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Oct 15 2020 Accessible Instruments Challenge Showcase
Accessible Instruments Challenge Showcase
Over the past few months, our eight challenge teams have been working hard to address the accessibility challenges of people who want to play or produce music, but find it physically challenging to do so. Their aim was to build on existing work and take further steps forward in making adaptive musical instruments more affordable, making music education in schools more inclusive and uncovering new solutions that haven’t been tried before.
The Accessible Instruments Challenge has been an exciting collaborative virtual project which brought together expertise in digital innovation and design technology, musical instrument making and lived experience of disability. The culmination of the project saw Creative United and Plexal host an online showcase event where the challenge teams and other contributors came together to share their ideas, solutions and responses to our challenges.
It was a wonderful couple of hours, with a fantastic exchange of ideas, solutions and conversation. You can watch the full event here and hear more from each team as well as some super interesting Q & As!
Below you’ll see the 3-minute video presentations from each team where they explain their challenge and what how they’ve worked to produce solutions. Enjoy!
Trombone Stand Team Challenge
Head to accessibleinstruments.com to see the full challenge profile of this team.
Digital Bagpipe Chanter Team Challenge
Head to accessibleinstruments.com to see the full challenge profile of this team.
Multisensory Production Team Challenge
Head to accessibleinstruments.com to see the full challenge profile of this team.
One-Handed Clarinet Team Challenge
Head to accessibleinstruments.com to see the full challenge profile of this team.
Supply Chain for Schools Team Challenge
Head to accessibleinstruments.com to see the full challenge profile of this team.
Virtual Band Team Challenge
Head to accessibleinstruments.com to see the full challenge profile of this team.
Violin Bow Holder Team Challenge
Head to accessibleinstruments.com to see the full challenge profile of this team.
One-Handed Recorder Team Challenge
Head to accessibleinstruments.com to see the full challenge profile of this team.
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Oct 14 2020 Reshape Music – Take it away Consortium
Reshaping Music - Beyond the Baseline | IAMM
Reshape Music: A report exploring the lived experience of Disabled musicians in education and beyond sets out the significant barriers faced by Disabled musicians to access music education and music-making in the UK.
We are really excited to share the news of this new publication by our partners at Youth Music. Mary-Alice Stack, our Chief Executive at Creative United writes:
“The publication today of Youth Music’s Reshape Music report marks a significant milestone for Creative United and our Take it away Consortium partners. Written by Sarah Mawby and a group of Co-Researchers, the report takes as its starting point the ‘Make Some Noise’ survey data collected by the Take it away Consortium in 2018/19, which sought to build a picture of the barriers to participation and learning in music experienced by disabled people.
Over a period of 5 months from September 2018 to January 2019 we worked hard to gather the perspectives of disabled musicians, the parents of disabled children, music teachers and other professionals working in the music education sector as well as staff employed by retailers of musical instruments. This was the first national survey of its kind, and an important first step for the Consortium.
The survey findings, originally released in May 2019 as a statistical analysis only, were effective in establishing a baseline against which we could measure the impact of our work going forwards, as well as evidencing the gaps and shortcomings of existing provision.
18 months on, what the Reshape Music report has done so brilliantly is to bring that data alive through the involvement of a research team with lived experience of disability who have interrogated, questioned, reflected and responded to the findings, allowing us to take our understanding of the issues well beyond the baseline.
It’s rare to find a research report infused with the individual perspectives and personal experiences of the research team. And that’s what makes this report so powerful, and so valuable as a piece of essential reading for anyone involved in the music industry, whether that’s in learning and participation, retail, music production or performance.
And that goes for me too. I’m incredibly proud of the work that has been initiated by Creative United through the Take it away Consortium but, as the report shows, we still have a lot to learn – and a lot to gain – through the direct involvement of disabled people in understanding and responding to the issues around access and inclusion that we are trying to address.
Clearly, there is still a long way to go in reshaping the music sector to be fully inclusive and accessible for disabled people – but thanks to this report the pathways to making that vision a reality are clearer than ever.”
– Mary-Alice Stack, Chief Executive
Find out more about the IAMM initiative (inclusive and accessible music making) by heading to our news page here.
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Oct 05 2020 IAMM Webinars
Webinars | IAMM
Last month we were thrilled to have been invited to speak about our work around inclusive and accessible music making (IAMM) with two great organisations: the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) and Latimer Group.
The ISM panel discussion featured our Take it away manager, Sophie Ogunyemi, who spoke alongside Rachel Wolfsohnn from The OHMI Trust, teacher and musician Ruth Montgomery, and Sarah Mawby, independent researcher. Watch their discussion on adaptive musical instruments, inclusive practise and more below! 📺
ISM Webinar panel: Inclusive and accessible music-making with adaptive music instruments
Our CEO, Mary-Alice Stack, gave a 20 minute talk and overview about our Inclusive and Accessible Music Making Initiative, from how it all started to our current projects. Watch the Latimer Talks session followed by a very interesting Q&A below. 📺
Latimer Talks with Mary-Alice Stack on Inclusivity in Music
Tell us what you think and join the conversation: @Takeitawaymusic
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Jun 23 2020 The Accessible Instruments Challenge | IAMM Hackathon
The Accessible Instrument Challenge | IAMM Hackathon Project
Music is a universal language – or at least it should be. But what if having a physical disability makes it difficult – or impossible – for someone to learn and play a musical instrument?
