Modified Stave Notation
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Modified Stave Notation (MSN) is an alternative way of notating music that was developed in the UK where it is widely used. MSN is intended to be used by people who cannot easily read ordinary musical stave notation (or staff notation), even if it is enlarged, or for some people reduced in size. Such users include those with
visual impairment Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment†...
s and those who are
dyslexic Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...
.


History

In the 1990s the then
Royal National Institute for the Blind The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss. History The RNIB was founded by Thomas Rhodes Armitage, a doctor who had eye ...
, negotiated with the Music Publishers' Association an agreement to permit partially sighted people to enlarge music, providing only one copy was made and the enlarged music was not re-sold. For each item enlarged, permission was needed from the work's publisher who would then supply a yellow sticker with "MPA approved large print music copy RNIB" written over a five line stave. It was noted, however, at this time that enlargement produced new problems, notably with the extra space between symbols and the production of either unwieldy large and flimsy
sheets A bed sheet is a rectangular piece of cloth used either singly or in a pair as bedding, which is larger in length and width than a mattress, and which is placed immediately above a mattress or bed, but below blankets and other bedding (such as ...
or scores requiring more page turns and not necessarily in convenient places. So examples of music in which all signs equally enlarged but compacted horizontally were created. Also in the 1990s some music publishers started producing music in
large print Large-print (also large-type or large-font) refers to the formatting of a book or other text document in which the typeface (or font) are considerably larger than usual to accommodate people who have low vision. Frequently the medium is also increa ...
fonts, taking layouts used widely for children's beginner tutor books and extending these to short repertoire pieces, particularly for
keyboard instrument A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers which are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital piano ...
s. The National Music and Disability Information Service kept a resource paper "RP14 Information on Music for People with Partial Sight" which listed some of these publishers. With the advent of sophisticated
music notation software A scorewriter, or music notation program is software for creating, editing and printing sheet music. A scorewriter is to music notation what a word processor is to text, in that they typically provide flexible editing and automatic layout, and p ...
, such as MuseScore, the production of MSN became easier, with the ability to save preferred settings of each user. The Royal National Institute of Blind People is the largest formal producer of MSN in the world, with a production team based in
Ivybridge Ivybridge is a town and civil parish in the South Hams, in Devon, England. It lies about east of Andy Hughes’ new house in Ivybridge now he’s forgotten Ugborough. It is at the southern extremity of Dartmoor, a National Park of England an ...
,
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
. MSN has become an accepted standard for public examinations in England and Wales, for
GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
and
A level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
music and music technology papers, under general special arrangements authorised by the
Joint Council for Qualifications The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) is a community interest company acting as a single voice for the eight largest qualification providers in the United Kingdom offering GCSE, GCE, Scottish Highers and vocationally related qualifications ...
, and worldwide for sight reading tests for grade examination boards such as the
Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is an examination board and registered charity based in the United Kingdom. ABRSM is one of five examination boards accredited by Ofqual to award graded exams and diploma qualification ...
, and
Trinity College London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom, which offers graded and diploma qualifications (up to postgraduate level) across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and ...
. Candidates requiring Modified Print copies of the
rubric A rubric is a word or section of text that is traditionally written or printed in red ink for emphasis. The word derives from the la, rubrica, meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in Medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th cent ...
may ask for MSN scores, sometimes in a standard format, sometimes tailor-made to match a submitted example.


Standards

Formalising standards for MSN in the UK involved: * discussion amongst producers * experiments with users and * examination with software producers of the variables within packages. The work was underpinned by links with RNIB's general print guidelines for making information accessible for blind and partially sighted people, "See it Right". Reading music notation is more complex than reading prose involving complex
eye movements Eye movement includes the voluntary or involuntary movement of the eyes. Eye movements are used by a number of organisms (e.g. primates, rodents, flies, birds, fish, cats, crabs, octopus) to fixate, inspect and track visual objects of inte ...
. Not only are there many symbols of different shapes and sizes, but the signs are placed in
vertical Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down * Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting s ...
as well as horizontal dimensions, some having effect for lines of music whilst others just apply to single features. Often the reader needs to read "in time" rather than at his or her own speed, alongside the execution of complex physical skills to render the symbols into sound via an instrument. Usually music is placed further away than ordinary print, allowing for an instrument to be placed between player and the printed music. There may also be the need to see a
musical director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...
in the middle distance. With eReading devices it is easy to obtain ordinary print consistently in one's preferred font size and type face. However, stave notation comes in all kinds of densities, type faces and relative symbols size. Modified Stave Notation can enable users to have consistent size and layout.


Guidelines

Guidelines for the production of Modified Stave Notation are published by the UK Association for Accessible Formats (UKAAF) in document "G009 UKAAF Modified Stave Notation meeting individual needs for large print music". The fundamentals of producing Modified Stave Notation are: * clear printing of symbols with no overlapping of different signs * evening out the symbol size and density * reducing redundant space * placing symbols used around the stave at a consistent distance from the lines and the notes to which they refer (so once one is located, the reader can reasonably expect to find them in the same place later in the piece), and, * describe in words in a preface the location of sporadic or unusual symbols.


Other factors assisting accessibility

In addition to the alteration of stave notation layout in MSN, other factors affecting
accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...
include binding, colour of background paper (as stave notation is conventionally in black ink) and lighting. The use of multimedia can also increase accessibility. For example, the music seen can also be heard electronically with a variety of levels of "interpretation" from just the pitch and note lengths, to full nuance and stylistic detail. Lastly, analysis and development of reading and memorisation techniques, pertinent to the user's requirements, may aid fluency.


General principles of clear print

Some principles from RNIB's guidelines 'See It Right' are transferred directly to stave notation in MSN. The staves and note stem thickness correspond to a thickness of letters in 16
point Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...
typefaces. Spaces between systems and between staves within a system are sufficiently large, although more use is made of left and right margins. Text is
sans serif In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif, gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than seri ...
, semi-bold or bold.


Other modifications

Numerals are used in music for all kinds of purposes: in MSN page numbers are distinguished from bar numbers, by being placed in circles, for example. In MSN the use of full size numerals for fingering rather than subscript size is a particular feature. Fingering numbers are also often placed in a horizontal line rather than dipping up and down to follow the contour of the
melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
, enabling a user to memorise the melody and then just follow the fingering numbers. The need for text to follow easily from column to column, page to page, is especially important in MSN where page turns need to occur where possible at a place where there are rests or at least at suitable musical breaks. Many users of modified print materials read them with additional technological help, such as a closed circuit television screen: for this, the pages need to be able to lie flat. Much music is written in portrait format, whereas landscape is preferred for MSN to reduce the number of times the reader has to track back to the beginning of a new system. MSN using music notation software enables dyslexic and partially sighted people who struggle to use the huge variety of formats of stave notation to have their music produced in a consistent layout, according to certain conventions, allowing more fluent use.Gould, E. (2011) "Behind bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation" London: Faber Music


References

{{reflist Musical notation