Accessible Arts / arts + disability NSW

Ricky Buchanan felt that her disability had robbed her of the joy of music. But a chance encounter with a music therapist gave her the opportunity to create melodies beyond her wildest dreams. ‘Being able to create this music is like discovering a part of myself that I had hidden for so long,’ she says.

Ms Buchanan used to play the flute and the recorder as well as sing, however, due to her disability she has been
unable to do any of these for many years. ‘For about 10 years I was not involved in music at all,’ she says. ‘It didn’t occur to me that there was another way I could do it.’

Quite by chance Ms Buchanan was introduced to a music therapist who explained she could link to music through her adapted computer. ‘I am now composing, arranging and playing music and having a fantastic time,’ she says. ‘It feels like a part of my soul waking up that I had almost forgotten had existed.’

The computerised program allows Ms Buchanan to write compositions using her screen keyboard and some track devices to add music notes on her computer screen. The computer then plays the music back.
‘These programs don’t need a lot of complicated typing or mouse movements necessarily,’ she says. ‘And
the initial program I used was inexpensive.’

However, Ms Buchanan has decided to take her composing skills to the next level by trying her hand at a more complex program. ‘I’ll be able to write more complicated music and when the computer plays the music back to me it will sound more realistic, both of which are important to me. ‘At the moment I’m not rich enough to have a private orchestra that sits by the bed and waits for me to tell them what to do – that will happen if I win Tatts-lotto.’
Ms Buchanan encourages everyone who wants to create their own computerised musical masterpieces to have a go, no matter what skills they have. ‘Whether people want to create a pop song, a symphony or a bit of jazz, or something that everyone else thinks is hideous – it doesn’t matter,’ she says.

Budding composers should not be hindered by an inability to read or write music either as there are computer programs available for the musically illiterate that assist the user by arranging little pieces of music that are already in the computer. ‘It’s a bit like putting a song in the blender and then rearranging it the way you like.’
Ms Buchanan shares the music she creates with a large online community where people swap their compositions and discuss ideas and methods.

Most of the people Ms Buchanan communicates with about music are unaware that she has a disability: ‘It feels
like it’s a level playing field in a way. Ms Buchanan believes there is no reason why she can’t compose music just as well as anyone else. ‘It’s nice to have something where my disability is just not an issue,’ she says. ‘There are lots of things I can’t do and this is something I can.’