Introduction

This article includes links to the recording from our October 2024 Monthly Meet-up Session. James Bowden, Braille Technical Officer at RNIB, demonstrates how to access all the basic functions of MuseScore Studio using screen reader and keyboard navigation. James demonstrates using NVDA on Windows, but MuseScore Studio also works well with macOS and VoiceOver.

Sighted users can of course also navigate MuseScore using a mouse and without using a screen reader. The functions demonstrated are the same.

You can access the recording at the following links:

Please continue for James’ handout, which also includes links to the relevant sections from the demo.

What is MuseScore Studio?

MuseScore Studio is a mainstream, fully-featured music score editor. It enables you to create music written in print score notation. Think of MuseScore Studio like a word processor for music scores.

The accompanying website, musescore.com contains a vast collection of pieces which you can download (some may require a subscription to access).

Once you have a piece in MuseScore Studio, you can play it, print it, convert to large print (with a template) and even convert to braille (with additional software).

Download and installation

1. Go to musescore.org
2. Select the Download link
3. Select the version according to your operating system.
   Note: I recommend at this stage that screen reader users should download MuseScore Studio without Muse Hub.
4. Once you have downloaded the setup file, install it.
   Note: you may need administrator privileges.
5. Follow the onscreen instructions to install.

At the time of writing, the Windows version works best with NVDA; the Mac version works with VoiceOver. The iOS app is not accessible and only provides limited functionality.

About keyboard navigation

There are a few little quirks to be aware of when using MuseScore Studio from the computer keyboard. Note the following:

• in dialogs, use Arrow keys as well as Tab,
• to open a list, press Space before arrowing up and down,
• some radio buttons do not announce their state when pressing Space,
• there are some areas of the program which are not yet fully accessible.

First run

When you first run MuseScore Studio, a Welcome dialog appears, allowing you to choose a colour scheme, then giving information about Muse Sounds, a package offering more realistic sounds for playback. Once you finish the welcome screens, you are in MuseScore Studio.

The first screen shows:

• Home, where you can manage a MuseScore account and open recent scores.
• Score, which shows the current score.
• Publish, which has options to upload your score to the musescore.com website.

We will not cover this screen in this presentation. You can also open recent scores from the File menu and publish scores directly using the website.

Creating a score

If you want to begin a new score from scratch, choose New from the File menu, or press Ctrl + N. This calls up the New Score Wizard.

The New Score Wizard contains two main pages: the first lets you choose what instruments you want, the second lets you choose key and time signatures, tempo and the number of bars, title and composer information.

Choosing your instruments

You have a choice to select instruments manually, or to use one of the templates which come with MuseScore Studio.

Manually choosing instruments

Assume we want a flute and a piano. In the first page of the New Score Wizard:

1. Use Shift + Tab to get to Choose Instruments, or Create from Template.
2. Arrow Up or Down if needed to Choose Instruments and press Space.
3. Tab to the category and choose Woodwind and press Space
4. Tab to the list of instruments, arrow to Flute and press Space. It is added to your score.
5. Shift + Tab and choose Keyboards and press Space.
6. Tab and from the list, choose Piano and press Space. It is added to your score.

Using a template

Assume we want a four part choir. There is a template for this. In the first page of the New Score Wizard:

1. Use Shift + Tab to get to Choose Instruments, or Create from Template.
2. Arrow Up or Down if needed to Create from Template and press Space.
3. Tab to the category and choose Choral and press Space

Tab to the list of possible templates , arrow to SATB and press Space. All four voices are added to your score.

Whether you used Choose Instruments or Create from Template, you can Tab to the list of instruments in your score and then Arrow Up and Down to make sure it is correct.

Second page

Once you have chosen your instruments, press Tab and Arrow keys to get to the Next button and press Space to move to the second page of the New Score Wizard. This page consists of two sections: in the first section, select the key and time signatures, tempo and number of bars. In the second section, type in the title and composer details.

Key and time section

The first button sets the key signature. Press Space to open a dialog and use Arrow and Tab to choose. When done, press Escape.

Press Down Arrow to move to the time signature button and repeat the process to set up your time signature. Notice that there are three types of time signature: numeric, and then the symbols for common time and cut time.

Arrow Down once again to get to the tempo, and then once again for the number of bars. Note: you can always add or remove extra bars from the main screen.

Title section

Press Tab to move to the title section. This consists of a number of edit boxes where you can type the title, composer and so on for your piece. Type in the text and use Up or Down Arrow to move between the boxes.

Once you are satisfied everything is correct, Tab to the Done button and press Space.

A blank score with your chosen instruments should now appear.

Entering notes

1. Press N to switch to Note Input mode and focus on the score.
2. Use the number keys to set the note length: 5 for a crotchet (quarter note), smaller numbers for shorter notes, larger numbers for longer notes.
3. Use dot (period) if you want a dotted note.
4. Press letters A-G to enter the corresponding note.
5. Press digit 0 (zero) to enter a rest.
6. Press T for a tie.

If you make a mistake, you can either arrow Left and overwrite the incorrect note, or use Undo (Ctrl + Z). Best not to use Backspace or Delete to remove incorrect notes (Delete or Backspace can be used to remove extra items, such as unwanted slurs, dynamics, ornaments and so on).

To play your composition, press Space.

Accidentals

You can use the following keys to add accidentals:

• Sharp: Plus.
• Flat: Minus (hyphen).
• Natural: Equals.

