MAMI: A Modular Accessible Musical Instrument

Exploring music actively can be restricted for someone with cognitive, physical, or sensory impairments. They may face barriers to participation and diminished experiences between their musical expression and the music making means available to them. Technology can be used to bridge these gaps and focus on a person’s capability to create personal instruments that allow for active music making and exploration of sound. This doctoral research aims to look at the use of music technology within the school setting and the needs of the users and those around them. Drawing on this and following an Action Research methodology, a tool will be developed following a participatory design process that utilises both hardware and software, in a modular fashion, to provide a flexible and adaptable system to facilitate music making and sound exploration. The desired outcome will be a toolbox that allows users to put together instruments that suit the needs of those playing them allowing access to musical expression.