Kaila has taken full advantage of the OHMI Instrument Hire Scheme to realise her dream of playing the Great Highland Bagpipes. Read her story and find out the difference that this opportunity can make, both to the user and the ongoing improvement of new instruments and equipment:
"I have wanted to play the bagpipes since I can remember. However, I was born with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy after a pre-natal stroke, and so am not able to use my left hand.
My parents encouraged my love of music with one-handed recorder lessons. I struggle with lots of things but music has been the one thing I can do as well as anyone else. It has been my world, my dream, my paradise. I may do it slightly differently but the music is the same.
Growing up in Scotland, I have heard pipers busking in the street since I was small. I always wanted to play the pipes but I didn’t think it would be possible with one hand. It was pretty hard when my sister started chanter lessons (these are the precursor to pipes) and I still had no hope of playing.
Just when my faith was disappearing, my mum found the OHMI annual competition website, and discovered that the 2017 winner had been Duncan Menzies with his one-handed digital bagpipes. We managed to track Duncan down on the internet – he’s an amazing musician and instrument developer. He was lovely and straight-away lent me one of his early prototype chanters to try out. This uses “touch-free tone hole sensors and sampled acoustic recordings to provide excellent sound quality and a highly responsive and realistic playing experience.”
I was able to join the chanter group lessons that my school has and I have been learning the fingering, but more importantly the ornaments that are so important to pipe playing – grace notes, doublings, strikes, grips, burls and torluaths. I have gradually been learning more and more new tunes.
Since then, Duncan has improved the chanter further and it now includes a pressure sensor to attach to the bag, so it will only produce the sound with enough pressure from the bag. I have hired one of these from OHMI, and so have now had to learn to blow and squeeze, keeping the bag full and with the right pressure on the bag to make the sounds while also striking the right notes while I play. This is harder than it sounds, but my lungs are getting stronger now and my multitasking is getting better!
My school (Madras College in St Andrews) has a great pipe band, and their own tartan for their pipe band uniform! I am more likely to be a solo piper because I need an amp or speaker for the sound. But the experience of piping is wonderful and I am always on a high after playing! I have made a video here of me playing at my school.
Music helps me so much with my self-esteem, confidence and mental health. I couldn’t be without it, and am so grateful to Duncan and to OHMI for making it possible to find one-handed instruments – even things like the bagpipes.
To anyone out there in a similar position, I hope you will find something on the OHMI website that might inspire you to explore the world of music more. Remember to never give up, because there is nothing that you can’t do."
My parents encouraged my love of music with one-handed recorder lessons. I struggle with lots of things but music has been the one thing I can do as well as anyone else. It has been my world, my dream, my paradise. I may do it slightly differently but the music is the same.
Growing up in Scotland, I have heard pipers busking in the street since I was small. I always wanted to play the pipes but I didn’t think it would be possible with one hand. It was pretty hard when my sister started chanter lessons (these are the precursor to pipes) and I still had no hope of playing.
Just when my faith was disappearing, my mum found the OHMI annual competition website, and discovered that the 2017 winner had been Duncan Menzies with his one-handed digital bagpipes. We managed to track Duncan down on the internet – he’s an amazing musician and instrument developer. He was lovely and straight-away lent me one of his early prototype chanters to try out. This uses “touch-free tone hole sensors and sampled acoustic recordings to provide excellent sound quality and a highly responsive and realistic playing experience.”
I was able to join the chanter group lessons that my school has and I have been learning the fingering, but more importantly the ornaments that are so important to pipe playing – grace notes, doublings, strikes, grips, burls and torluaths. I have gradually been learning more and more new tunes.
Since then, Duncan has improved the chanter further and it now includes a pressure sensor to attach to the bag, so it will only produce the sound with enough pressure from the bag. I have hired one of these from OHMI, and so have now had to learn to blow and squeeze, keeping the bag full and with the right pressure on the bag to make the sounds while also striking the right notes while I play. This is harder than it sounds, but my lungs are getting stronger now and my multitasking is getting better!
My school (Madras College in St Andrews) has a great pipe band, and their own tartan for their pipe band uniform! I am more likely to be a solo piper because I need an amp or speaker for the sound. But the experience of piping is wonderful and I am always on a high after playing! I have made a video here of me playing at my school.
Music helps me so much with my self-esteem, confidence and mental health. I couldn’t be without it, and am so grateful to Duncan and to OHMI for making it possible to find one-handed instruments – even things like the bagpipes.
To anyone out there in a similar position, I hope you will find something on the OHMI website that might inspire you to explore the world of music more. Remember to never give up, because there is nothing that you can’t do."
You can see some videos of Kaila performing below:
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Donate to OHMIThere are so many disabled people who are desperate to play music with their peers. We can help to make that happen – but we can only do that with the wonderful support of our funders and donors.
As our instruments have to be hand-made by experts, they can only be produced in small numbers and are therefore expensive. Every little really does help.
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All content © OHMI - Enabling Music-Making for Physically Disabled People
The OHMI Trust is a registered charity (Registered in England and Wales Charity No. 1143623, Scotland Charity No. SC052047).
Registered office: 29 Woodbourne Road, Harborne, Birmingham, B17 8BY
All content © OHMI - Enabling Music-Making for Physically Disabled People
The OHMI Trust is a registered charity (Registered in England and Wales Charity No. 1143623, Scotland Charity No. SC052047).
Registered office: 29 Woodbourne Road, Harborne, Birmingham, B17 8BY