Press these before you enter the note. They are mostly of use if you need a “courtesy” accidental (for example you want to emphasise a note is natural).

Press J for “enharmonic equivalents”, that is, to change C sharp to D flat and so on.

You can enter most accidentals simply using the Arrow keys.

Arrow keys

When in the score, the arrow keys have the following main functions:

• Left and Right: move from note to note.
• Ctrl + Left and Right: move from bar to bar.
• Alt + Left and Right: move through the notes including any annotations.
• Up and Down: move note by semitones (half step).
• Ctrl + Up and Down: move note by octave.
• Alt + Up and Down: move through the staves and voices.

Simple chords

To put multiple notes at the same time and rhythm (chords), use Shift + letters A-G. The additional note is always placed above the previous one, so chords work upwards.

Triplets and other irregular grouping

Here’s how to enter a triplet or other irregular grouping (tuplet). Make sure you are in Note Input mode (N) before you start:

1. Set the length to the total length of the triplet.
2. Press Ctrl + 3 (for a triplet, or Ctrl + other numbers for other irregular groups).
3. Write the notes of the triplet.

Note: make sure that the notes go in the right place.

Copy and paste

Cut, copy and paste work in a similar way to a word processor: first you select a range of notes, then you use Cut or Copy, then move to where you want to place the music and use Paste. All keys are as you would expect, for example Shift + Arrows, Ctrl + X or Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V. You must be in Normal mode, not Note Input, to do this, so press N to make sure you are in the right mode.

Annotations, ornaments and articulations

Most of these are found in the Palette, though some also have shortcut keys.

When adding things to notes, it’s often best to come out of Note Input mode and use Normal mode, so press N to check.

• Slur: S. Make a selection if the slur goes over more than just the current note and the next one.
• Staccato: Shift + S.
• Tenuto: Shift + N.
• Accent: Shift + V.
• Crescendo hairpin: < (less than). Make a selection first to select where the hairpin will start and end.
• Decrescendo hairpin: > (greater than).

There are others. Note that several of the above keys do work in Note Input mode, but will apply to new notes that you add.

The Palette

The Palette contains all kinds of musical symbols to add to your score, including dynamics, clefs, key and time signatures, ornaments and articulations and much more.

1. Move to the note or select a range of notes.
2. Press Tab until you hear Palette radio button.
3. Either Arrow to the search box and type in what you want, or Tab to the list of available palettes.
4. Use Arrow Up and Down to move through the palettes, Left and Right to open and close.
5. When you find the desired symbol, press Enter to add to the score. You return to the score.

You can add more palettes with the Add Palettes button, and there’s a search function.

Multiple voices

If you have more than one part on a single stave and the notes move at different times, use “voices”. For example this can happen in keyboard music. Shortcuts are Ctrl + Alt + 1, 2, 3 or 4, for the four available voices. Pressing one of these shortcuts in Note Input mode will apply to new notes you enter, if you are in Normal mode, it will move the selected notes to the new voice.

Save!

Don’t forget to save your composition! The usual Save and Save As commands are available on the File menu, Ctrl + S works as expected.

Note you have a choice whether to save to the cloud or on your local computer.

Export

Use the Export command on the File menu to convert your MuseScore file to a variety of other formats, including audio, PDF, MusicXML and braille. Several of these formats have options, such as saving as compressed or uncompressed MusicXML.

At this stage, the export to braille is fairly rudimentary. We look forward to further enhancements.

The braille window

If you have a connected braille display, you can enable a braille window. it shows the current bar of the current stave in rudimentary braille music. Like the export, we look forward to future enhancements.

Setup (only needed once)

1. Open the Preferences, from the Edit menu.
2. Shift + Tab to get to the categories, General is the first one.
3. Arrow to the Braille category and press Space to select.
4. Tab to the settings for the braille window.
5. Make sure the checkbox to enable it is checked, and Arrow to other options, such as to set the braille code.
6. Tab to OK and press Space to close the preferences.

While talking about Preferences, it’s worth at some point reviewing the other pages at your leisure, for example, the Shortcuts page shows you all the shortcut keys in MuseScore Studio.

To switch between the main score and the braille window, press Tab and Shift + Tab as usual.

The braille window is useful for basic checks, for example, to check slurs, hairpins, dynamics etc. are in the right places. It’s also good  just to read more quickly than listening to the speech alone. For example, it’s slow to check every accidental is right using speech alone, but very quick to notice an A flat instead of G sharp in braille.

In the braille window, you can also press N to go to Note Input and then, using S, D, F, J, K, L (six key input) on your computer keyboard,  you can type notes and intervals directly as braille music.

In Normal mode, press Ctrl + Left and Right to move between bars.

More information and help

We’ve only covered the basics in this session and MuseScore Studio has many more features and functions. Your primary source for more information is the Handbook, available from the musescore.org website or through the app’s Help menu. Treat the Handbook as a reference book, so use the Search function and type in, for example, lyrics, tempo, figured bass, rehearsal letters, … or any number of other interesting and exciting topics.

There are also discussion groups and forums, see the musescore.com website, under Community, for details.

Outside Shore Music also offers tips, tutorials and masterclasses on all things MuseScore Studio and music theory. Some are paid-for.

Finally, there is a community-led MuseScore Accessibility mailing list on Groups.io. Subscribe at: musescoreaccessibility+subscribe@groups.io