We Are All Musicians
By Emily Putnam
Music Professor Jesse Stewart’s We Are All Musicians Laboratory is dedicated to advancing research that makes music more inclusive for everyone.
Stewart was invited by Carleton Engineering faculty member Adrian Chan to collaborate on the Abilities Living Laboratory, a space committed to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, where Carleton researchers are leading the way in accessibility, health, rehabilitation, and inclusive design.
“It’s wonderful to have a space in which to collaborate with one another, with other Carleton faculty, and with community partners who likewise are dedicated to working towards a barrier-free society,” says Stewart.
Housed in Carleton’s ARISE (Advanced Research and Innovation in Smart Environments) Building, the lab exemplifies this commitment by providing a dynamic, interdisciplinary environment for developing and testing new technologies that enhance quality of life and foster full participation in society.
Stewart’s involvement in the Abilities Learning Lab allows for testing and development of assistive and adaptive musical instruments.
We are all Musicians (WAAM) is an organization and research-creation project that Stewart started in 2012 that is dedicated to inclusive and accessible music making.
“The guiding philosophy behind the project is the idea that music is a fundamental human right: everyone deserves to have opportunities to make music, regardless of their level of musical training, income, age, or ability,” says Stewart.
To realize this vision, the WAAM project uses of a variety of assistive and adaptive music technologies in conjunction with more traditional musical instruments to foster musical exploration and interaction.
These technologies are particularly used among individuals and communities that have experienced barriers to making music historically, notably individuals with disabilities of various kinds, children and adults experiencing economic precarity, and older adults.
“Most traditional musical instruments require a high degree of motor control. To play a saxophone, for example, one needs to be able to hold the saxophone, press the keys, and blow air through the mouthpiece and into the horn. Not everyone can do those things.”
Despite the growing body of research showing the myriad of social and health benefits of making music, many people continue to experience barriers to music and music education, including people with limited motor control and other forms of disability.
“One of the exciting things about the digital music revolution is that we now have digital instruments that can adapt to anyone’s range of motion and accessibility needs,” says Stewart.
One instrument that has been an important tool in the We Are All Musicians toolbox is the Adaptive Use Musical instrument (AUMI), which uses an iOS device to translate movement into sound.
This tool was initiated over 15 years ago by composer and humanitarian Pauline Oliveros.
Many people have contributed over the years, including Carleton Full Professor and Helmut Kallmann Chair for Music in Canada Ellen Waterman, as well as Jesse Stewart.
“Normally, the AUMI plays digital samples that can be customized in different ways. In recent years, I’ve been using the AUMI to track movement and send corresponding electrical signals to mechanical strikers that I attach to acoustic percussion instruments,” says Stewart.
This enables people with extremely limited mobility to play acoustic gongs and other assorted percussion.
“Some of the patients have no voluntary motor control except for the movement of their eyes, so I track their eye movements with the AUMI, which in turn triggers the gongs.”
Recently, Adrian Chan and Stewart—in collaboration with university student Yahia Hassanen—made a new set of instruments that use small gyroscopes embedded in multifaceted polygons.
Each side of the polygons can be assigned a different sound or note—tipping, rolling, throwing, or moving each polygon results in different sounds.
Stewart facilitates group music sessions at Saint Vincent Hospital, a complex care facility in Ottawa, and the Roger Nielsen Children’s Hospice.
“Everyone in the Abilities Living Laboratory takes the disability-rights maxim “nothing about us without us” seriously, so persons with disabilities are involved at every stage of the co-creative process. For me, this means trying things out with persons with disabilities in different community contexts.”
He says the true impact of the work becomes clear through the responses he receives.
“It’s often the reaction of caregivers (including family members and healthcare professionals) that affirms the importance of this work for me: a parent who tells me how happy they were to see their child participating in a group activity; or an occupational therapist who sees an improvement in one of the people in their care.”
Stewart says he hopes the Abilities Living Laboratory will contribute meaningfully to making the world more broadly accessible for all.
“Through the Accessible Canada Act, Canada has committed to making Canadian society barrier-free by the year 2040. I hope that the Abilities Living Lab will contribute in some small way to realizing this vision.”