program is not overwhelming now, Kolosick said he believes by creating the program he will create a market.
"There is not a large population of blind composers," he said. "However, most blind individuals are musical in some way. This program will create a market, an opportunity."