This March some of the Drake Music team are heading to Japan for our second visit, hosted by the British Council and Kawasaki City Council.
In 2018 we were invited by the British Council to make a scoping trip to Japan, in order to make connections and begin to understand the context for any possible future partnerships in the run up to Japan 2020.
Since then we have continued to build relationships and connections, including delivering training in the Social Model of Disability earlier this year, and returning in March to begin working with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, disabled musicians, technologists and music educators.
The Team
Tim Yates
Tim, the new head of our DMLab programme, will be sharing insights into the development of new musical instruments and technology, going beyond user-testing to share our collaborative approach to instrument design where disabled musicians are at the heart of the process.
Kris Halpin
Kris will be demonstrating the magic of the Mi.Mu Gloves as an access tool as well as discussing his work with Drake Music and his journey as a disabled artist and practitioner.
Ben Sellers
DM Associate Musician Ben Sellers will be delivering three days of inclusive participatory music making workshops with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and other music educators. Together they will explore the potential of technology to remove disabling barriers in music education.
Carien Meijer, Chief Executive of Drake Music commented:
“It is an exciting time to be working at the intersection of music, access and technology and we are grateful to the British Council and Kawasaki City Council for inviting us to share our ethos, practice and ideas with artists, colleagues and peers in Japan.
We are pleased to be delivering training on the Social Model of Disability and connecting the ideas behind it to meaningful inclusive practice in music and music education.
We hope that this visit will allow us to continue build strong relationships and that this will be the start of a community of makers and musicians. This will help inspire and drive forward accessibility in music making, opening doors for disabled musicians, sound artists, technologists and more.”
