How Do You Write Captions for Music?
Captioning dialogue is relatively straightforward: someone says something, and you provide that information in text. But what do you do when the important information is music?
A caption that simply says [music] tells someone that music is present, but it may not provide access to the information the music is communicating. At the same time, describing every musical detail isn't necessarily useful either. So what information should you include?
This gets at something I've been thinking about beyond music captioning, too. Accessibility professionals can know the standards, guidelines, and best practices, but we can't be subject matter experts in everything. (Though my lifelong-learner brain would very much like to try.) The right accessibility solution can depend heavily on what the content is, why it's there, and what someone is expected to do with it. That's especially true in education, where providing additional information can sometimes completely change an assignment or assessment.
Music happens to be an area where I can approach that problem from both sides. I'm an instructional designer and learning strategist, a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC), and a DHS Trusted Tester. Before moving into instructional design and accessibility, I spent over 20 years teaching music and earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in music education.
Music captioning can get complicated quickly. There are guidelines and best practices, but there aren't examples for every situation you're going to encounter.
Why this matters
Captions aren't just transcripts of dialogue. They also communicate relevant non-speech audio, including music.
For public schools and public higher education, this is especially important right now. The Department of Justice's updated ADA Title II regulations establish WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for covered web content and mobile apps. WCAG 1.2.2 addresses captions for prerecorded synchronized media, and W3C's supporting guidance makes clear that captions include important non-speech audio information as well as dialogue.
That establishes the requirement. Figuring out what an effective music caption should actually say can require a little more thought.
Context Matters
There isn't one level of detail that's right for every piece of music.
What someone needs from the music in a film may be very different from what they need when watching a musical performance or instructional video. More detail isn't automatically better, and a generic [music] isn't automatically enough.
Instead of starting with How do I describe this music?, it can help to start with a few broader questions:
Why is this music here?
What information does the audience need from the sound?
What would someone miss if they couldn't hear it?
You don't necessarily need to translate every note into words. You're trying to provide access to the relevant information being communicated through the audio.
And this way of thinking extends well beyond music. An image, diagram, video, or other piece of content may need to be described differently depending on whether it's providing information, illustrating a concept, or being used to assess someone's understanding. Knowing the accessibility technique is important. Understanding the purpose and context of the content is what helps us apply it well.
When music is part of learning or assessment
This becomes more complicated when music is being used for instruction. Sometimes the information that would normally make a caption useful is the exact information learners are being asked to identify. If an assignment or exam is measuring someone's ability to recognize something from the audio, putting that information directly into the captions can give away the answer.
Sometimes there isn't a caption that solves that problem.
You may be surprised to hear me, someone who is very passionate about accessibility and quality learning experiences, say this, but it's the truth. (It's also not a "free pass" to claim exceptions on learning materials in the classroom.)
In those cases, the question may need to shift from How should I caption this? to What does the learner actually need to demonstrate?
If the learning objective can be demonstrated another way, there may be an alternative assessment that provides access without changing what is being measured. If identifying something specifically by sound is itself an essential part of the learning objective, that requires a different conversation.
This is also a good example of why accessibility is much easier to address while designing learning experiences than after a course or assessment has already been built. It may also mean bringing the right people into the conversation. An accessibility professional can help interpret accessibility requirements and identify potential barriers, while the instructor or subject matter expert understands what information is essential to the discipline and what the learner is actually being asked to demonstrate.
You won't find an example for everything
There are good resources for learning how to caption music, but there isn't a guide that can tell you exactly what to write in every situation.
The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) Captioning Key provides detailed guidance on instrumental music, lyrics, background music, speaker identification, formatting, and other captioning decisions. W3C's Understanding WCAG 1.2.2 provides additional guidance and examples for applying the caption requirements.
Those resources can help with the conventions. Context still determines which information matters.
The video below goes further into the practical side of this, with examples of instrumental music and lyrics, different contexts for music, and some of the complications that can come up in educational content. This video covers the broader topic and some troubleshooting, with the intent to help you think differently about how you approach captions for non-speech sounds. If there's a music captioning topic you'd like a short, concise video demonstration on, please let me know.
Music captioning can be tricky, and there isn't always an example or guideline that tells you exactly what to do. A big part of accessibility work is learning how to think through those situations: looking at the context, figuring out what information matters, and problem-solving your way toward a solution that provides meaningful access.
If you have a situation you're trying to work through, feel free to leave a comment here or on the video. I'm happy to help where I can.
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