Dr Mat Dalgleish, Staffordshire University, UK

​Comparative methods involve looking at an object of study in relation to at least one another, usually to identify patterns of similarity and difference. Although no longer widely used in the study of music after the mid-20th Century, there has recently been some renewed musicological interest (Savage and Brown, 2013; Nagaraj et al., 2023), and comparative methods also feature in a number of design fields directly relavant to digital musical instrument (DMI) design. However, general despite consensus that DMIs fundamentally differ from earlier instrument types, comparative approaches have only rarely been employed by the NIME community (e.g. McPherson, 2018; McPherson et al., 2019). As far as can be identified, there have been no comparative studies of instruments for disabled players that consider new designs alongside established instruments (with or without adaptation).

Drawing on three decades of autoethographic experiences as a one-handed musician and two decades as a designer of new instruments, this paper compares and contrasts the trumpet, electric guitar, Eurorack synthesizer, and a self-designed NIME as one-handed instruments. A challenge in comparative research is that categories can be defined differently, but, adopting a broad categorisation based on underlying technology (Bongers, 2006; Hugill, 2004), these objects of study are examples of an acoustic musical instrument, an electric musical instrument, a commercial (original) electronic musical instrument, and a DMI, respectively. As well as covering the main categories of musical instruments in use today, this selection balances extensiveness of use by the author, and the trade-off between the number of objects studied and the number of variables compared.

By performing a step-by-step comparison of physical and perceived (socially constructed) properties it brings into focus suggestive similarities and contrasts among the objects of study in the context of one-handed use. These properties are drawn from the NIME literature and include access, immediacy, control, learning and mastery, sustainability, and reception issues. Several pronounced differences in real and perceived properties between categories and individual instrument types are observed, alongside some less pronounced differences and similarities between the categories.

The paper concludes with reflections on these differences in terms of the identity, purpose, and desirable properties of instruments for one-handed use, and their implications for adoption and long-term engagement. There are also a number of suggestions for future directions.


References

Bongers, B. (2006) Interactivation: Towards an e-cology of people, our technological environment, and the arts. PhD dissertation, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Hugill, A. (2004) The Orchestra: A User's Manual [online]. Available at: http://andrewhugill.com/OrchestraManual [Accessed 11 July 2024].

McPherson, A. (2018) Comparative Musical Instrument Design. Keynote presentation at the International Conference on Live Interfaces (ICLI), Porto, Portugal. June 14–16.

McPherson, A., Morreale, F., Harrison, J. (2019). Musical Instruments for Novices: Comparing NIME, HCI and Crowdfunding Approaches. In: Holland, S., Mudd, T., Wilkie-McKenna, K., McPherson, A., Wanderley, M. (eds) New Directions in Music and Human-Computer Interaction. Springer Series on Cultural Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92069-6_12

Savage, P. and Brown, S. (2013). Analytical Approaches To World Music, 2(2), pp. 148-197.

Emma Brown, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, UK

In the UK over the last few years, there has been a push towards inclusivity in the music industry, particularly in music education. While the recent National Plan for Music Education (Department for Education, 2022) is not a statutory document, it encourages inclusive practices in music education in schools, with an emphasis on making music accessible to all. A significant portion of the research surrounding music and disability focuses on the therapeutic and rehabilitative effects of music, encapsulated in ‘The Power of Music to Change Lives’ (Hallam and Himonides, 2022). Alternatively, music and disability has been explored from a disability studies perspective by leading authors in the field such as Alex Lubet and Joseph N. Straus. However, as Low argues, ‘there is a deficit in research that explores disability and music from the perspective of the musicians themselves’ (2018). Additionally, most of the research that explores music education and disability focuses on the early stages of learning, meaning that the ways that musicians with physical disabilities progress, and the challenges that they meet through higher music education are not fully understood. My doctoral research aims to explore higher music education provision from the perspectives of disabled students.

Developments in adapted instruments and new interfaces for music making are progressing at pace, creating new possibilities for disabled young musicians to continue their musical development with tools that support and facilitate ever-higher levels of virtuosity. However, these developments in tools and equipment have not been matched with developments in the higher music education sector. Conservatoires, music colleges, and universities have yet to develop pathways which enable a disabled musician to train on an adapted instrument, or with instruments that can be changed to mitigate the challenges of health conditions that worsen over time.

