Improvising Across Abilities: Pauline Oliveros and the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument (AUMI) brings together scholars, musicians, and family members of people with disabilities to collectively recount years of personal experiences, research, and perspectives on the societal and community impact of inclusive musical improvisation. One of the lesser-known projects of composer, improviser, and humanitarian, Pauline Oliveros (19322016), the AUMI was designed as a liberating and affordable alternative to the constraints of instruments created only for normative bodies, thus opening a doorway for people of all ages, genders, abilities, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds to access artistic practice with others. More than a book about AUMI, this book is an invitation to readers to use AUMI in their own communities.
This book, which contains wisdom from many who have been affected by their work with the instrument and the people who use it, is a representation of how music and extemporized performance have touched the lives and minds of scholars and families alike. Not only has AUMI provided the opportunity to grow in listening to others who may speak differently (or not at all), but it has been used as an avenue for a diverse set of people to build friendships with others whom they may have never otherwise even glanced at in the street. By providing a space for every person who comes across AUMI to perform, listen, improvise, and collaborate, the continuing development of this instrument contributes to a world in which every person is heard, welcomed, and celebrated.
An exploration of the instrument that allows everyone to access artistic practice
Recenzijos
"Improvising Across Abilities is perhaps the only manuscript of its kind: one that explores the applications of one adaptive music technology, AUMI, in extraordinary depth through multivalent perspectives and scenarios via the words and metaphors of an extraordinarily varied collective of writers, students, teachers, social justice workers, technologists, community activists, group home directors, and creatives. While most scholarly essay collections feature chapters by academics from a narrow range of fields (if not a single one), this volumes editorial team has consciously drawn writing from members of the public community who might not ordinarily contribute to such a collection, as well as from artists, scientists, and professors who write as part of their profession. The variation in writers and voices not only adds to the value of the book, but reinforces its argument that everyone, no matter what shape, size, or ability, should have a voice." -- Stephanie Jensen-Moulton, Brooklyn College The awe-inspiring creator and thinker Pauline Oliveros is recognized for her pioneering electronic compositions, the astonishing diversity of her musical creations, her multifaceted poetic and expository writing, and her dedicated teaching of Deep Listening over many years. Some of her best-known work, the Sonic Meditations and Deep Listening Pieces, offers brief verbal instructions to allow groups to create musical experiences together, regardless of the musical training or experience of the people involved. An extension of this inclusiveness came in her later years with the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument (AUMI), now a freely downloadable app that allows users, including people with limited physical mobility, to participate in music making in new and provocative ways. This well-conceived book makes available a stunning wealth of information about AUMI by writers from many different backgrounds. -- Fred Maus, University of Virginia
Introduction
Section I: Dreaming of AUMI
Chapter 1
Going Deep: AUMI Since Before the Beginning
Leaf Miller
Illustrations by Ty Dykema
Chapter 2
From Punk Philosophy to Musical Accessibility
Zane Van Dusen
Chapter 3
My Transformation into a Masterpiece Musical Instrument and Musician
Clara Tomaz
Chapter 4
The Gift of Expression: Playing AUMI with My Son
Julie Brocklehurst
Chapter 5
AUMI as a Model for Social Justice
George Lipsitz
Chapter 6
The Dream of AUMI
IONE
Section II: Software for All People: Improvising AUMIs Development
Chapter 7
AUMI in the Context of Adaptive Music
Alex Lubet
Chapter 8
AUMI Among the ADMIs: The Adaptive Digital Context
Grace Shih-en Leu
Chapter 9
AUMI Development and Developers: The DLI Years (2007-2012)
Sherrie Tucker
Chapter 10
AUMI Technology Development at McGill (2012-2019)
John Sullivan, Ivan Franco, Ian Hattwick, Thomas Ciufo, Eric Lewis
Chapter 11
How Adaptive, How Useful? Technological Design Solutions in AUMI for iOS
Henry Lowengard
Chapter 12
Paulines World of Virtuosos: Expanded Instruments, Deep Listening, and
Stretched Boundaries
Jonas Braasch
Section III, Part 1:AUMI Communities
Chapter 13
Exploring AUMIs Potential in the Thunder Bay Community
An Interview between Nicola Oddy and Lise Vaugeois
Chapter 14
Building and Sustaining Ethical Communities Together
An Interview with Rebecca Caines by Ellen Waterman
Chapter 15
Theres No Place Like AUMI: Building a Community Partnership in Lawrence,
Kansas
Jim Barnes, Kip Haaheim, Ray Mizumura-Pence, Sherrie Tucker, and Ranita
Wilks
Chapter 16
Love, Actually: Using AUMI to Transgress Ableist Directing Habits
Nicole Hodges Persley
Chapter 17
Wooden Snapdragon
Julie Unruh
Chapter 18
Improvising Inclusive Communities: Shared Reflections on the Jesse Stewart
Residency in Lawrence, Kansas
Abbey Dvorak, Kip Haaheim, Ray Mizumura-Pence, and Sherrie Tucker
Chapter 19
Sending and Receiving: AUMI Bodies and Dance Improvisation
Michelle Heffner Hayes and Sherrie Tucker
Chapter 20
Communities of Generosity and Gratitude: AUMI-KU InterArts First Decade
Ray Mizumura-Pence
Section III, Part 2:AUMI Performance
Chapter 21
WAAM + AUMI: The We Are All Musicians Project and the Adaptive Use Musical
Instrument
Jesse Stewart
Chapter 22
To Me, Dance is a Home: An Interview with Jessie Huggett
Jessie Huggett Interviewed by Jack Hui Litster
Chapter 23
I Am Here: AUMI Sings and Choral Participation
Ellen Waterman, Laurel Forshaw, Gillian Siddall, Henry Lowengard, Gale
Franklin, Teresa Connors, and Karen Berglander
Chapter 24
AUMI, Theremin, and Sonic Witnessing
Li Harris
Chapter 25
AUMI in Practice: The Mills AIE
Matt Robidoux
Chapter 26
Knowing as Feeling: Five Meditations on the Planets
Kip Haaheim
Section IV, Part 1: AUMI Classrooms
Jennifer Hurst and Grace Shih-en Leu
Chapter 27
Working with AUMI in Classroom Settings in a Center School for Students with
Severe Cognitive and Physical Challenges
Deborah A. Nelson and Nancy Patterson
Chapter 28
AUMI and Improvise Approach Backing Tracks
Carrie Lennard
Chapter 29
AUMI and the Ethics of Technology: A Personal Encounter
Eric Lewis
Section IV, Part 2: AUMI and Music Therapy: Supporting Independent Musicking
Abbey Dvorak and Nicola Oddy
Chapter 30
Clinical Applications Using AUMI in Music Therapy Practice
Abbey L. Dvorak, James Maxson, and David Knott
Chapter 31
Use of AUMI in Clinical Music Therapy for Hospitalized Patients with Complex
Neurological Disabilities
Sergio Hazard
Chapter 32
AUMI and Musical Empowerment in a Pediatric Environment
John Mulcahy
Section V: Dreaming AUMI Futures
Chapter 33
Dream Music
Julie Unruh
Chapter 34
Dreaming AUMIS Future
IONE
References
Editorial Team and
Chapter Contributors
The AUMI Editorial Collective includes Thomas Ciufo, Abbey Dvorak, Kip Haaheim, Jennifer Hurst, IONE, Grace Shih-en Leu, Leaf Miller, Ray Mizumura-Pence, Nicola Oddy, Jesse Stewart, John Sullivan, Sherrie Tucker, Ellen Waterman, and Ranita Wilks.
