Braille specialist, journalist and soprano Ria Andriani didn’t want to feature heart-warming stories of disabled musicians defying the odds.
She wanted to showcase the amazing hacks and tricks they use to make the musical world accessible for themselves.
Host of a four-part series How Music Works on ABC Classical, Ria interviews musicians with a disability and discovers the strategies they use daily to make music.
“When I came on board with this series, I wanted to focus more on the accessibility side of things rather than the usual inspirational focus that most media has when they're portraying people with disability,” she told Vision Australia Radio’s Talking Vision.
Legally blind with congenital glaucoma, Ria interviews the likes of opera singer Jordie Howell who is blind, to composer Damon Smith who lives with obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar.
Photo: Ria Andriani interviews opera singer Jordie Howell. (Credit: ABC Classical)
Also on the bill is percussionist Tessa Gutierrez, who can drum in a wheelchair and follow along with low vision.
“She has a very supportive network of friends who make sure she has line of sight to the conductor and can see her music,” Ria said.
Ria hopes the series can tackle the music industry’s bias and rigidity in accepting disabled artists.
“We deserve to have different access paths that make it possible to get into auditions and also to perform on stage without having to come up with all the solutions ourselves,” she said.
Listen to the full interview with Ria in the player below:
You can find the four-part How Music Works series at ABC Classical online.