Accessible live music and music education: Learnings from our work with Music & Health Ireland

The Notes & Signs project: A collaborative effort

The Notes & Signs project is a Music & Health Ireland (M&HI) initiative, delivered in collaboration with Audiovisability (AV), with financial support from Rethink Ireland. Tilting the Lens was delighted to provide logistical and facilitation support from 2023 to 2025.

The project was developed to explore and dismantle barriers that d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences and musicians often face when engaging with music in schools, public spaces, and performance settings.

Goal: The primary aim was to work collaboratively to understand how Deaf students could have access to music education and to help venues support the d/Deaf community in experiencing live music more equitably and accessibly, whether as listeners, creators, or performers.

Exploration Areas: Through workshops, interviews, focus groups, and performances, the project explored how to:

• Deliver meaningful music experiences in Deaf education settings
• Build interpreter confidence and capacity in music contexts
• Promote accessible programming in schools and venues
• Empower d/Deaf children and their families to fully access music.

Evolution

The Notes & Signs project began in 2023 as a four-day enquiry-through-engagement. The project brought together key stakeholders, including families, teachers, musicians, Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreters, and arts organisations, to understand real-world barriers and begin designing solutions.

Activities included: 

• ISL Interpreters Workshops, which involved musicians, dancers, and interpreters
• Family music concerts at the National Concert Hall
• Workshops in Deaf Schools 
• Feedback focus group with key stakeholders and funders to discuss outcomes, reflections, and consider ways forward. It was particularly concerning to discover the lack of availability of music education in Deaf Schools. 

The project continued in 2024 with further workshops with ISL interpreters, to consider ways to build comfort in the interpreter community to provide interpretation at music events. 

Evaluation and key outcomes

Resource Guides

The project culminated in two essential resource guides that serve as legacy outputs. The guides were written and produced by M&HI and Tilting the Lens.

The first guide is for venues on hosting accessible performances. It outlines practical steps and considerations for venues to make their performance events accessible, including:

• ISL interpretation for Deaf audiences for both small venues and stadium events
• Hearing loops
• Real-time Captioning and Surtitles
• Supporting Deaf musicians on stage
• Making ‘visually quiet’ spaces
• Making information accessible. 

The second guide focuses on inclusive music education. It outlines guidelines for visual learning, technology, and communication styles to support: 

• Music teachers working with Deaf or Hard of Hearing students
• Visiting musicians delivering inclusive workshops or performances in Deaf Schools
• Schools supporting visiting musicians in Deaf education settings

Validation

The documents’ relevance and accuracy were ensured by working with the d/Deaf community and working with ISL interpreters throughout 2023 and 2024.

Key Learnings and Identified Needs (from workshops) 

Feedback from participants in the ISL Workshops highlighted the need for:

• A “creative commonage”—an agreed lexicon of words for music in ISL in the Irish context.
• An app or resource to help interpreters understand the marks, notations, and individual words that appear on a musical score.
• More information in advance of a musical performance to help interpreters understand the story or elements being portrayed.

We hope you consider downloading the guides as a helpful resource in your work. 

Download the Resource Guides