Dr Butch Rovan, Brown University, USA

​Over the past decades, electronic tools have vastly expanded the opportunities for creative musical expression. Modern composers have benefited from this development, with access to ever more powerful and user-friendly technologies. And yet those technologies are not equally accessible to all. The ubiquity of low-contrast visual interfaces, cascading menus, and graphical patching paradigms make most tools for electronic music composition useless for the visually impaired. Most importantly, currently available off-the-shelf interfaces typically feature symmetrical and condensed layouts of controls that make it difficult for the non-sighted user to navigate. My Asymmetrical Media Interface (AMI) seeks to address this challenge.

This paper describes the Asymmetrical Media Interface (AMI) project: an original software/hardware system with a custom user interface that allows visually impaired composers to create interactive electronic music. Its most striking feature is its hardware interface with an asymmetrical layout of controls. The controls are divided into distinct regions, each with their own topology and function, to aid navigation and memory. All controls provide voice feedback, reporting to the user what is being adjusted and at what value.

AMI is powered by an internal microcontroller and custom software running on Mac or PC. The computer software features real-time audio processing that allows the user to manipulate both recorded and live audio through digital signal processing chains. All settings can be stored and recalled later for performance.

The AMI project takes its cue from the growing field known as Universal Design, in order to create a music composition interface that is accessible to all. Universal Design includes seven principles: equitable use; flexible use; simple and intuitive use; perceptible information (e.g., tactile feedback, audio feedback, etc.); tolerance for error; low physical effort; and appropriate space for use. With all of these in mind, AMI addresses the inequity of currently available composition tools by:
• Allowing visually impaired composers access to tools that sighted peers use daily
• Fostering new creative work by visually impaired composers in the field of electronic music

This paper will describe the research, programming, fabrication, and testing phases that led to the device that has now been used in concert and named one of Brown University’s top three innovations for 2024. I will pair the paper presentation with a brief demonstration of the device.

Jennifer Petry, USA

​Those of us who work with children who need adaptations tend to focus on the adaptation aspect of things; how to create the most useful device for the child to be able to play their instrument. While problem-solving this device does help level the playing field for the adaptive player, this is just the beginning of their musical journey. There are certain elements that help promote the metamorphosis of any child into a musician, but we can be so focused on whether or not the child will be able to play the instrument at all that we do not lift our head above the trees and see where that child needs to go in order to play WELL. This is quite a journey for any young music student, and the difficulty is that the traditional means of inspiring students is somewhat lost for - or inaccessible to - the adaptive player. It is my assertion that the teacher of the adaptive student must face TWO adaptation events. The first is how the student can connect with the instrument so they may begin to learn to play. The second is how to access the vehicles that provide inspiration for such a student so they want to put forth the effort it takes to play well. Although being part of a skilled musical peer group (such as a youth or festival orchestra/band) is a large part of what motivates students to continue practicing and to reach higher, a student with a disability must be aware of the hurdles they need to navigate in order to participate. They must prove they can play the music as well as any other student, and they must do this in an able-bodied environment with access issues, whether it be an instrument set-up that is different or the need to use a handicap restroom that may not be available. This session will include personal accounts of three musicians who were able to successfully navigate not only their personal adaptations but the competitive world of able-bodied musicians to become some of the top student musicians in their area, and what helped them get there.

Dr Matthew Wright, University of Southampton, UK and Prof Andrew McPherson, Imperial College London, UK

​The idea of an accessible musical instrument conveys a wide diversity of realisations, encompassing modified conventional orchestral instruments, bespoke digital instruments, playable via novel interfaces, and more. This talk aims to explore how a taxonomy of accessible instruments might assist players to navigate the space of possibilities and instrument developers to identify under-explored possibilities. We will discuss limitations of existing taxonomies in related areas, such as the Hornbostel-Sachs classification of musical instruments and the WHO International Classification  of Functioning, Disability and Health. We will discuss recent directions in more open-ended, non-hierarchical taxonomies and discuss how a player-centred approach could be developed.

Peter Worrell, UK

The process of understanding the needs of the student and what can be achieved.
Looking at the way that standard equipment can de modified and produced.
Also the range of options available to the inventor/maker for small scale production.
Traditional manufacturing techniques through to 3D printing of components and full scale instrument printing.

