Lost His Sight in Childhood, Then Established a Library of 11,000 Musical Scores for the Blind Worldwide

Alp Aslan is a Turkish musician who lost his sight in a car accident during childhood.

In 2018, he launched “Engelsiz Nota” (Barrier-Free Notes), an online digital library that converts sheet music into a format readable by blind people.

Sighted musicians upload sheet music in digital format, which is then converted within seconds into files that can be read on electronic Braille displays or printed using specialized printers.

Once a piece of sheet music is converted, any blind musician around the world can use it, according to the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet Daily News. The library now holds around 11,000 pieces of sheet music, and its membership has grown from about 100 at launch to 350.

The service is free for anyone with a documented visual impairment of 40% or more. The Turkish Association of the Blind in Education (EGED) raises funds for the project, including through a campaign tied to the Istanbul Marathon.

Aslan says the problem begins with delays. When sheet music arrives late, blind musicians are unable to read it at the same time as their sighted peers. He adds that some orchestra conductors and teachers mistakenly believe that blind people do not read music, and that some teachers may not know how to instruct them.

He sees artificial intelligence as the next step and hopes it will also enable blind people to learn to read sheet music.