Home / Accessibility Guides / Music Notation Accessibility Guide

Music Notation Accessibility Guide

Overview

Creating accessible music notation is vital for musicians with disabilities. Listed below are accessibility practices that help musicians with disabilities read, access, navigate, and comprehend sheet music. These practices support compliance with WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA by providing text alternatives, supporting assistive technology compatibility, and ensuring proper use of color.

Table of Contents

Digital Scores

Whenever possible, avoid sharing scanned images as the sole format for music scores. Instead, utilize digital scores (e.g., MusicXML, MIDI). Digital sheet music offers several features beneficial not only to musicians with disabilities, but to all users. Digital scores:

  • Can be searched, more easily annotated, and operated with assistive technology.
  • Provide better resolution, allowing high levels of magnification without loss of quality.
  • Allow the ability to increase color and brightness contrast to improve readability.
  • In some applications, support audio playback.
  • Are easier to remediate into alternative formats (such as Braille or large print).

Back to top

Non-Digital Notation

If you need to include an image of sheet music (such as an excerpt or figure) on a website, slide deck, or other electronic document, include alt text to describe what is depicted. This allows individuals with visual disabilities to understand the purpose and content of the image (using a screen reader or other assistive technology).

Review University of North Texas’ Describing Musical Examples with Text and Alt Text to understand the unique aspects of writing alt text for music. Below are a few examples:

  • Write all musical symbols phonetically, rather than using special characters on the keyboard (e.g., “C-Sharp” instead of C#). This helps musicians who use screen readers.
  • Screen readers may not distinguish upper- and lower-case, so write out “major” and “minor” when referencing chords, keys, and intervals (e.g., “C minor” instead of “Cm”).
  • Write-out entire chord and interval names as if speaking them aloud (e.g., “C half-diminished seventh add two”, not “Cø7add2”).

Back to top

Talking Scores

A “talking score” is an audio-based representation of sheet music used especially by musicians with visual disabilities. Talking scores can also be helpful for individuals with neurological disabilities who have difficulty processing print content.

In talking scores, music notation is read aloud in sections with details such as instrument names, temp markings, key changes, repeated sections, and common rhythms. In between these sections, the notation is often played aloud for the listener.

For examples of manually-created talking scores, check out Bill Brown’s Piano by Ear lessons. For examples of talking scores generated using a conversion program, check out the Talking Scores open source project. This project converts MusicXML files into a combination of text description and audio playback files in an HTML format that can be navigated by assistive technologies.

Back to top

More Best Practices

  • Fonts. Always use sans-serif fonts (e.g., Arial). Avoid serif fonts (e.g., Times New Roman) and cursive text. The more readable the text is, the better.
  • Color and Contrast. Ensure all text has sufficient contrast against the background (use WebAIM’s Color Contrast Checker) and that color is not the only way to convey information.
  • Plain Language. Write in a way that is clear and easy to understand. Organize content for easy scanning and understanding. Your writing should match Federal Plain Language Guidelines.

Back to top

Accommodation Requests

Musicians with disabilities may require individualized accommodations. A range of advanced remediation tools and strategies are available to support diverse access needs. If requested, work directly with musicians on a one‑on‑one basis to identify and implement the most effective accommodations to meet their needs.

Back to top

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Provide accurate, synchronized closed captions (cc) for all spoken dialogue, as well as musical cues (e.g., crescendos, “orchestra tuning”) and other contextual information (e.g., “applause”). Always manually review and edit auto-generated captions.
  • Provide a transcript, a text file that explains the audio, video narration, and key visual information.
  • Add a summary of the performance at the start and/or in the video description (e.g., “this recording features Brahms Intermezzo Op. 117 No. 1, a slow, reflective piano work with a gentle lullaby theme”).
  • Ensure the embedded player is keyboard-accessible (operable via Tab, Enter, Space, and Arrow keys).
  • Avoid flashing, strobing, or flickering elements that could harm viewers.

As above. Include closed captions for the hearing impaired, provide a full text transcript for screen readers, and ensure the player supports keyboard navigation. Use HTML5 video tags, offer audio descriptions for visual content, and avoid flashing/strobing visuals. Include a text transcript that explains the audio, video narration, and key visual information.

Produce scores in a digital format such as MusicXML. Also consider creating a talking score. Wherever possible, use and distribute digital scores rather than scanned images of print sheet music. A digital musical score PDF can be made more accessible:

  • Adding basic tags (title, headings, page markers).
  • Adding alt text for non-musical images (cover art, etc.). Do not describe every note in alt text (impossible and unnecessary).
  • When converting a document to PDF, select Export to PDF or Save As PDF. Never convert a document to PDF via “Print to PDF,” as this often removes accessibility tags and other features.

Note: Tags and alt text helps users navigate the document but does not make the music itself screen-readable.

See our PDFs Accessibility Guide for more information on PDFs.

Creating an accessible PDF that includes specialized musical notation fonts requires embedding the fonts, tagging the structure, and ensuring the musical content is described.

