Grammy and Ivor Novello award winning recording artist Imogen Heap is today announced as Drake Music’s newest Advocate.
The Drake Music team first met Imogen when we became a collaborator on her Mi.Mu Gloves project. Imogen shares our passion for exploring what technology can do, using innovation to open up new means of expression and – of course – for music.
Imogen’s statement about becoming an Advocate:
“I first met Drake Music while hosting a workshop in December 2014. Drake Music, represented by Gawain Hewitt and Kris Halpin, were here as one of the 15 collaborators now involved in the development of the Mi.Mu Gloves that us on Team Mi.Mu have created.
Working with Drake Music has widened our perspectives as they explore the use of the gloves to help break and push creative boundaries for people with disabilities, enabling new ways of expression on both stage and in the studio.
I feel akin to this as, over the years, I have been deeply frustrated by limits of both the same and different kinds when creating and performing music with existing tools and computers.
It’s the whole purpose of the Mi.Mu gloves – that each musician will appropriate, program and use them in a way that no other person would. No two people will ever play the gloves the same way. Now we are building on this even further, as no two people have the exact same disability.
This is where the combination between Mi.Mu gloves and Drake Music is so exciting. We both aim to support everyone’s creativity, to make their culture, musical knowledge or physical condition not a limitation, but a creative asset.”
The composer, performer, technologist and inventor is the only female artist to have ever won a Grammy for engineering.
Carien Meijer, Chief Executive of Drake Music commented:
“We are incredibly proud that Imogen has chosen to become an ambassador for Drake Music.
Her capacity for creativity and innovation is hugely inspiring and fits so well with what we do – using technology to allow everyone to get involved with writing and playing music.
This is a dream partnership for Drake Music, and we look forward to working with Imogen to share the message that music making is possible for everyone, as well as continuing to work on the development of Mi.Mu Gloves.”
Mi.Mu Gloves represent the cutting-edge of wearable music technology. Drake Music became a collaborator in order to be part of shaping the accessibility of the gloves for disabled musicians.
We are currently also working on developing other accessible instruments and musical tools, including a modified guitar which can be played with one finger and a head-mounted baton for conductors, among other things.
Our Research and Development work supports the work we do to break down barriers to music by exploring the potential of technology to create accessible instruments. This work is supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
