"the kids love the music and being able to play the drums and computer music themselves".

Aimee Siegel, teacher, Abilities First

The Deep Listening Institute (DLI) is seeking $25,000 in funding to support its Adaptive Use Musical Instruments for Physically Challenged (AUMI) project. Your donation of $25 or more will help us reach our goal. We will send you news as the project continues to develop in a world wide base.

Led by musician, composer, and humanitarian Pauline Oliveros, the AUMI team has worked in collaboration with the Rensselear Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the community education initiatives of the Abilities First, Inc. School and with the support of Improvisation, Community and Social Practice (ICASP) of the University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.

AUMI programmers at RPI and DLI  have contributed to the software that enables people with physical and/or cognitive disabilities to play music. The software tracks the movements of the user with a webcam in order to produce sounds and create rhythmic patterns. Users of the software who would be unable to play conventional instruments are able to create sound with the movement that is available to them. Some users play by movement that is limited to head, nose, elbow, tongue or even breathing. The software reads this movement yielding sounds specified by the user; allowing AUMI software users to improvise and collaborate with other musicians of any ability. All musicians of any ability can use the AUMI software.

The software is currently in use at Abilities First, a school in Poughkeepsie, NY, and at the Institute for Child Rehabilitation – Téleton in Santiago, Chile as well as many other places where the software has been downloaded. At Abilities First, Inc. students whose challenges would prevent them from performing in Leaf Miller’s drum circle use the AUMI software during drum class.  Staff at Abilities First comment that use of the AUMI software  is much anticipated by the students, providing confidence, independence, and a means of self-expression: “The variety of sounds and music allows each student an opportunity to explore.” Patients at Téleton use the AUMI software together with their music therapist to increase movements that were lost to spinal and head injuries. This program has been greatly successful.

The AUMI project has an international scope and an international audience. The AUMI software has appeared as part of an exhibition titled “This Ability” in China and in South Korea. In June 2010, the project was presented at the “Music Technology: Solutions to Challenges” conference in London and the Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium in September 2010.  A subsequent presentation is planned for the American Music Therapy Conference in Cleveland, OH  November 2010.

The AUMI software is available for free download (in Mac and PC versions), and is being used by music therapists, hospitals, musicians, and families worldwide. The software can be used by anyone, and we are encouraging users to send feedback and engage in discussion through the Adaptive Use Musical Instruments Facebook Page.

Your donation of $25 or more will provide crucial funding that will allow AUMI to establish new programs at schools and treatment centres worldwide. It will finance a training program to help music therapists, nurses, teachers, parents, and aides use the AUMI software at their own schools, hospitals, treatment centers, and homes. It will help us fund critical upgrades to the software, increasing automation that will allow for more musicians across abilities to use the software independently.

The AUMI team and DLI will be grateful for your participation in our project through your donations.

Thank you sincerely,

Pauline Oliveros
executive director

DLI is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations are fully tax deductible.

For more information about AUMI, visit these sites:

AUMI on Facebook