Recovering Repertoire: Sharing the experience of rebuilding musical practice on an accessible instrument following an acquired disability.

Dr Alex Lucas, and Dr Damian Mills, Queens' University Belfast, UK, Dr Brian Condon, UK

In 2021, accomplished folk-guitar musician Brian Condon injured his left hand in a sailing accident. The injury significantly impacted Brian’s music-making, as it made it challenging to bend his hand around a guitar neck and finger chords on the fretboard. Before the accident, Brian would play within a repertoire of up to 50 songs, easily accompanying singers of varying abilities and sometimes singing himself. 

This presentation will share the outcomes of a two-month pilot diary study on the potential of the Harpejji stringed 'tapping instrument' as an accessible and similarly sounding alternative to the acoustic guitar. The research team intends to use the findings of this pilot to inform a larger research project that looks at ways to support the rehabilitation of musicians with acquired disability. 

Through a thematic analysis of Brian’s diary entries, the researcher team (of which Brian is an integral part) reflected specifically on the aesthetic, psychological, and practical considerations Brian made while relearning part of his guitar repertoire on the Harpejji.  
 
This study did not intend for the Harpejji to act as a direct replacement for the acoustic guitar. Instead, the research team sought to explore the Harpejji's value in the context in which Brian makes music and his creative desires for the future. Brian’s experiences will interest both disabled musicians and practitioners involved in supporting the rehabilitation of instrumentalists. 


Research Questions
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The study addresses the following research questions: 

1. How does the Harpejji facilitate or hinder Brian's ability to access and perform his acoustic folk-guitar repertoire? 

2. How does the Harpejji influence Brian's music-making, particularly in comparison to his prior experience with the acoustic guitar and contemporary instruments such as the Chapman Stick and Linnstrument? 

3. What are the psychological consequences of revisiting and relearning past repertoire on a new musical instrument now that the guitar is inaccessible to Brian? 


Brian’s Background with Accessible Instruments 
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Brian has taken advantage of the instrument hire scheme offered by the OHMI Trust and borrowed the Chapman Stick and LinnStrument. The Chapman Stick is like the Harpejji in that it is a ‘tapping instrument’ intended to be played by pressing the strings between frets. Such a technique affords one-handed playing. Brian has experimented with playing this instrument flat rather than held in two hands. He describes the instrument as best suited to melodic playing. The LinnStrument is a MIDI controller requiring separate sound synthesis software for tone generation. Like the Harpejji, this instrument is isomorphic, meaning that intervals between notes follow a repeating pattern, reusing muscle memory and reducing cognitive friction when transposing. Brian has enjoyed this instrument, but his interest in the Harpejji stems from a desire to play with a more authentic acoustic tone.