4 minute read
Making music and adapting instruments
Drake Music are a charity dedicated to creating and facilitating opportunities for Disabled people of all ages to engage in high-quality music-making. They celebrate uniqueness and love using new technologies and ideas to open up access to music so that everyone’s talents can be fostered and enjoyed.
Project Manager and Associate Musician Dav Shiel, spoke to us about Drake Music’s work, their innovative use of technology, and exciting OrchLab Project.
Can you tell us about the technology you use?
We use a variety of different technologies to remove some of the disabling barriers people might face when making music. To name just a few, we use the Soundbeam, which allows people to play beautiful scales and chords with the tiniest of movements of any part of the body or head, and we also use iPads with a variety of brilliant music apps such as Thumbjam and Garageband.
Tell us about your OrchLab project
The project is run in partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and we are in the eighth year of working together. OrchLab supports music-making and music appreciation with Disabled adults. We do this through workshops, accessible instruments and technology, bespoke web activities, training and events.
Each year we work with two Community Partner organisations such as care homes and day centres. They take part in OrchLab workshops throughout the year, receive training on OrchLab web resources, and work with us on tailored legacy plans for the future of their music-making.
In the workshops, participants create music with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, inspired by the Orchestra’s live recordings. We use recorded samples, assistive technology, iPad apps and traditional instruments. In this way, participants immerse themselves in the Orchestra’s music, while making it their own.
Recently we’ve been adapting classical instruments such as the trombone and the oboe, to make them more accessible for Disabled people
OrchLab also includes the development of brand-new accessible instruments, which we design and build in response to our OrchLab Community Partner participants’ access needs. Recently we’ve been adapting classical instruments such as the trombone and the oboe, to make them more accessible for Disabled people. Importantly, OrchLab instruments are open source in design in the hope that they can be added to a national resource library where instrument developers can be inspired by them to create more accessible instruments.
You also work with young musicians. Why is it important for children and young people to have access to music?
Opportunities for young people to make music together are key to learning and developing as a musician. It’s also about having fun, developing new skills, and enjoying different experiences.
There are many established opportunities for non-disabled young people to make music in groups like joining a youth orchestra, but often these groups and ensembles are not accessible to young Disabled people. For example, some may not offer accessible tech like iPads to be used as instruments, or they may require the use of musical scores.
We encourage and support the music education sector to make their whole offer inclusive so they can support a diverse range of young people. One of the ways we do this is through Inclusive Ensembles. We work in partnership with other music organisations to create new approaches to group musicmaking, with access built in from the start. These ensembles include Young DaDa Ensemble, Soundbox in Tower Hamlets, and Essex Music Hub’s Inclusion Collective.
We value innovation, the potential of new technology and the skills of the musicians we have the privilege of working with
Drake Music run a range of projects and offer opportunities and commissions. Find out more at drakemusic.org
Find out more about Orchlab and explore their free music resources at orchlab.org