After becoming a bilateral, below knee amputee in 2021, I began a two year Masters degree at conservatoire in flute performance. Whilst I acknowledged that undertaking a Masters degree as a newly disabled person would be a challenge, I reassured myself that my skills as a flautist were not affected by my lack of feet, and so I expected to have an education experience similar to my peers. However, I experienced significant barriers to progression through conservatoire, both in terms of the physical aspects of the facilities available, and latent attitudes that permeate many aspects of the student experience. Further discussions with disabled students have revealed that my experience was not unique, which has led me to undertake doctoral research exploring disability and access in conservatoire education. In this presentation I will share emerging findings from my research, alongside reflections of my own experiences and those of other students with disabilities.

Dr adam patrick bell, Gift Tshuma, Jason Nolan, Kurt Thumlert, Stefan Sunandan Honisch, Western University, Canada

In this presentation we report our findings of a 3-year pilot called the Canadian Accessible Musical Instruments Network (CAMIN). Modelled in some ways on UK organizations such as Drake Music and OHMI, CAMIN endeavours to make accessible instruments, mentor disability-led music-making communities, and manifest disability perspectives on music making. We will share some of our successes and challenges related to instrument development and supporting the music careers of disabled musicians as well as our future plans for supporting a network committed to accessible and meaningfully inclusive music making in Canada. 

Dr. Hugh Aynsley, Dr. Dave Meckin, Dr. Catherine Warner, Prof. Thomas J. Mitchell, University of the West of England, UK

​This research considers the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to facilitate the development of new prototypes of Accessible Digital Musical Instruments (ADMIs) with Disabled musicians. ADMIs provide critical opportunities for Disabled musicians to overcome barriers to music-making yet the design and development of bespoke ADMIs is often a long process which can use a lot of resources (Frid, 2020). This paper explores how AI technologies, specifically text-to-image (TTI) generators, could support and streamline this process, thereby enabling more people to co-design their own bespoke musical instruments.  
 
Through speculative design workshops with instrument designers, Disabled musicians and academics, we investigate how AI tools can be integrated into the co-design process of new interfaces. The approach has been developed through several iterative workshops that explore the integration of generative AI into the creative process, particularly focusing on idea generation and how AI tools can be useful instigators for new bespoke solutions. 
 
This presentation highlights a study conducted as part of Drake Music's ‘Accessible Instrument Design Workshop’ in July 2023. It offers insights from the workshop, emphasising on the integration of speculative design activities with AI concept development, alongside the build of craft mock-ups for the resulting instrument ideas. The focus of the workshop was to test how useful GenAI TTI tools were for Disabled musicians looking to co-design their own musical instruments and how participatory tasks can be informed using AI tools. The process of designing and building bespoke ADMIs commonly rely on a collaboration between a Disabled musician and an instrument builder/designer (Harrison et al, 2017; Longden, 2019) so understanding how these tools are perceived and will be used by Disabled musicians is a central concern of this research.  
 
During the workshop, participants were invited to present their instruments to the group to discuss core concepts behind their new creations through an informal performance. Attendees were encouraged to demonstrate how the instrument would be played using craft mock-ups of their instruments, providing insights into their envisioned playing styles and the range of motion associated with each design. This paper revolves around reflexive thematic analysis of participants' experiences within the workshop setting and shares their approach to designing with AI tools.  
 
The presentation offers methods for integrating AI tools into speculative design workshops with Disabled musicians whilst examining how these emerging technologies can enhance access to custom-built instruments. Future work will involve the physical fabrication of the two-dimensional images generated during the workshops, and the initial prototypes of these instruments will be presented for further discussion. 

Dr Deborah Amend, Northern Kentucky University, USA and Jennifer Petry, USA

As an adaptive music instructor, each student you work with has unique needs in regard to how they play their instrument.  Developing a Music Adaptation Plan (MAP) as a method for collecting data for the purposes of ongoing instruction and advancement for the student is one method to systematically approach instruction and can remove barriers for future music teachers that the student may encounter. Having a detailed teaching plan can help teachers feel confident in including and adequately educating the adaptive student. The MAP can guide the student's instruction and adaptations as they progress through more advanced studies and expand the number of instructors invested in their musical development, giving the student the personalized teaching they need while making sure information is not lost when the student moves to more advanced ensembles or teachers. Presenters will share the structure of a MAP and the rationale for each section. The presentation will cover MAPs applied to piano, strings, and brass. Attendees will go away with simple principles to apply to adaptive instruction that can form the basis for developing their students' technical skills, providing a method to document adaptations to the instrument, the manner in which the student is connected to the instrument, and strategies for developing technique. ​