Dr Maria Witek, University of Birmingham UK, Caroline Cooke, University of Birmingham, UK, Gemma Nash, University of Birmingham, UK, Lisa Heywood, University of Birmingham, UK

This talk will present a study using the social model of disability and participatory approaches to explore the experiences of disabled DJs. In collaboration with Drake Music and Native Instruments, we used media diaries, follow-up interviews and workshops to understand the experiences of both physical and mental barriers to DJing as a disabled person. In the first part of the presentation, we focus on results on working with hardware and software. We find that disabled DJs can experience barriers related to portability, mobility and information load and flow. One solution is to limit the number and customise the colours of knobs and faders on the turntables to help reduce the cognitive load and enhance reachability when DJing. We are working with Native Instruments to implement the findings into their future instrument developments. We will conclude the presentation by discussing the social and affective experiences of disabled DJs as they navigate club and nightlife spaces. We find that while the club can be both a physically and mentally overwhelming environment, the DJ booth offers a safe space for disabled DJs to actively engage with dance music culture. While the booth is a physical barrier that separates the DJ from the crowd, it allows disabled DJs to connect to the dance floor through the music and their own artistic practice. 

Prof Atau Tanaka, Goldsmiths University of London, UK and Robin Dussurget, France

We propose a practitioner presentation of an experimental electronic music duo exploring neurodiversity and electromyogram muscle sensing. Robin Dussurget (aka Cicanoise) is a young French musician from the French brut-pop scene. He is autistic and has lived with motor control issues of the lower body since birth and is in a wheelchair. Atau Tanaka is a composer and music-human-computer-interaction researcher. Together, they have performed as a duo since 2021 in academic conferences, art schools, and music festivals. They perform using an electromyogram interface, the EAVI EMG, developed by Tanaka that translates electrical signals of the central nervous system resulting from muscle exertion into MIDI data to articulate sound on electronic musical instruments. Robin’s condition means that his dexterity and motor control of the hands and fingers make turning the small knobs on a syntheiser difficult. By placing EMG electrodes on his arms and patching the system into the modular allows him to gain an expressive freedom in performance. Tanaka is an able-bodied musician who has explored the use of embodied interaction technologies for musical performance. He integrates aspects of somatic practices, including yoga, in musical performance via the EMG. Together, Atau and Cicanoise form an electronic duo using gestures to playfully perform experimental electronic sound. 

We will begin with a brief presentation of the EAVI EMG device and documentation of our past performances with it, including at the Sonic Protest and Instants Fertiles festivals in France. We will show how we have, together, delivered workshops to groups of autistic conservatory students. We will finish with a live performance on the system. This consists of Robin and Atau each wearing two channels of EMG electrodes on their arms, communicating over Bluetooth with the modular synthesizer system. Their limb gestures and musical ensemble communication create an engaging, if not raucous, musical moment.

References
https://vimeo.com/953580496
https://www.univ-paris8.fr/Concert-du-projet-BBDMI-Faire-de-la-musique-avec-l-electricite-du-corps-muscle
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3661572 
https://www.nime.org/proc/nime2023_80/ 

Anne Slovin, University of Notre Dame, USA

Vocology and voice pedagogy more broadly are disciplines in which it is crucial to understand the inner workings of the human body. In class, students usually learn the default settings of the respiratory system, larynx, vocal tract, and other systems as they relate to singing. While this is certainly valuable information for any singer or voice teacher, our focus on normative vocal anatomy and physiology runs the risk of suggesting that most people who study voice have bodies that function according to the textbook. However, as bass vocalist and disability advocate David Salsbery Fry points out, in the human race there is no normativity, only radical diversity. We are currently seeing incredible surges of conscious casting according to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and other identity metrics – but despite a number of recent operas about disabled characters, it is still rare to see visibly and openly disabled performers singing on stage. In this paper, I suggest a reciprocal connection between the way emerging teachers are educated, with a focus on an “ideal” or normative singing body, and this apparent lack – or invisibility – of disabled performers.

Where did this “compulsory able-bodiedness” (McRuer) in the voice world originate? Drawing on the musicological and performance studies research of Nina Sun Eidsheim, Masi Asare, Katherine Meizel and Alexander Cowan, I connect modern voice pedagogy as initiated by Manuel Garcia II to the fringe science of eugenics, leading to an almost total exclusion of disability from voice academia and the voice “industry.” I draw on recent research in disability studies as well as the words of colleagues and former students to show that foregrounding body diversity in our voice pedagogy and vocology courses benefits all voice users. Lastly, I propose practical adjustments to the standard voice pedagogy curriculum that indicate to disabled students that there is a place for them not only in the voice studio, but also on the stage. Only by training emerging voice teachers to see and understand the individuality of their students’ bodies can we create this pipeline of radical acceptance from academia to the professional voice world.

