Hacker News Reader

Comment by peeters | Hacker News Reader

Interesting, what are they getting at here:

> As braille is read with your hands, it is impossible to read and play at the same time, unless you are a pianist.

Pianists play with their hands. Are they suggesting you can read with one while playing with the other? (Possible for some pieces, but also possible for some other instruments too). Am I missing some technique they're implying here?

View on HN

I wonder how difficult it would learn to be to read musical braille using your foot. I know there's less sensitivity than your hands and fingers, but seems like something that may be possible. Though, pianists still use their feet for the pedals, but for other instruments it's less of a problem.

Maybe Braille can be transmitted sequentially to something that pricks or gives light electrical shock to one's fingers?

I'm pretty sure they're just referring to the immediate feedback of being able to practice by reading with one hand and playing with the other. You generally wouldn't be able to play a whole piece that way, but in comparison to most other instruments you don't have to do as much memorization up front.

You're right though, there are definitely plenty of other instruments that would work for. Trumpet for example would be an even better candidate I imagine.

You still need two hands to play the trumpet: one to hold the instrument up, the other to operate the valves. If you used only one hand to play and hold it, effectively the entire weight of the trumpet would have to be borne on your thumb.

I would strongly disagree. Trumpet music is MUCH simpler than piano music, as piano music is highly polyphonic (many notes at the same time), while wind instruments are only one note at a time (excluding a few VERY advanced techniques that are rare).

read and memorise as I've seen people do, often.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com