The Drake Music Project Northern Ireland: Providing Access to Music Technology for Individuals with Unique Abilities

Abstract

Across the UK, a growing number of charity organisations, social enterprises, academic researchers and individuals have developed music technology-based music workshops and projects utilising Accessible Music Technology to address the issue of access to music-making for people with disabilities. In this article, I discuss my ethnographic study of The Drake Music Project Northern Ireland (DMNI), a charity which provides music workshop opportunities in inclusive ensembles at the community level. My methodology of participant observation involved undergoing the training necessary to become an access music tutor for DMNI, attending workshops and conducting interviews with people throughout the organisation. Key findings were that consumer music technology devices that were not designed to be accessible to a wide spectrum of users could be made accessible through adapting them with other devices or different sensor interfaces more suitable for people with unique abilities and specific needs. Throughout my study I found that it was not in the design of music technology devices that made them accessible. Rather, meaningful music-making emerged through the interrelations between the access music tutors, workshop participants and the music technology interfaces in the workshop environment. The broader implications of DMNI music-making activities and effects on social inclusion are also discussed.

Accessible Music for Everyone: Discovering Resources

“…Some of these adapted instruments can serve as facilitators of interaction in different contexts with children, youth and/or adults with neurological limitations [28,[30][31][32], others are musical interfaces that can assist, for example, in the interaction with users with autism spectrum disorders [17][18][19][29][30][31], others constitute musical technologies for children, young people and adults with hearing impairment [12,[17][18][19] or blindness and/or visual impairment [17][18][19]27]. Furthermore, a wide variety of interfaces can be successfully created to collaborate with the development of personalised instruments, such as some accessible instruments, technologically designed to be similar to traditional instruments [17][18][19][20][21].…”

“…Furthermore, a wide variety of interfaces can be successfully created to collaborate with the development of personalised instruments, such as some accessible instruments, technologically designed to be similar to traditional instruments [17][18][19][20][21]. These instruments can enhance the participation of their users with SN in musical ensembles and groups, promoting true inclusion [26,30,31]. Based on the information collected in the selected articles, we identified a set of ADMI that can support the teaching of music for children and young people with SN that we will present in Table 73.1.…”

Performance without Barriers: Improvising with Inclusive and Accessible Digital Musical Instruments

“…Music and arts organisations are also working to provide access to people with disabilities on a community level. Further, technological solutions for accessible music engagement has been researched and developed by academic and independent researchers and technologists (Anderson and Hearn 1994;Farrimond et al, 2010;Oliveros et al, 2011;Jewel and Atkin, 2013;Andersson and Cappelen, 2014;Gehlhaar et al, 2014;McCloskey, 2014;Mattosian and Gehlhaar, 2015;McHale, 2015;Frid, 2018;Samuels, 2019).…”

“…These devices, also often used in music improvisation practices, and which utilise the tools and methodologies of digital sound practices, challenge traditional ontologies of music and our understandings of what constitutes a musical instrument, a musician, and modes of music composition, improvisation and performance. Research suggests that music making with music technology can act as a medium through which individuals who may be marginalised or excluded and who face significant challenges in their lives, can acquire a new mode of self expression, foster self-determination and achieve positive social outcomes (Oliveros et al, 2011;Gehlhaar et al, 2014;McHale, 2016;Stewart et al, 2017;Samuels, 2019).…”

GIVME: Guided Interactions in Virtual Musical Environments:

“…For many disabled musicians, music-making is often a facilitated process and the facilitator is key to engaging the disabled musician [1]. Such engagement may be done through interactive workshops that allow for expression of identity, communication, team work, mutual respect and skill sharing.…”