  • Prepare the Source Document (Word/InDesign).
    • Use Accessible Software:  Start with Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign, as they allow for better tagging.
    • Embed Fonts: Ensure the musical font is embedded during export. In Word: File > Options > Save > Embed fonts in the file.
    • Use Tags: When saving the score as a PDF, ensure “Document structure tags for accessibility” is checked in the options.
    • Add Alt Text: For any music notation images or symbols, add descriptive alternative (alt) text so screen readers can interpret them.
  • If the PDF is already created, you can fix it using Adobe Acrobat Pro.
    • Embed Missing Fonts: Go to Tools > Print Production > Preflight > PDF Fixups > Embed missing fonts.
    • Run Accessibility Check: Open Tools > Accessibility > Full Check to identify errors.
    • Add Tags: If the document is not tagged, use the Autotag Document feature in the Accessibility toolset.
    • Set Language: In File > Properties > Advanced, set the document language.
  • Key Considerations for Music Fonts
    • Licensing: Ensure your music font allows for embedding in documents.
    • Readability: Ensure the musical font provides sufficient contrast and is easily legible.
    • Verification: Use the “Reading Order” tool to verify that screen readers will read the musical elements in the correct logical sequence.

For the best results, use Save As or Export to PDF rather than “Print to PDF,” as the latter often removes accessibility tags.

By linking to a third party site, that site itself is not required to be fully compliant with Title II; however, if an accommodation is requested, the linked content must be made accessible.

The best approach is to convert the inaccessible material into digital, machine-readable formats (such as MusicXML or MIDI) and subsequently into accessible formats like Braille music or Modified Stave Notation (MSN). Since no alternative exists, faculty must create these accessible versions, often with support from university disability services or through specialized software.

Here are the specific options for remediating such scores:

  • Create a Digital “Source File” (Best Practice) 
    • Engrave in Notation Software: Use free, accessible software like MuseScore to manually enter (engrave) the music from the unpublished score.
    • Export to Accessible Formats: Once in MuseScore, the file can be converted into:
      • MusicXML: An industry-standard format that allows for screen reader accessibility.
      • Braille Music (BRF): Using conversion tools like Sao Mai Braille or MakeBraille.
      • Modified Stave Notation (MSN): Using MuseScore to create large, customized, high-contrast scores.
    • Use OMR Software: If you have a PDF, use Optical Music Recognition (OMR) software to convert the image to a digital format, then carefully check and correct the output.
  • Create “Talking Scores” or Audio-Based Representations 
    • Audio Representation: Create an audio representation of the score, which is highly effective for students who are blind or low vision. This can include descriptive text accompanied by audio playback of the music.
    • Talking Scores Project: This project can convert MusicXML files into a combination of text description and audio.
  • Apply Modified Stave Notation (MSN)
    • Tailored Layouts: For partially sighted musicians, convert the score into MSN. This involves increasing the size of noteheads and expressions, reducing clutter, adjusting staff spacing, and changing to landscape orientation for easier reading.
    • Software for Magnification: Use for Score (iOS/Mac) or Power Music (Windows) to import PDFs and enable large-print viewing, Reflow (making the music one continuous line), and customized contrast.
  • Use Text-Based Description (Alternative Text)
    • Contextual Alt Text: For small, unpublished snippets or musical examples, include detailed alt text that describes the musical notation (e.g., “Measure 1: C major triad in treble clef, quarter notes”).
    • Verbalizing Notation: Write out the notation verbally, replacing symbols like sharps/flats with words (e.g., “C-Sharp” instead of C#).
  • Leverage Institutional Support 
    • Disability Services: Contact the university’s Office of Accessible Education or Disability Services, as they often have Alternate Format Production teams that can handle transcription, including braille, HTML, or docx.
    • Specialized Transcription: Utilize specialized services for complex, handwritten, or non-traditional music, such as the FMDG Music School or the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).

Key Advice: Avoid simply enlarging a photocopy on a copier, as this rarely creates a usable, clear, or high-contrast score for low-vision musicians.

Under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), if institutionally supported technology does not exist to render complex music notation or audio fully accessible, the university is required to define “meaningful access” through effective communication, reasonable modifications, and the provision of alternative, tailored auxiliary aids and services.

“Meaningful access” in this context does not necessarily mean identical technology, but rather that the student has an equal opportunity to participate in and enjoy the benefits of the music program.

How Universities Define and Achieve Meaningful Access

  • Effective Communication via Alternative Formats: The goal is to ensure that the communication with a student with a disability is as effective as communication with students without disabilities. If specialized software is unavailable, the institution must provide alternatives such as braille, large print, or screen-reader-friendly digital formats for notation.
  • Primary Consideration of Requests: The university must give “primary consideration” to the specific auxiliary aid or service requested by the student with the disability when determining what is appropriate.
  • Qualified Human Assistance: When technology fails,, the university may need to provide a “qualified reader” who can read music notation effectively, accurately, and impartially.
  • Reasonable Modifications:The university must modify policies, practices, or procedures to avoid discrimination, such as adapting music courses, offering hands-on, tactile exploration of instruments, or modifying performance expectations to focus on auditory discrimination.
  • Conforming Alternate Versions and Talking Scores: If standard digital materials cannot be made accessible, the university must provide a “conforming alternate version”. For music, this might include the creation of “talking scores”—audio-based representations of sheet music.
  • Limitations on Meaningful Access: The university is not required to take actions that would result in a fundamental alteration of the program or an undue financial or administrative burden. However, simply lacking current technology does not exempt the university from the obligation to find alternative ways to provide access.

Back to top

References

Back to top