An important part of our work at OHMI is connecting disabled musicians with instruments and enabling equipment that not only meet their physical requirements, but which tick the box in terms of the type of instrument they want to play!
 
A key way in which we make that happen is through spreading the word amongst musicians, their friends and family, teachers, and researchers. Through such engagement, we are able to connect musicians living with an upper limb difference or impairment with the services they need – whether that be providing one of the instruments and enabling equipment we have at our disposal in OHMI’s Instrument Hire Scheme, recommending a qualified music teacher, or perhaps making an introduction to an instrument maker who is able to create an adapted instrument that doesn’t yet exist.
 
The ground-breaking instruments and apparatus our Scottish musicians have accessed include a P-bROCK Digital Bagpipe Chanter (learn more about the world’s first one-handed bagpipe player here) and a one-handed recorder.
 
We will be showcasing such instruments for our Scottish audience at an upcoming webinar on 16 March 2022. The webinar is being hosted by CALL Scotland, an arm of The University of Edinburgh which supports children and young people across Scotland to overcome disability and barriers to learning created by their environment.
 
The free, 30-minute session – entitled ‘Music-making for All: Adapted Musical Instruments and Apparatus’ – will commence at 16.00.
 
You can book online here: https://bit.ly/3HDLW98

OHMI works to remove the barriers to music-making faced by people with physical disabilities. Any impairment in an upper limb makes musical instruments unplayable to any reasonable standard. As a result, thousands are excluded from music-making. The OHMI Trust strives for full, undifferentiated, participation in musical life for disabled people through the creation and provision of adapted musical instruments and enabling apparatus. 

OHMI’s continued success comes from the people we work with - beneficiaries, instrument makers, researchers, staff, funders, and in particular, trustees. They bring their skills and experience to OHMI and play a vital role in helping to guide the charity’s mission.   We are now looking for new trustees to join the board.  For full details of the role and how to apply please click - Team - The OHMI Trust.

If you are not in a position to join yourself but know others who might be interested, please do share this and encourage them to get in touch!