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The Workflow
The Workflow
What I Did
What I Did
To test this workflow, I used it to create a set of 14 scores from Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759–1824). I made files in five formats, including: Music Encoding Initiative (MEI), musicXML, Braille Ready Format (BRF), Modified stave notation (MSN), and Waveform Audio File Format (WAV, sometimes WAVE). After that, I conducted usability testing on the resulting scores to ensure that they functioned as intended for the end users. I uploaded the scores to IMSLP, GitHub, and Zenodo (Part 1; Part 2).
Findings
Findings
There were three prominent formatting issues with the BRF files that MuseScore cannot currently correct. First, the music in the BRF files started on the same line as the header information (title, composer, etc.) instead of a new line. Second, Braille music notation often does not use clefs, but there is no way to remove clefs from MuseScore files. Third, the BRF files did not include appended lyrics, which all of the scores for this project used. But, ultimately, both participants testing the BRF files said that they were workable and far better to have than just the image-based PDF.
Next, modified stave notation is a genre of score that encapsulates as many formatting options as there are users of it. One participant preferred colored note heads, while the other preferred black. Neither of my participants preferred labeled notes, but others might have. Preferences for font size were likewise varied. For this study, I used a minimum font size of 18 and used equivalent settings for non-text elements’ size and spacing. For one participant, that was fine, but the other preferred something larger. Again, the MSN scores were overall workable, and both participants said they were useful. Meeting everyone's needs and preferences with an MSN score is probably impossible, but finding a compromise that works for most people is probably possible.
The WAV files were generally used in an auxiliary capacity to the BRF and MSN files, so they were not directly tested. However, all participants indicated that they were helpful to have because they helped participants hear the score and tell them if there were any mistakes or oddities in it.
The primary goal of this study was to determine the efficacy and feasibility of the workflow by ensuring that the scores created are usable by real-world users. I found that the workflow is successful at creating three types of accessible scores but that it likely requires further automation to be truly feasible for widespread implementation. Nonetheless, the workflow is very effective at creating more MEI and musicXML files, which are essential to long-term music archive preservation initiatives. They also benefit digital humanities practitioners by creating data sets for them to analyze in any number of new, imaginative manners. Most importantly, it increases the number of accessible music scores available to users. With increases in OMR capabilities, this workflow could be made practical.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Archivists must center accessibility in all that they do, at all stages of design, because accessibility touches all aspects of archival work. Creating accessible versions of otherwise inaccessible music scores for Disabled users helps make practically attainable users’ human rights to information access and cultural heritage.
Archivists are both motivated and powerfully positioned to facilitate those rights in a way that allows not just our musician from the beginning of the presentation—but every user to access the vibrant and rich worlds, histories, and heritages contained within each score. This workflow can help archivists begin that long, vitally important journey.
References
References
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