Guide to Creating Accessible Music Scores with MuseScore 4.X.X

Getting Started

Engraving the Score

Cleaning the Score

Creating the MEI file

Edit the Header

Edit the Music

Export to MEI

Exporting to Accessible File Formats

Braille Music Notation

Audio

Modified Stave Notation

Making Files Available

Resources

Guide to Creating Accessible Music Scores with MuseScore 4.X.X

Written by: Elizabeth A. Pineo

Last updated: March 30, 2025

Getting Started

Identify the score to be made accessible.
If possible, download the score to the machine where the workflow is to occur.
Launch MuseScore.
- If the score is a PDF, navigate to File > Import PDF… This will open a new browser window.
- Upload the score. At this point, filling out the requested information is optional.
- If the upload is successful, open the newly downloaded file in MuseScore, and skip to “Cleaning the Score.”
- If the upload is unsuccessful, go to “Engraving the Score.”

Engraving the Score

Using MuseScore’s built-in tools, manually enter each note, symbol, dynamic marking, staff text, etc. into the MuseScore document.
Make sure to save frequently to avoid losing work.
Upon completion of the initial entry, double-check the created score against the original. It is often useful to have a fresh pair of eyes look over them.
If you are not creating an MEI file, skip to “Exporting to Accessible File Formats.”
If you are creating an MEI file, skip to “Creating the MEI file.”

Cleaning the Score

Double-check the imported score against the original. Make sure that notes are the same, dynamic markings appear where marked, accidentals are correct, etc.
Upon completion of the prior step, it is often useful to have a fresh pair of eyes compare both the original and MuseScore scores for accuracy.
If you are not creating an MEI file, skip to “Exporting to Accessible File Formats.”
If you are creating an MEI file, continue to “Creating the MEI file.”

Creating the MEI file

In MuseScore, select File > Export…
Under “Format,” choose “musicXML.”
Under “File type,” choose “Uncompressed (*.musicxml).”
Select a location to save the file.
Select “Save.”
In a new browser window (Safari not recommended), open mei-friend.
Select File > Open file…
Navigate to where you saved your .musicXML file, then open it.
In mei-friend, you should see a preview of the score you’re working on (not the score displayed by default).

Edit the Header

Replace lines 1–26 with the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<?xml-model href="https://music-encoding.org/schema/5.0/mei-all.rng" type="application/xml" schematypens="http://relaxng.org/ns/structure/1.0"?>

<?xml-model href="https://music-encoding.org/schema/5.0/mei-all.rng" type="application/xml" schematypens="http://purl.oclc.org/dsdl/schematron"?>

<title type="score" n="1">TITLE</title>

</titleStmt>

</respStmt>

<availability>Open Source, CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0</availability>

</pubStmt>

<annot>Part of the project "PROJECT NAME"</annot>

</notesStmt>

</fileDesc>

<bibl>

<persName auth="LOC" auth.uri="INERT AUTHORITY URL" role="composer">INSERT NAME</persName>

<persName auth="LOC" auth.uri="INSERT AUTHORITY URL" role="lyricist">INSERT NAME</persName>

</bibl>

</edition>

</editionStmt>

</manifestation>

</manifestationList>

</meiHead>

Fill in relevant information.
Add roles as needed, following the provided convention. Copy everything between <persName> and </persName> and edit the role as needed.
Add other metadata as desired/needed, following the Music Encoding Initiative Documentation.

Edit the Music

Ensure that the preview of the score matches the original score.
If it does not, click the element that does not match, and make edits accordingly, following the Music Encoding Initiative Documentation.
If there are problems you encounter that are not covered by the documentation, join the Music Encoding Slack channel, and pose your question to the community.

Export to MEI

When you are finished editing your file, select File > Save MEI. The file will automatically save to your Downloads folder (or whichever location you have specified browser downloads will go).
Move it to wherever you prefer the file to be stored.
Open the MEI file in MuseScore.

Exporting to Accessible File Formats

In MuseScore, navigate to File > Export…

Braille Music Notation

The Braille Ready Format (BRF) that MuseScore exports is imperfect and does not follow all Braille Music Notation conventions. For example, the music will not begin on a new line after the score information (title, composer, tempo, etc.), clefs will still be present in the exported file, and some symbols will be repeated (especially in multi-voice unison passages). These files are rough, but they are functional and editable.

Under Format, select “Braille (basic bar-over-bar).”
Select “Export…”
Select a location to save the file.
Select “Save.”

Audio

Under Format, select “WAV audio.”
- Note that WAV and WAVE are different acronyms for the same file type. The Library of Congress recommends preserving audio as WAVE files.
- Other audio options include: MP3, OGG, FLAC, and MIDI.
Select “Export…”
Select a location to save the file.
Select “Save.”

Modified Stave Notation

Read Modified Stave Notation Settings for MuseScore 4.X.X for detailed guidance on creating a basic format that can be reused for multiple files. Note that there is no single standard for creating modified stave notation (MSN); there are as many ways of creating MSN files as there are users of them. The linked guidelines are but a beginning suggestion for setting up a file that can later be individualized as needed.

Making Files Available

Depending upon your target users' needs, where and how you distribute the files you create will differ. If you are working in a specific archive, you will likely make your files available that way.

But, if you are working independently, I recommend Zenodo, GitHub, and IMSLP for distribution. Zenodo is an academic-focused data repository; files cannot be edited after upload, but a DOI is generated for the dataset. GitHub is also a public-orientated data repository, but it permits file editing after upload. ISMLP is a music score distributor that permits individuals to contribute to it; only public domain works can be uploaded.