No-C-Notes® is an audio music description method. Similar to an audio book that is a reading of the printed word, the musician hears the western music notation described with the music played. There is no need for printed sheet music or Braille with No-C-Notes®. The descriptions give tones and timing easy to understand names, without the need of lines and clefs as in printed sheet music. Turn your sheet music into one hundred percent audio described MP3 by requesting transcribing by No-C-Notes®, available through our Store.
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No more paper sheet music!
Register with a free account for a free No-C-Notes Mini Instruction.
No-C-Notes services are as easy as to upload your own PDF sheet music to download your MP3 music and No-C-Notes reading.
- Musicians – whether used for your own compositions or reading music score, No-C-Notes provides a common and easy to use language of music notes.
- Teachers – bring a more accessible method of music reading to your classroom and lessons by using No-C-Notes.
- Use to learn print notation, better than flash cards! Listen to the audio description while reading the printed sheet music.
- Publishers – just as with audio books, audio described music score can bring your sheet music to a broader market.
- Licensing, lessons and consulting are available.
Info
No-C-Notes® gives tones and timing shorthand names, and a format for how the sheet music should be read. Whether used for voice, or keyboards, guitar, strings or woodwinds, it gives musicians a common verbal language of communicating their music score to one another. Musicians listen to their sheet music being read verbally in the same manner as you would use an audiobook from a MP3 file that can be played on any MP3 player. Included is the music played in full and a No-C-Notes reading text file that can be read by any screen reader.
No more printed sheet music or Braille required. Economical and easy to Speak the Music!
History
Verbally reading music note by note is nothing new. Many piano teachers of visually challenged students have their own way of naming tones and timing while repeatedly playing a piece for memorization for their students. Currently, there is no common audio music reading method being used in the United States and no audio music scores to purchase or borrow outside of No-C-Notes® transcribing services.
In the early 1990’s Christina started to use email and the Internet for research on audio reading methods by joining newsgroups for the handicapped, researching with blind musicians, agencies, schools, music therapists, teachers and parents of blind children. After developing a demo cassette, it was offered to anyone who wanted to try audio music reading and to give feedback on the developing method. By 1995 the first No-C-Notes® Instructional Cassette was published, and Christina was accepting transcription orders nationwide.
In giving tones names, No-C-Notes® adapted the piano keyboard for names of tones. It is now the standard for midi definitions of tones. For example, the tone “middle C” is C4, which is the fourth C tone on the piano going from the lowest tone up and the MIDI name for that tone. The name of the note’s tone is not the same as an instrument string, or hole or fret make it universal in understanding.
The music played is included with the No-C-Notes® reading. If it is for a two-handed instrument, the music section is played and then the right hand is played and read followed by the left hand played in reading. This method can be used for one or two staff sheet music for vocal or any instrument with the exception of percussion.
Speak the Music!