Dr Anthea Skinner, Dr Leon  de Bruin and Prof Aaron Corn, University of Melbourne, Australia

The Adaptive Music Bridging Program (AMBP) is an inclusive instrumental ensemble based in Melbourne, Australia. A collaboration between the University of Melbourne and Melbourne Youth Orchestras, the AMBP is open to any student aged between 8 and 14 who has struggled to access instrumental music education because of any type of disability. As a result, the ensemble brings together children with a wide range of support needs, from kids who already play an instrument but struggle to concentrate in their school band, to children who are unable to even hold a standard instrument. The AMBP assists students to take their first steps as instrumentalists, preparing and supporting them to graduate into Melbourne Youth Orchestras’ mainstream ensembles or other music opportunities that suit their interests. In this paper we reflect on the process of creating an inclusive educational ensemble that meets the needs of children with a broad range of disabilities. Taking a case study approach, we will explore the ensemble through the experiences of four students with a range of physical, neurological and sensory disabilities. For each of these students we will begin by discussing their initial musical interests and goals and the way students, parents and teachers came together to ensure that these were met throughout the program. We will examine the way appropriate instruments, whether standard or adaptive, were chosen or when necessary, further adapted or created and how these diverse instruments were then combined into a single ensemble. We will briefly explore inclusive pedagogies utilised within the ensemble, including peer support, inclusive composition and music literacy supports as relevant to each student discussed. Finally, we will discuss possible future pathways that can make music participation a conduit for lifelong inclusion, creativity and learning for each individual student, no matter their disability or support needs.

Clare Salters, Wandsworth Music, UK, Dr Victoria Kinsella, Birmingham City University, UK, Anna Robinson, Southampton Music, UK, Faye Oakland, the OHMI Trust, UK.

The general aspiration to provide inclusive music runs up against many barriers and often fails to deliver a truly inclusive experience for individual students, particularly in the context of WCET instrumental lessons. Panelists will speak from the perspectives of:

- an instrumental teacher delivering lessons, but also as an advocate for a limb different child who, despite all our best efforts, avoidably missed out on a suitable instrument for her WCET year because of happenstance.
-the manager of the OHMI Music-Makers programme who came into the role from being a peripatetic teacher and now overseas OHMI's Whole Class programme, which is currently being delivered in six music services.
- an instrumental teacher working on the ground in the OHMI Music-Makers Whole Class programme.
- a researcher who has evaluated all the OHMI Music-Maker programmes over the last decade.

Emily Nunns UK and Thomas Tschirren, Switzerland

Background:
This presentation will highlight an innovative project led by Thomas Tschirren, focusing on developing affordable, accessible adaptations that allow disabled musicians to continue playing their instruments with ease and comfort. Recognised by the OHMI Trust, with awards in 2018 and 2020, this project centres on creating a system that includes a moulded plastic shell, mechanical support and a connector to enable natural, ergonomic handling of flutes. This design is transformative, helping musicians with limited mobility, strength, or balance regain their creative expression and confidence.

Objective:
The goal of this presentation is to showcase the project's evolution, particularly in standardising adaptations for a range of flutes—both standard and adapted—and extending these innovations to a wider audience of disabled musicians. Through live performance, video content, and discussions on accessibility, the presentation aims to inspire others to explore the potential of these tools for enhancing musical participation.

Introduction to the Project :
We will provide an overview of the project's origins, highlighting the key design principles: simplicity, customisation, and low-cost production. The presentation will address the specific challenges faced by disabled musicians, particularly those related to instrument handling and mobility, and how this system offers an effective solution. The system is based on a custom-moulded shell that fits securely to the musician’s body, ensuring a comfortable and stable fit for extended playing sessions.

Demonstration and Case Study: Emily Nunns
A live demonstration by disabled musician Emily Nunns will be the focal point of the presentation. After sustaining a spinal injury in 2019 which affected her ability to hold the flute, this adaptation has allowed her to play again. Emily will briefly share the challenges she faced post-injury and how the system supported her return to music. Her performance will highlight the life-changing potential of these adaptations. A step-by-step video will also show the process of creating the mould, illustrating how accessible and cost-effective it is with minimal resources.

Discussion on Accessibility and Impact:
The final section will focus on the accessibility and impact of this system. We will discuss how it has empowered musicians like Emily, highlighting the low-cost materials, simple design, and ease of use. The mould-making process, though technical, can be completed by musicians themselves, making the system flexible and user-friendly for both individuals and small organisations.

Conclusion:
This presentation will demonstrate the practical and emotional impact of developing affordable, customised solutions for disabled musicians. By sharing our project’s success stories and outlining its accessibility, we hope to inspire further innovation and offer musicians new opportunities to pursue their passion for music.