On the Inclusivity of Constraint: Creative Appropriation in Instruments for Neurodiverse Children and Young People

Joe Wright, and James Dooley

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

Taking inspiration from research into deliberately constrained musical technologies and the emergence of neurodiverse, child-led musical groups such as the Artism Ensemble, the interplay between design-constraints, inclusivity and appro- priation is explored. A small scale review covers systems from two prominent UK-based companies, and two itera- tions of a new prototype system that were developed in collaboration with a small group of young people on the autistic spectrum. Amongst these technologies, the aspects of musical experience that are made accessible differ with re- spect to the extent and nature of each system's constraints. It is argued that the design-constraints of the new prototype system facilitated the diverse playing styles and techniques observed during its development. Based on these obser- vations, we propose that deliberately constrained musical instruments may be one way of providing more opportuni- ties for the emergence of personal practices and preferences in neurodiverse groups of children and young people, and that this is a fitting subject for further research.

Citation:

Joe Wright, and James Dooley. 2019. On the Inclusivity of Constraint: Creative Appropriation in Instruments for Neurodiverse Children and Young People. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3672908

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{Wright2019,
 abstract = {Taking inspiration from research into deliberately constrained musical technologies and the emergence of neurodiverse, child-led musical groups such as the Artism Ensemble, the interplay between design-constraints, inclusivity and appro- priation is explored. A small scale review covers systems from two prominent UK-based companies, and two itera- tions of a new prototype system that were developed in collaboration with a small group of young people on the autistic spectrum. Amongst these technologies, the aspects of musical experience that are made accessible differ with re- spect to the extent and nature of each system's constraints. It is argued that the design-constraints of the new prototype system facilitated the diverse playing styles and techniques observed during its development. Based on these obser- vations, we propose that deliberately constrained musical instruments may be one way of providing more opportuni- ties for the emergence of personal practices and preferences in neurodiverse groups of children and young people, and that this is a fitting subject for further research.},
 address = {Porto Alegre, Brazil},
 author = {Joe Wright and James Dooley},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.3672908},
 editor = {Marcelo Queiroz and Anna Xambó Sedó},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 pages = {162--167},
 publisher = {UFRGS},
 title = {On the Inclusivity of Constraint: Creative Appropriation in Instruments for Neurodiverse Children and Young People},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2019/nime2019_paper032.pdf},
 year = {2019}
}