As an alliance, we have been considering how we can broaden our instrumental tuition and ensemble offer to more pupils across the region.
One of the questions we have been considering as a workforce is 'what is an instrument?'. Discussions around what is considered to be an instrument as well as how can we support children and young people more effectively through adaptations have been vital to our workforce development.
At Kent Music, the Music Resources team are the driving force behind supporting the county’s learners to engage in music making and with over 18,000 instruments being loaned across the county we thought it was time to think about where we go next!
We spoke to the Kent Music Hub Music Resources team to ask them what they thought an instrument is and what some of the barriers are to music making: check out our video interview about what accessible instrumentation means to us!
Kent Music challenged the idea of 'what is an instrument’ and explain how working collaboratively and creatively as a team, accesible and inclusive opportunities can be provided for young people.
This guide includes details of more than 80 musical instruments and products, from prototypes and bespoke to commercially available and common accessories. Many have been specifically designed to make learning and playing musical instruments of all kinds as accessible as possible for disabled players of all ages.
The aim of the guide is to provide a central resource that can be referred to as guidance and ideas for all – individuals, parents, teachers, schools and retailers.
https://takeitaway.org.uk/news/adaptive-musical-instrument-guide/
A UK charity pioneering the use of assistive music technology to create opportunities and instruments that make music fully accessible.
Pioneering the development and adaptation of musical instruments for people who are physically disabled.
Any deficiency or impairment in one hand or arm makes traditional instruments unplayable to any reasonable standard. As a result, millions across the world are excluded from music-making for the lack of suitable instruments.
OHMI’s objective is to remove the barriers to music-making so as to enable full and undifferentiated participation in musical life.
https://www.ohmi.org.uk
