Accessibility

Basics of Music, LLC wants every student to be able to learn music with our lessons, exercises and tools, including students who use a screen reader, a keyboard instead of a mouse, speech input, or magnification. This statement covers basicsofmusic.app and its use inside Canvas.

Our standard

We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA, the standard used by the U.S. Department of Justice's ADA Title II rule for public colleges and universities. Basics of Music conforms to WCAG 2.1 AA. We test with a keyboard alone and with the VoiceOver screen reader, and keep testing as we add lessons and exercises.

What's built in

• Exercises and tools are built to work with a keyboard, including the piano, guitar fretboard and Circle of Fifths (arrow keys move, Space or Enter chooses). Where a lesson lets you click a note to hear it, Tab to the note and press Enter.
• Many lessons come with a video in which the lesson is read aloud, with edited captions, for students who prefer to listen. Videos are being added to the rest.
• Drag-and-drop exercises also work by clicking or with the keyboard.
• Music examples have text descriptions, and feedback is announced to screen readers.
• Right and wrong answers are shown with a check or X and text, never by color alone.
• No audio plays until you press play, and nothing is timed except rhythm tapping, where timing is the skill being practiced.

Keyboard shortcuts

Many exercises let you answer by pressing a single key, such as A–G for note names. If you use speech input or a switch device, those keys can fire by accident. You can turn them off here or on any exercise's Info screen. The setting is saved in this browser.

Known limitations

Some exercises practice a visual or listening skill itself, such as reading notes on a staff or naming intervals by ear. Describing the answer in text would defeat the exercise, so these can't be fully accessible to every student. If that affects you, ask your instructor about an alternative assignment, or contact us and we'll help.

Conformance report (VPAT)

Our Accessibility Conformance Report (PDF), based on the VPAT® 2.5 WCAG edition, lists how Basics of Music meets each WCAG 2.1 criterion.

Report a problem

If something on the site doesn't work with your assistive technology, or you need content in another format, email admin@basicsofmusic.app. Tell us the page, what you were trying to do, and the browser and assistive technology you use.