Music scores are not readily available in an accessible format to students who are taking band and/or music classes. Often the band/music director will manually create recordings for students who are not able to read the printed music. Some students and teachers of the visually impaired (TVIs) do learn the braille music code – a braille code which is different than literary and math braille codes. The TVI can create a braille version of the desired music; however, there are obvious challenges of reading braille using your fingers while playing an instrument.
WhiteNote was created to provide an alternative way to provide accessible music sheets. Printed music can be scanned and saved as an XML or MXL format and then WhiteNote, a free application, is used to read these files aloud.
There are two ways to create an accessible SML file:
Once the XML file has been created, WhiteNote is used to read the music aloud.
Once the music is converted, the accessible files can easily be shared. WhiteNote is creating an accessible music library; once you create a file, please share the music file.
Do you have questions or suggestions? Contact WhiteNote: [email protected]
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To read an article about WhiteNote, go to ‘WhiteNote’ app helps visually impaired learn music.
By Diane Brauner