Accessible Music Publishing
Introduction
- This page is for music publishers, engravers, composers and anyone creating music scores using music notation software.
- Follow DAISY’s guidance and create your scores to be ‘born accessible’, ready for blind and other print-disabled musicians to quickly and effectively read your scores in their preferred reading format, whether braille, Modified Stave Notation, or digitally in notation tools and dedicated apps.
- Guidance has been created through the DAISY Music Braille Project but creates master scores which can be used/converted into all accessible formats, suitable for all print-disabled musicians.
Join us
Sign up to one or more of the relevant mailing lists to get more involved, or simply to stay in touch!
1. Guidance for music engraving / music setting
We have developed good practice guidelines for engravers/setters (using music notation software MuseScore, Sibelius and Finale). These have been trialled with engraving services and publishers and greatly improve the accessibility of the digital score content they create at source. This enables more effective conversion into accessible formats including music braille and Modified Stave Notation.
Read the latest DAISY Engraving Guidelines on a separate page.
2. The Marrakesh Treaty and accessible format production
The WIPO-administered Marrakesh Treaty makes the production and international transfer of specially-adapted books (for people with blindness, visual impairments or other print disabilities) easier. It does this by establishing a set of limitations and exceptions to traditional copyright law. The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted on June 27, 2013, and entered into force on September 30, 2016.
Read WIPO’s overview of the Marrakesh Treaty, and find out more about WIPO, Authorized Entities, and the ABC Global Book Consortium.
3. Accessible Music Publishing Action Group (AMPAG)
At the ‘Accessible Music Publishing Round Table’ (21.11.2023) we agreed to form a ‘Publishing Action Group’ on accessible music (scores for musicians with print disabilities).
AMPAG is a small group of invited music publishers, engraving services, and producers of accessible format materials working together to establish how to incorporate the creation of ‘born-accessible’ MusicXML files into their workflow and distribution processes. Public summaries of our meetings are included on this page.
| Participating publishers and engraving services | Participating producers of accessible format materials |
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Meeting 21.10.2024
Participants today included ABRSM, Taylor & Francis, Multitude of Voyces, My Sheet Music Transcriptions, Schott Music, DAISY, SBS, ONCE, RNIB, FMDG and NLS, with an update from Hal Leonard. New AMPAG members include Boosey and Hawkes, British Dyslexia Association Music Committee, and RSL Awards. Main topics covered:
- Publishers are progressing with their development and review of their new draft policy statements on accessible publishing and considering the best way to make MusicXML files available on request.
- DAISY continues to review publisher MusicXML files against the DAISY Engraving Guidelines, returning feedback for further improvements which would make them even more accessible and suitable for conversion into accessible formats.
- Continued collaboration to explore how music textbooks can be authored as born accessible publications, and how existing textbooks can be converted into accessible formats using automated tools, so students have access to entire textbooks quickly, rather than just a chapter or two.
- Discussions around the changing nature of textbook use in further/higher education towards the provision of digital resources on centralized learning platforms, and the importance of MusicXML for these resources.
- Development of guidance for end-users on making use of publisher MusicXML files.
- Ways to encourage more composers to make their scores available as MusicXML to musicians with print disabilities.
Next meeting 10 February 2025.
Meeting 22.07.2024
The third AMPAG meeting involved seven music publishers (ABRSM, ChoirCommunity, Hal Leonard, Multitude of Voyces, Schott, Taylor & Francis group, Wise Music group), a music engraving service (My Sheet Music Transcriptions), and six accessible format agencies (DAISY, Dedicon, NLS, RNIB, SBS, University of North Carolina Temple Hill). Publishers continue to work on their policies for the creation and provision of born-accessible scores in MusicXML format, and there are various trials underway for the creation, remediation and conversion of scores, as well as trials to prepare simple music textbook files, which are suitable for conversion into accessible formats. We are also drafting guidance for publishers on checking their files, and for end-users on how to use the files publishers provide. We are connecting with the Publishing Accessibility Action Group (PAAG), and the Music Publishers Association Joint Printed and Classical Committee, raising the profile of accessible music publishing and sharing good practice within the sector. Next meeting is Monday 21 October.
Meeting 20.05.2024: first accessible music publishing service launched, by ChoirCommunity
The second AMPAG meeting mainly focussed on the development of publisher policies for the provision of music files suitable for musicians with print impairments. The DAISY Consortium and RNIB were joined by six music publishers, producers of music braille and modified stave notation, music notation engravers.
We congratulated ChoirCommunity for launching the sector’s first ‘Accessible Music’ service (see https://www.choircommunity.net/ and https://www.choircommunity.net/blog/).
Wise Music Group has also made excellent progress in drafting their policy, both in collaboration with RNIB and the DAISY Consortium.
We discussed issues relating to formats available, and the entire workflow from customers requesting scores through to the provision of scores. We also reviewed resources for engravers including DAISY’s ‘Engraving Guidelines’, a new draft guide on ‘Checking a MusicXML file for its Suitability for Conversion into Accessible Formats’, methods for remediating backlist titles, and discussed an idea to introduce a quality mark to indicate files for accessible reading.
Meeting 26.02.2024
This first Action Group meeting included 13 music publishers, 6 representatives of non-profit accessible format production agencies and one music engraving service. We are collaborating to find ways to incorporate quality MusicXML/notation file production, distribution and promotion into music publishing workflows.
We heard about the accessibility journey of the trade book publishing industry, resulting in born-accessible eBooks (in ePub format). Publishers shared their workflows, highlighting challenges and opportunities for the creation of born-accessible scores, and remediation of backlist publications. We agreed to work on the development of policy, trialling engraving guidelines, and testing scores.
4. Round Table on Accessible Music Publishing 21.11.2023
The international DAISY Consortium and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) invited music publishers, composers, and music-setters/engravers to take part in an online Round Table on Accessible Music Publishing. The event explored various sector requirements, through presentations and discussions between: mainstream music publishers (including exam boards), braille and other accessible format producers, blind, partially sighted, and print-disabled musicians, music setters/engravers, music notation software producers.
We discussed steps that the global sector can take to ensure equitable access to published scores, in response to legislation and to take advantage of technological advances, with the aim of establishing a sector Working Group and trialling some solutions.
Materials available from the Round Table
Notes (for download):
- Agenda and speakers with video timestamps, main links and Q&A topics
- Presenters, links, and attendees
- Invitation
Presentations (videos open in new window on YouTube):
- Full video recording of the Round Table (3 hours)
- Video: James Yanchak, Taylor & Francis (3 mins)
- Video: John Rutter CBE, Composer (45 secs)
- Video: Roxanna Panufnik, Composer (35 secs)
- Video: Derek Benton, MuseScore Engraver (6 mins)
- Accessibility in Sibelius – PowerPoint presentation from Sam Butler, Avid Audio
5. Stay involved
Join our mailing list to stay connected and join working groups related to accessible music publishing, by emailing us at: MusicPublishing@daisy.org