See the music world through the eyes of the blind

In 2025 I made important changes to musicalescapism.com, overhauling of the way information is presented by sorting content into tabs, making it clearer how to filter scores in different ways.

I also introduced direct access to Musescore files of every original and creative commons licenced score. This big change came about after I was asked about providing Musescore files on Reddit to a vision-impaired user.

This seemed a fair request so after some thought I decided to go ahead with this, especially that given users of all stripes can use the latter to perform with, muting whatever instrument they are playing while letting the other voices play aloud.

In addition to playing the music for you so blind users can learn by ear, Musescore files can be exported as XML files which makes them compatible for use with Braille music software. Braille music programs create a file that can be printed onto heavy paper by braille embossers to create the raised bumps that blind users read.

Additionally, MuseScore 4.1+ offers native Braille support, allowing users to view, export, and input music in Braille format.

The following video demonstrates how blind musicians read braille scores.

As a (lapsed) member of the Amateur Chamber Music Society, I still get 'Tutti', the organisation's magazine. Through this I've learned there is an annual music camp for braille users held at Frensham in Mittagong. Founder of these camps, Roma Dix talks about why she and husband Ian Cooper founded these extraordinary camps nearly forty years ago:

You can also watch the Australian Story episode, 'Blind leading the blind' about two remarkable blind musicians who grew up attending Braille Music Camp and went on to creat the world's first open source screen reader.

In addition to providing direct download of each Musescore file individually, I've also combined all the Musescore files into a single folder and provided a link under the 'Instructions & Terms of Use' dropdown where users can download the files as a set.

I should include a qualification about the quality of the Musescore virtual instruments. I noticed a large difference in quality between Musescore 3 and Musescore 4 versions. I found the Musescore 4 virtual instruments were so quiet I had to put ff (double forte) on each one and the quality was nothing like the rich tones that I had relied on with Musescore 3. When these scores were opened in another version the dynamics were obviously off because of this. As a result of this I went back to using Musescore 3. I can't guarantee the quality of instrument outputs if the files are opened in a version other than Musescore 3 and please take dynamic markings as only suggestions as they are for what suits Musescore not real instruments.

Licence Terms

All files are free and there is no sign up or other requirements for download. There are however, licence terms which apply to both my Musescore files and PDF files:

You can download the .mscz files and change them to suit yourself. You may publish your own arrangements but you must credit Rose-Marie (Rosie) Williams as the composer and yourself as the arranger. Musescore.com may not allow you to share these files as they are copyright to me and there is no arrangement in place between myself and Musescore.com to pay royalties for their use (as there is with many record label representatives).

You can use my music in any format for educational use, publicly perform it and share it with your group for these purposes. You may not sell my scores and you may not upload my music in any format to Artificial Intelligence websites. If you're in doubt about something you would like to do with my music just email me :-)

I hope people find something they enjoy among my scores. I can be contacted at rosie@musicalescapism.com if there is something that people think I should be made aware of in relation to accessing scores.

If you do use my music, feel free to let me know and I can blog about it and link to your efforts.

Performance notes: please take all markings as suggestions and make your own personal choices as to what works best for you.

A note about Musescore

Visitors to my site may notice that I have had a very bad experience as a Musescore.com user where I was overcharged hundreds of dollars! While I did eventually get most of what I was erroneously charged refunded to me, I am no longer willing to give them access to my card information for any reason as the risk of false charges is one I am no longer willing to take.