Music-making programme for disabled children extended

A music-making programme for disabled children is being extended to another three areas of England after receiving Arts Council England lottery funding.

OHMI Music-Makers will now be delivered by The OHMI Trust in Central Bedfordshire, Southampton and Liverpool.

The aim of the scheme is to offer parity of access to music-making for disabled children in 'whole class' school music lessons.

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Rachel Wolffsohn, General Manager at The OHMI Trust, explained: “The needs of a disabled student are not always apparent, so our first step is to uncover and assess individual needs as part of an analysis conducted before lessons begin.

"We then choose the instrument or equipment to match, as closely as possible, the instrument being taught to the rest of the class. 

"The music service and teacher are then supported to include the child with a physical impairment alongside their peers."

She added that, although well-established, "a lack of funding presents a barrier to wider rollout" of the programme.

Embedding support

Inspiring Music (IM), the music service for Central Bedfordshire Council, applied to be part of the programme last December following training provided by OHMI.

Mark Lowe, IM's Music Inclusion Manager, said: “Once we undertook OHMI’s training, it became instantly clear that OHMI had the experience, skills, understanding and structure to allow us to embed the support required to provide accessible instruments for children and young people who are physically disabled."and Inspiring Music.”

He added that the partnership “will allow us to provide more equitable, inclusive and accessible musical opportunities".