The OHMI Trust

Hiring specialised instruments from the UK-based charity can make your group more accessible for people with physical disabilities

Leisure-time music groups are well aware of the benefits of making music, but have you ever considered that there are many people who might be excluded from this? Most instruments require ten highly dextrous fingers, making them unplayable to any reasonable standard for thousands of people.

The OHMI Trust strives for full, undifferentiated participation in musical life for disabled people by creating and providing adapted musical instruments and enabling apparatus. OHMI runs an international competition that challenges instrument makers, designers and technicians to create and develop high quality musical instruments. Working with instrument makers, OHMI then develops these designs for people with a wide range of physical disabilities in their upper limbs to enable them to participate fully in making music. OHMI has acquired a range of instruments that it hires out, both traditional and electronic, but there are many for which solutions have still to be found. OHMI is also addressing the lack of significant data on music and physical disability by commissioning and undertaking research into instrument development, the barriers to participation, teaching methods, and the social impacts of our work.

Through partnership with a variety of educational, health and disability organisations, awareness of the needs of the physically disabled community, OHMI has increased the range of instruments and enabling apparatus but also reduced the costs to those who choose to purchase the equipment for themselves. Moreover, with instruments that have been found and developed through the work of OHMI, disabled musicians are able to perform in the style and ensemble of their choosing.

OHMI’s instrument hire scheme allows people to test equipment for a minimum of a year so that they can find out whether the solution meets their musical interests as well as their physical needs. OHMI has a selection of left and right-handed recorders, flutes, trumpets, cornets and trombones with stands and apparatus to allow the instrument to be fully playable with one hand. Other instruments include the LinnStrument, an electronic instrument that can be played through software available on a tablet or iPad. OHMI recommends a string teacher with an interest in new technology as the best teacher for the LinnStrument, and would be happy to offer advice on finding a suitable teacher and provide some support in the learning process for both student and teacher.

If anyone is interested in starting out on a guitar, ukulele or violin, the Artiphon is an entry-level solution. This works with an iPad or computer and offers a ‘tap’ method so notes can be selected and sounds produced with just one hand. This is great for those who are entering whole class instrument tuition on one of the instruments above. A Chapman Stick is also available on hire – this will require a stereo input amp (30W recommended) and is played like a guitar.

The scheme is designed to overcome the financial barriers that physically disabled people face in accessing music making. Instrument hire costs from around £40. Find out more about the OHMI Trust online: ohmi.org.uk

“The OHMI Trust strives for full... participation in musical life for disabled people”