Accessibility
A score you can hear as you write it.
Maestro works with screen readers and from the keyboard: with every key it tells you the note you just entered, where you are in the score and what’s around you.
Works withNVDAJAWSNarratorVoiceOver
- Enter a note“D 4 dotted quarter note”
- Enter a chord“Chord C 4, E 4, G 4, half note”
- Right arrow“F sharp 5 eighth note, beat 3”
- Right again“End of measure”
- Stop playback“Stopped at measure 12, beat 3”
- In the inspector“Note value, combo box, Quarter note”
With a screen reader
NVDA, JAWS and Narrator on Windows, VoiceOver on the Mac. In Speedy Entry, in Simple Entry and with the Selection tool, Maestro says the note you just entered or the one the cursor lands on, and the measure and staff you move into.
What’s on the note
Together with the note you hear the dynamic, articulations, slurs, hairpins, chord symbol and lyrics; when you enter a measure, changes of clef, key and time signature, repeats and endings.
All from the keyboard
Speedy Entry and Simple Entry enter notes without a mouse, and every command is in a menu, almost always with its shortcut. The inspector, Settings and dialogs are navigated with Tab.
Playback speaks too
Maestro says which measure playback starts from, where it pauses or stops and when the piece has ended; while it plays, Read Position tells you the point being played.
View menu
Ask Maestro where you are.
Five commands read the score where you are and take you where you want to go.
| Command | Mac | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Read PositionStaff, measure, beat, clef, key signature, time signature and tempo. | ⌃P | CtrlShiftP |
| Read MeasureAll the notes and rests in the measure. | ⌃U | CtrlShiftU |
| Read All StavesWhat sounds on each staff where you are; a note that started earlier “continues”. | ⌃H | CtrlShiftH |
| Read Score InformationTitle, authors, measures, instruments, key signature, time signature and tempo. | ⌃Q | CtrlShiftQ |
| Go to Measure…Type the number: the cursor and the playback start move there, and the measure is read. | ⌃J | CtrlShiftJ |
Keyboard
From the score to every window, without a mouse.
Inspector and Settings
On Windows F6 moves from the score to the inspector, Tab moves between controls and each one is read with its label; F6 or Esc go back to the score. In Settings Ctrl+Tab moves to the next category. On the Mac use VoiceOver’s commands, as in any other app.
Dialogs and instruments
The dialogs opened from the menus (key signature, time signature, measures…) are read and navigated with Tab. In Add Instrument… type to search and choose with the arrow keys, hearing the instrument’s name.
Start screen and New Score
On Windows Tab moves from one area to the next (actions, search, recent files, templates), the arrow keys choose and Maestro tells you each time where you are. In New Score you search instruments by name, add them with Enter and change how many and their order from the keyboard.
Getting Started Tour
With a screen reader running it doesn’t start by itself: you’ll find it in Help → Getting Started Tour, where each step is read in full and Esc takes you back to the score to try it.
Seeing and hearing
Easy on the eyes and the ears.
Zoom
Enlarge the score with ⌘+ on the Mac and Ctrl++ on Windows, with the mouse wheel or by pinching the trackpad; ⌘0 or Ctrl+0 go back to 100%.
Light or dark
Maestro follows the system appearance, or you choose it in Settings, where you can also change the colors of the selection and the layers.
Every note sounds
As you enter music, each note plays: you catch a mistake by ear, without looking. If you prefer silence, turn it off in Settings.
Other ways to enter music
Play the notes on a MIDI keyboard or sing them into the microphone, one at a time, and Maestro writes them down.
What’s still missing
The duration palette and the mixer can’t be read by a screen reader yet. All the palette’s commands are in the menus and Speedy Entry keys anyway.
All the details in the manual →Do you use a screen reader? Tell us how it went.
If something isn’t read, is read wrongly or can’t be reached from the keyboard, write to us saying which screen reader you use, on which system and what you were doing.
This website too
This site works from the keyboard and with screen readers: there’s a link to skip to the content, headings follow the structure of each page and the light or dark theme follows your system. If you run into a barrier, report it to the same address.