DJing and Disability: Part Four – Learning to DJ

Written by Maria Witek, Caro Cooke and Lisa Heywood

This is the final part in our four-part blog series reporting on a research study about the experiences of Disabled DJs and how DJing can be made more accessible.

In part one, we introduced the study, the researchers and the approach, and summarised the results. In part two, we shared our findings on the theme DJ Hardware. In part three, we presented results relating to DJ Software.

Here, in the final part of this series, we will share the results on our last theme, Learning. We were interested in understanding how Disabled DJs experienced the process of learning to DJ and what challenges arose as they developed the knowledge and skills required for DJing. Two subthemes emerged; Learning and contextualising terminology, and access to learning. In the remainder, we discuss each in turn and consider their implications for making DJing more accessible to Disabled people.

Learning and Contextualising Terminology

When it comes to DJing, there are numerous ways people can learn, whether through online videos, courses, private lessons, or even reading the manual. One of the first steps in DJing is to become familiar with the names of different knobs, faders and buttons, and understanding their functions. Early lessons usually cover simple techniques such as a basic blend (smoothly transitioning from one track to another) and basic music theory. Over time, teaching progresses to more advanced techniques. In our interviews, we were interested in how participants experience learning terminology. Gemma Nash, a sound artist and former DJ from Manchester with Cerebral Palsy shared:

[What I found challenging] was not learning, just kind of remembering techniques and terminology. What it all meant, you know?

For Gemma, the terminology itself was not difficult to learn, but remembering what the terms meant was where the challenges lay. Similar reflections were made by Caro Cooke, a.k.a. Caroline the DJ, a neurodivergent DJ based in London:

What I found challenging when I was learning terminology was how do I apply it, the context of when I apply it. When do I get the tempo up in the mix?

For Caro, the challenge was not to learn the terminology itself, but to apply that terminology to the relevant skills. Changing the tempo of a track is done with what’s called the pitch control (changing speed/tempo also changes the pitch of the track). Caro didn’t struggle to learn this term, but it was challenging to learn the skill of how and when to apply such changes when mixing two tracks together. Together, Gemma and Caro’s reflections show that learning the details of the hardware and software is not necessarily difficult, but remembering the techniques and in what context they should be applied can be challenging.

Caro also talked about how overlapping terms could be confusing:

And the whole fact that there’s the cue headphones, and then there’s the cue buttons and all of these things that are kind of broadly linked and also not.

Here, Caro is highlighting a common confusion with what are called the cue buttons. On DJ decks, there are buttons for cueing (or counting) in the tracks the DJ wants to play next, and there is also cue buttons that allow the DJ to preview songs on headphones, before playing it on speakers. DJs who are learning can find it overwhelming that they are called the same and can broadly mean the same thing at an abstract level, but serve different functions. Learning to differentiate the different types of cue and which is appropriate for a given context can take time. For DJs with learning difficulties, identical labels for buttons with different functions can be especially disabling.

Access to learning

In the interviews, we asked our participants about their experience of accessing learning. As mentioned earlier, there are different ways that a person can learn to DJ, such as reading manuals, learning online, in person or even figuring it out yourself as you go. One participant, Sha Supangan a.k.a. SO SHA, a neurodivergent DJ based in the Philippines and the UK, spoke about her preference for learning:

I hate manuals for some reason. I think that’s also why I went to school, because I’d rather have someone show me, as in the physical human being. Like ‘bap, bap, bap’, it’s stored in my head, I can’t forget it. I’ve tried to learn by watching Youtube videos, by the way. It’s not for the lack of trying or laziness, but it’s almost like the presenter is speaking a different language. I know what he’s saying is quite simple, and then when I go back and do it, even if I pause and fiddle, and then play again, it’s not ‘boop!’ You know, when something is integrated in your brain, you can feel it, it’s unshakable! I’m able to do it to the standard that I am happy with, I just don’t explore as much, it’s too much for me.

Sha felt that learning by reading manuals and watching online tutorials was not accessible. Manuals are often dense with information, and video tutorials can be long. She found that her learning was best absorbed and integrated when there was someone present to teach and support her. With barriers to executive functioning, it can be challenging for neurodivergent people to learn or retain information in certain environments. Being neurodivergent, Sha found that watching tutorials was difficult for learning, due to the challenges with switching from watching and listening to practicing directly on the decks. Task switching and shifting focus from one thing to another are known to be common challenges for some neurodivergent people. Limiting task and attention shifting in DJ teaching tools may help make learning to DJ more accessible to Disabled, especially neurodivergent people.

To summarise, two key themes emerged in our interviews when discussing learning:

• Learning terminology itself is not difficult, but remembering and contextualising those terms with the skills required to achieve a successful DJ practice can be a barrier.
• Learning is best absorbed and integrated during in-person hands-on tuition, as reading manuals and watching tutorials can be overwhelming, especially to neurodivergent DJ learners.

While in-person engagement may enable the best learning, online tutorials may be crucial to some homebound DJs. Our research suggests that, where in-person tuition is not feasible, short-form videos or concise text that contextualise terms with the relevant skills may support learners to better absorb the information and improve their DJ skills. Together with the recommendations on hardware and software presented in the earlier parts of our blog series, these insights can help DJ teachers and technology developers make DJing more accessible to Disabled people.