In 2018 we launched the beginnings of what has become known as the IAMM (Inclusive Access to Music Making) initiative, which sees Creative United and Take it away work closely with partners from across the music, tech and music education sector to raise the profile of music making by disabled children and adults, increasing awareness of the opportunities and sources of support available to enable more people to access music.
This has resulted in the formation and work of the Take it away Consortium, the Nottingham Music Hub Pilot Programme, and most recently the brand new Guide to Buying Adaptive Musical Instruments.
The research and projects undertaken have clearly shown us that, although there are lots of adapted instruments out there, many are prototypes or bespoke. For example, the one-handed clarinet provided to Nottingham pupil Redeem is one of only two in the world and takes many months to create. What happens when five one-handed clarinets are needed for other children to start learning with their peers at the same time?
With examples like this in mind, Creative United and partners have created The Accessible Instrument Challenge – an online collaborative project that aims to address the accessibility challenges of people who want to play or produce music but find it physically challenging to do so.
The Accessible Instrument Challenge aims:
Bringing together expertise in digital innovation and design technology, musical instrument making and lived experience of disability, multiple teams will build on existing work and aim to take further steps forward in making adaptive musical instruments more affordable, music education in schools more inclusive, and uncovering new solutions that haven’t been tried before.
From supply chain issues to making production software accessible for visually impaired musicians, find out more about the challenges each team will be undertaking.
I’m up for a challenge! Can I join a team?
Absolutely! We’d love for you to get involved and join us. Here’s an overview of who we’re looking for to make up each team:
Disabled and non-disabled musicians — Instrument makers — Designers — Manufacturers — Technologists — Inventors — Innovators — Music teachers — Academics — Students
Are you one of the above?
Applications close on 17th July – please get in touch if you’ve got any questions.
Our Partners
Funded by Arts Council England, the project is designed to raise awareness of the challenges facing people with disabilities playing traditional musical instruments and find practical solutions that will enable them to participate fully in music making.
Plexal
Plexal is the innovation centre and coworking space that believes in the power of collaboration. We’re building a diverse innovation ecosystem to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing society –starting with cybersecurity, mobility and inclusion.
Our innovation team delivers programmes for clients like Innovate UK and Transport for London, and specialises in forging connections between industry, academia, investors, startups and scaleups.
Our workspace is home to LORCA: an innovation programme that scales the cybersecurity solutions needed most by industry to make the internet safer for everyone.
In the inclusion space, we run the OpenDoor accelerator and are working with partners like UCL and Disability Rights UK to optimise our workspace for accessibility and champion disability-led innovation.
Our team is also bringing about a mobility future that’s sustainable, personalised, accessible, smart and secure. We’re working directly with government and industry to test, scale and deploy solutions that will radically transform the way we move.
And as well as hosting events – anything from meetups to large conferences – we’re home to over 900 innovators who are working in areas like mobility, AI, healthtech, cybersecurity, fintech, the Internet of Things, VR and more.
They enjoy community events, access to the EagleLab at Plexal makers’ space and services designed to help them scale.
The OHMI Trust
The OHMI Trust works to remove the barriers to music-making faced by people with physical disabilities. Any deficiency in an upper limb makes nearly all musical instruments unplayable to any reasonable standard. As a result, thousands are excluded from music-making, including most disabled children.
The OHMI Trust strives for full, undifferentiated, participation in musical life for disabled people through the creation and provision of adapted musical instruments and enabling apparatus. It also undertakes and commissions research into pedagogic practises, instrument design, and manufacturing methods.
Hobs 3D
Creative. Collaborative. Comprehensive. Hobs 3D offers one of the most complete ranges of 3D services in the world. We bridge the gap between digital and physical 3D creation, employing a select and diverse team of 3D printing specialists, model makers, product designers, 3D digital artists and MIxed Reality XR/VR/AR immersive storytellers.
We employ our creativity and technical expertise across multiple industries, working with the world’s leading companies from art & fashion to architecture, from computer gaming to construction, and from marketing to healthcare. We work closely alongside our clients as their creative department to envision, enhance and actualise their projects to the highest standards.
UCL
UCL is a diverse global community of world-class academics, students, industry links, external partners, and alumni. Our powerful collective of individuals and institutions work together to explore new possibilities.
Our distinctive approach to research, education and innovation seeks to further inspire our community of staff, students and partners to transform how the world is understood, how knowledge is created and shared, and the way that global problems are solved.
Creative United
Creative United is an independent Community Interest Company that provides finance-based products and services designed to deliver economic growth and social impact to the arts, creative and cultural sectors.
The Take it away scheme is one of its flagship programmes, which supports participation in music by providing interest free loans for the purchase of musical instruments, equipment and software to enable music making at every level.Press enquiries
Please contact us at: info@creativeunited.org.uk