Since he was a child, adam patrick bell has found joy in making music.

In fact, he sold his hockey equipment at age 13 to buy cymbal stands for his drum kit. Now as a professional muscian and professor of music education at Western University, he wants to create opportunities for everyone to enjoy the experience of learning to make music—especially those who live with a disability.  

“Music helps connect us with other people. For me, it's like drinking water and eating food. It's something you need in your life. But music education has been historically inaccessible to people with disabilities,” says adam, Canada Research Chair in Music, Inclusion, and Accessibility. “My goal is to make it accessible and meaningfully inclusive. That’s why my colleagues and I are asking crucial questions about what’s needed to fully include people with disabilities.”

He acknowledges there are many barriers. A teacher might relegate a student with a disability to play something simple, like ringing a triangle. Or the instruments themselves—say a guitar or trombone—may be impossible to play in their traditional physical form by someone who doesn’t have use of their arms. Or it could be lack of physical access to a place where music is played.

“My own training as a teacher, as it relates to disability, focused on how you can make a student fit into the system. I try to flip that and ask, how do we change our systems so they work for people with disabilities?”

An important influence for adam has been Drake Music, a U.K.-based program that specializes in using technology to make music accessible, using an approach he refers to as “disability-led design.”

Now adam—who collaborates with universities across the country – is applying this approach with initiatives like the Western Accessible Instruments Lab, which will facilitate the design of customized musical instruments for those with disabilities.

But, adam notes, “accessibility isn’t always about the instrument.” Case in point: adam has worked with Dyllan Lambert Monroe for the past number of years. Dyllan, a Calgary musician, has cerebral palsy. He has no trouble creating music, which he does using a computer. He’s composed for orchestras and bands and for his own work, using AI clones for the vocals.

“My colleagues and I have been able to support Dyllan by making connections to get him out into the music community through artist commissions and residencies with groups like the Calgary Arts Development Agency.”  adam and Dyllan also co-presented at an academic conference on music education hosted by the MayDay Group, an international music think tank.  

“In the same way music has been rich and fulfilling in my life, I want others to experience that too. That's the collective dream of our group—we want to be helpful and lead toward outcomes where musicians with disabilities can thrive.”

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*Editor’s note: adam spells his name using lowercase letters