Glossary

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Assistive Music Technology(also: AMT, Adaptive Music Technology)

Hardware and software tools specifically designed or adapted to enable people with disabilities to create, perform, compose, or enjoy music. Examples include screen reader-compatible digital audio workstations, Braille music displays, haptic music notation systems, and…

Braille Music Notation(also: Braille Music, Braille Music Code)

A tactile system for representing musical notation using the six-dot braille cell, encoding pitch, duration, dynamics, and other musical information for blind and visually impaired musicians. Unlike standard visual music notation which is two-dimensional (horizontal for time,…

Digital Musical Instrument(also: DMI, Electronic Musical Instrument)

A musical instrument that generates or controls sound through digital technology rather than purely acoustic means. Digital musical instruments separate the physical interface (how the player interacts) from the sound generation (what is heard), allowing for novel input methods…

Digital Sheet Music(also: Electronic Sheet Music)

Musical scores displayed on electronic devices such as tablets, computers, or head-mounted displays rather than printed on paper. Digital sheet music offers accessibility advantages over print including the ability to magnify, adjust colors and contrast, invert colors for better…

Frisson(also: Aesthetic Chills, Musical Chills, Piloerection)

A psychophysiological response to music, art, or other aesthetic stimuli characterised by a pleasurable shiver or chills sensation accompanied by piloerection (goosebumps) and transient increases in heart rate and skin conductance. Frisson is associated with high emotional…

Large-Print Notation(also: Large-Print Music, Enlarged Music Notation)

Sheet music that has been enlarged or reformatted with larger symbols and staves to improve readability for people with low vision. Large-print music notation requires a specialized conversion process and is available from only a few sources, such as select libraries. While…

MIDI(also: Musical Instrument Digital Interface)

A technical standard for communication between electronic musical instruments, computers, and related audio devices. MIDI transmits digital messages representing musical events like note-on, note-off, velocity, and control changes rather than audio signals. Because MIDI data is…

Music Braille(also: Braille Music, Braille Music Notation)

A tactile music notation system that uses combinations of braille dots to represent musical elements including pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo markings, and other performance instructions. Music braille allows blind and low-vision musicians to read musical scores through touch.…

Music GenAI(also: Generative Music AI, AI Music Generation)

Generative AI systems that produce musical output — melodies, full songs, instrumental accompaniment, or vocal tracks — from text prompts, seed audio, or structured parameters. Examples include Suno, Udio, MusicLM, and MusicGen. In accessibility and therapy contexts, music GenAI…

Music Information Retrieval(also: MIR)

An interdisciplinary field focused on extracting, analyzing, and organizing information from music data. Music information retrieval encompasses tasks like automatic transcription, genre classification, melody extraction, beat tracking, and music recommendation. For…

Music Visualisation(also: Music Visualization, Sound Visualisation, Audio Visualisation)

The representation of musical or audio content through visual media such as drawings, animations, colour changes, or motion graphics. Music visualisation is an important accessibility strategy for deaf and hearing-impaired people, enabling them to perceive and engage with…

MusicXML

An open, XML-based standard format for representing Western musical notation, enabling the exchange of sheet music between different music notation software applications. MusicXML encodes the structural and visual elements of a musical score in a machine-readable format, making…

Musicking

A term coined by musicologist Christopher Small to describe music as an activity or process rather than a thing. Musicking encompasses all participation in a musical performance—playing, listening, dancing, composing, practicing, and providing the setting—and emphasizes that…

Polyphonic(also: Polyphony)

In music, the simultaneous combination of two or more independent melodic lines or voices. Polyphonic music is notated on multiple staves that must be read together, presenting a particular challenge for visually impaired musicians who must track multiple lines of notation…

Scat Singing(also: Scatting, Vocal scat)

A jazz-rooted vocal technique in which a singer improvises melodic and rhythmic lines using nonsense syllables (such as 'doo', 'bop', 'ba', 'da', 'shoo') rather than words. Scat lets the voice function as an instrument, carrying melody, articulation, phrasing, and vocal timbre…

Score Reading

The act of interpreting and following a musical score, typically referring to the reading of classical or polyphonic music where multiple parts or voices must be tracked simultaneously. Score reading is distinct from simpler music reading in that it involves comprehending…

Sheet Music(also: Musical Score, Written Music)

A printed or digital document that uses musical notation to represent a musical composition, showing pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and other performance instructions through standardized symbols on a staff. Reading sheet music while playing (sight-reading) is fundamental to musical…

Sight-Reading(also: Sight Reading)

The ability to read and perform music from a written score for the first time, without prior practice or memorization. Sight-reading requires simultaneously decoding musical notation and executing it on an instrument in real time, making it one of the most demanding musical…

Staff Notation(also: Stave Notation, Standard Music Notation)

The conventional Western system for writing music using five horizontal lines (a staff or stave) on which notes are placed at different vertical positions to indicate pitch, with various symbols for rhythm, dynamics, and expression. Staff notation is inherently graphical—unlike…

Suno(also: Suno AI, Suno v3.5)

A commercial generative AI platform that produces full songs — lyrics, vocals, instrumentation — from short natural-language prompts specifying genre, mood, tempo, and lyrical content. Suno is widely adopted in HCI research on music co-creation, journaling, and therapy because…

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