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.\u00a0These 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.<\/p>\n
Whenever possible, avoid sharing scanned images as the sole format<\/em> 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:<\/p>\n 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).<\/p>\n Review University of North Texas\u2019 Describing Musical Examples with Text and Alt Text<\/a> to understand the unique aspects of writing alt text for music. Below are a few examples:<\/p>\n A \u201ctalking 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n For examples of manually-created talking scores, check out\u00a0Bill Brown\u2019s Piano by Ear lessons<\/a>. For examples of talking scores generated using a conversion program, check out the Talking Scores open source project<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2011on\u2011one basis to identify and implement the most effective accommodations to meet their needs.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> How do I make YouTube videos of musical recordings accessible? Q:<\/strong> How do I make an MP4 video that I upload accessible? Q:<\/strong> How can I upload a PDF of a musical score and make it accessible? Q:<\/strong> How can I upload an accessible PDF with a music font since I can\u2019t use \u201cPrint to PDF,\u201d but must use \u201cSave as PDF\u201d? None of the fonts transfer. Q:<\/strong> When we message students through Canvas and include links to external sites, do those sites need to be fully compliant with Title II? Q:<\/strong> How does the university propose faculty remediate accessibility for personal, unpublished, or non-library musical scores where no alternative accessible format exists? Q:<\/strong> If there is no institutionally supported technology that exists to render complex music notation accessible to blind or low-vision students, and audio to deaf or hard of hearing students, how does the university define \u201cmeaningful access\u201d under Title II? 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.\u00a0These 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. Digital Scores Whenever possible, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37849,"featured_media":0,"parent":685,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-798","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/it.tamus.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/it.tamus.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/it.tamus.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/it.tamus.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37849"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/it.tamus.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/it.tamus.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":828,"href":"https:\/\/it.tamus.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/798\/revisions\/828"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/it.tamus.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/it.tamus.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":752,"date":"2025-10-22T14:48:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T19:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/it.tamus.edu\/accessibility\/?page_id=752"},"modified":"2026-03-10T10:07:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T15:07:20","slug":"microsoft-word","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/it.tamus.edu\/accessibility\/accessibility-guides\/microsoft-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Accessible Microsoft Word Documents"},"content":{"rendered":" An accessible document is structured to be usable by everyone, including people with disabilities who use assistive technology like screen readers. Following these practices not only ensures compliance with standards like WCAG but also creates a more organized, navigable, and professional document for all readers.<\/p>\n Note:<\/strong> Although this guide is written for Microsoft Word documents, it also contains guidance on creating documents in Adobe InDesign, Google Docs, and Apple Pages.<\/p>\n\n
Non-Digital Notation<\/h2>\n
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Talking Scores<\/h2>\n
More Best Practices<\/h2>\n
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Accommodation Requests<\/span><\/h2>\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/span><\/h2>\n
\nA:<\/strong> 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. 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”).<\/p>\n
\nA:<\/strong> 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, or strobing visuals. Include a text transcript that explains the audio, video narration, and key visual information.<\/p>\n
\nA:<\/strong> Produce scores in a digital format such as MusicXML. See our PDFs Accessibility Guide<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n
\nA:<\/strong> Creating an accessible PDF that includes specialized musical notation fonts requires embedding the fonts, tagging the structure, and ensuring the musical content is described.<\/p>\n
\nA:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n
\nA:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n
\nA:<\/strong> 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\u00a0<\/span>effective communication<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/span>reasonable modifications<\/strong>, and the provision of\u00a0<\/span>alternative, tailored auxiliary aids and services<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nReferences<\/h2>\n
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Document Structure and Hierarchy<\/h2>\n
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Text and Content Formatting<\/h2>\n
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Accessible Links<\/h2>\n
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Visuals and Non-Text Content<\/h2>\n
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