Conference My Music Ability
On March 24, 2018, the Landelijk Kennisinstituut Cultuureducatie en Amateurkunst, the Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the AHK Research Centre organized a conference titled My Music Ability, on the themes of music, disability and technology.
The conference featured experts and interested parties from home and abroad. Dutch speakers were United by Music, My Breath My Music, the Jostiband Orchestra and the Dutch Sign Language Choir. The international companies were Resonaari from Finland and Up! Orchestra and Drake Music from England. Drake Music (London) - specializing in working with musicians who have intellectual and/or physical disabilities - worked as Artist-in-Residence with students from the Music in Education Department, with the aim of inspiring and giving them experience with inclusive ensembles and lessons.
Conference participants rated it an average of 8.2 and whether the insights gained will be used in their own practice was rated 8.3.
The British Council featured the conference in an article in their newsletter
Artist in Residence Drake Music
In the coming years, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam aims to work towards a more inclusive approach to musicianship and teaching music. To prepare future music students for this, the Music in Education Department was inspired by examples from abroad. From March 21-24, 2018, Ben Lunn and Tim Yates of Drake Music of London were in residence to work with fourth-year students of the Music in Education programme. Under the guidance of Drake Music, the students explored how to use their craft to fully engage people with disabilities in the musical process, thereby achieving inclusivity.
Inspired by new technologies such as Soundbeam, iPads and Touch Boards, the students designed their own tools to work with inclusivity. Together with two musicians from My Breath My Music, they provided a short performance during the My Music Ability conference at the CvA Blue Stage.
Drake Music's residency was made possible in part by financial support from the Artist in Residence programme of the Amsterdam University of the Arts and the Wim de Monchy Foundation.