Re: Music accessibility questions

I can't speak to anything having to do with military standards, but I can
address the subject of accessibility of music notation in general.

Braille music would be one common form of expressing music for blind
musicians.  There is an ASCII format for Braille that could be used in alt
text, and I've actually been curious to try this.  In principle it would
work and a blind user using a Braille display could then read the music
that way,  But I could also imagine it not working very well compared to
traditionally embossed Braille, since music needs to be read in a somewhat
less linear fashion than text and the navigation possibilities for alt text
probably aren't that great.  And in case, you'd still need to get the music
into Braille in the first place, which is the harder part - usually a very
manual process that requires expertise in this.

MusicXML as mentioned is a great format for accessibility because it can
then either be converted to Braille via a variety of automatic and
semi-automatic tools, or it can be opened in a music notation program like
MuseScore or whatever the user in question is comfortable with, and read by
screen reader with full navigation and even playback.  But, for that to
work, you won't want the MusicXML to actually be the alt text for the image
- you'll want it to be a separate file (probably a ZIP of all the MusicXML
files for all the examples).

Assuming these examples were created in music notation software, then
exporting to MusicXML would be simple enough.  So if it passes muster to
include a ZIP of MusicXML files for your examples, that's almost certainly
the most *useful* option.  If on the other hand the music was simply
scanned from a print rather than generated via music notation software,
it's going to be process getting all that music entered.

Marc

On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 7:03 AM Noble, Stephen <steve.noble@louisville.edu>
wrote:

> Some years back, I was involved with the Benetech DIAGRAM Project, and we
> created the Accessible Image Sample Book:
> http://diagramcenter.org/standards-and-practices/accessible-image-sample-book.html
>
> We looked at how to include a variety of content in digital format in an
> accessible manner. We included a section on music, in which we generally
> recommended MusicXML to support music accessibility. MusicXML  is supported
> in music-aware braille translation software and can be coupled with braille
> displays and speech-access systems. MusicXML is also widely supported by
> music notation software that can create enlarged notation to be viewed on
> the screen or printed. This allows further manipulation of the music
> notation, audible playback in real time using synthetic music, or export to
> standard audio formats.
>
> To go direct to the Music section, the web excerpt is at
> http://diagramcenter.wpengine.com/samplebook/08-Music.xhtml
>
> However, I would suggest you take the time to check out the resources
> mentioned on the sample book landing page (the first link I shared), where
> you will find a link to a webinar we did as well as a link to the GitHub
> repository where all the source files can be found.
>
> --Steve Noble
> steve.noble@louisville.edu
> 502-969-3088
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* SUZANNE.DOYLE@forces.gc.ca <SUZANNE.DOYLE@forces.gc.ca>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 21, 2023 6:44 PM
> *To:* public-music-notation@w3.org <public-music-notation@w3.org>
> *Subject:* Music accessibility questions
>
>
> Good afternoon,
>
>
>
> I am a web developer working with the Music Branch at the Canadian Armed
> Forces to produce their Music Branch manual online. (I’m not a musician.)
>
>
>
> Volume 1 of the manual is almost complete and will be WCAG AA compliant
> for the web as HTML and I will provide an accessible PDF downloadable
> document. (I have no issues with regular content.)
>
>
>
> The issue is Volume 2 of the manual, it contains mostly images of sheet
> music with musical notes for Marches, Calls and Protocols content.
>
>
>
> Normally, I code an image with a descriptive alt tag or provide a long
> alternative text version under the image. I don’t think this would work in
> this case as three quarters of Volume 2 are images which means over a
> hundred pages of sheet music. The descriptive text for the musical notes
> would add at least 100 pages more. This wouldn’t make sense online or in a
> PDF document plus the time and money it would take to write and incorporate
> all that descriptive text. The problem would be that the military musicians
> would do without the online manual, and they travel so this is not a
> solution.
>
>
>
> Can you please guide me on how to create sheet music and musical notes
> that are WCAG 2 compliant for HTML and for a PDF document? What tools and
> or software are available plus how do I test it? I’ve searched online and
> really can’t find anything that’s helpful or concrete.
>
>
>
> Thank you in advance.
>
>
>
> Yours truly,
>
>
>
> Suzanne Doyle
>
>
>
> Web Developer, Directorate History and Heritage (DHH)
>
> National Defence | Government of Canada
>
> Suzanne.Doyle@forces.gc.ca / Tel: 613-290-2102
>
>
>
> Développeur web, Histoire et patrimoine (DHP)
>
> Défense nationale │ Gouvernement du Canada
>
> Suzanne.Doyle@forces.gc.ca / Tél : 613-290-2102
>
>
>


-- 
Marc Sabatella
marc@outsideshore.com