Macy holding her horn

Author: Macy James | Major: Music Performance | Semester: Spring 2024

I have been studying horn performance with Dr. Katelyn J. Halbert in the music department since the beginning of my Freshman year, and since that time, both through her past research and my lived experience, I have become increasingly aware of the lack of diverse representation in classical music. As a blind horn performance major and future professional classical musician, it is very important to me that individuals with disabilities be represented in the music that I play. However, even with the incredible amount of research and advocacy that has been done in recent years by scholars and performers seeking to diversify classical repertoire, I found almost no representation of disability in the available resources. Therefore, in the spring of my junior year, I began researching disability representation in works for the horn with Dr. Halbert as my mentor.

For my research project, I am scouring the repertoire for horn and creating a database of works that represent disability in some way. Due to the challenges faced by disabled musicians throughout history and today, the list of works will include both pieces by disabled composers and pieces by non-disabled composers which center around the topic of disability. Because of the SURF funding that I received, I will also be commissioning a new work for horn by a composer who is disabled and interviewing him as part of my project.

Last semester, I began searching through resources and databases of horn repertoire, and, not surprisingly, I have found only a few pieces that fit my research category. This experience has led to a personal debate and many discussions with Dr. Halbert about what constitutes disability and whether all representation of disability throughout history contributes positively to the cause of disabled individuals today. Deciding what pices are “representative of disability” will be a continued part of my research, but these decisions continually challenge me to explore definitions of disability and its impact on music and musicians.

Because my research is in such a niche area, I drew on many outside connections for resources on the topic. During my freshman year, Dr. Halbert invited the founders of Diversify the Stand, an organization dedicated to working with diverse voices to create accessible educational music, to present for our studio. When I decided on my research topic, they were the first people I contacted to ask about composers with disabilities, and they introduced my via email to the composer who I would later commission for this project. Tyler Mazone is a deaf and neurodivergent composer earning his doctorate in composition from Michigan State University. Over the course of the semester, Tyler has been both a great composer to work with and a fantastic colleague who shares my passion for disability representation and advocacy.

When I proceed with my research in the fall, I will continue searching through databases for works which represent disability. I will then write program notes for each piece that I find. Where possible, I will interview the composers of these pieces and ask questions about the representation of disability in their works and their compositional processes, and I will premier the piece that I commissioned on my senior recital. Thanks to the Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship and the Honors College funding match that I received, I am able to turn what would be a simple collection of data into a collaboration with a composer and an opportunity to perform a solo world premier on my senior recital. This piece will not only provide technical and musical challenges but will also be incredibly meaningful to me, and the connections that I have made through this project will remain throughout my career.