Supplementary Material for thesis ‘Instruments and access: The role of instruments in music and disability’

Abstract

In the past several decades, society’s understanding of disability has progressed from an individualised model based on functional limitations, to the identification of disabling barriers in society which are imposed upon people living with physical, cognitive and/or sensory impairments. Alongside this, there is increased interest in new creative technologies which are capable of addressing these barriers. In this thesis, I explore the development of Accessible Digital Musical Instruments (ADMIs) in terms of their ability to address the technical and social barriers that prevent access to music-making. I begin with a review of relevant literature from the fields of Disability Studies and Digital Musical Instrument (DMI) design. This is followed by interviews with two disabled musicians, who discuss how their approach to music performance and instrumentation relates to their disability identity. I then report three performer studies with purpose built DMIs. The first study explores adapting the bass guitar for one-handed playing, using a prototype mechanical adaptation. The second study continues the theme of preserving the role of the guitar, but asks questions around the role of interaction modality and global form, and how they relate to an instrument’s identity. The final study is an ethnographic account of a long-term situated research project with a community of learning-disabled musicians, in which we observe how bespoke guitar-like ADMIs are used alongside unadapted instruments. This thesis introduces a ‘performance-focused’ approach to ADMI design, in which sociocultural roles of musical instruments are considered alongside the technical requirements of accessibility. Using theories and methodologies from thirdwave HCI, Disability Studies, and DMI design, I aim to interrogate what ‘access to musical performance’ really means. It is hoped that this thesis can provide a critical counterpoint to existing approaches to accessibility in DMI design, and in doing so, introduce methodologies which are capable of capturing and uplifting the creative potential of disabled people

(Supplementary material: Video files of adapted bass guitar and Strummi instruments, in support of thesis ‘Instruments and access: The role of instruments in music and disability’)