OpenScore: Creating Accessible Music.

If music really is for everybody, then composers of our era could consider what their practice means in the wider world.

I have been thinking a great deal about composition that goes beyond surface-level enjoyment. British composer Max Richter has spoken about music being "of use”, and that idea has stayed with me. It has led me to reflect on composition not only as a form of expression, but as something that can carry social value: something that can live in community, respond to people’s realities, and create space for connection.

At the centre of my own practice is the belief that music carries shared stories. A composer writes from feeling, memory, and instinct; performers bring their own experiences and attachments to the work; audiences hear through the lens of their own lives. Nostalgia, grief, comfort, joy, longing - all of these can quietly shape the meaning of a piece. Music can reveal something about us, but in doing so it can also open a door: to dialogue, to reflection, and sometimes to healing.

For me, that is where composition becomes most meaningful. Entertainment is part of music’s power, but it is not the whole of it. Beneath that surface is the possibility of connection: of building understanding, sharing perspective, and bridging difference.

Open Score has grown out of those questions: a desire to make composition not only something we listen to, but something we share.

What is Open Score?

Open Score is a project I have been carrying in thought for around a year. It centres on writing new music with and for musicians living with limb loss, limb difference, or limb impairment. Rather than stopping at reductions or arrangements of existing classical repertoire, the project asks what it might mean to create original music shaped by lived experience from the outset.

Accessible arrangements are valuable and can open important doors to performance. But I am equally interested in the possibilities that emerge when music is created collaboratively, around the realities of a musician’s own body, sound, and artistic voice. In that space, the work is not bound by inherited constructs, but grounded in exploration, authenticity, and shared discovery.

Because Open Score begins with lived experience rather than a fixed model, it is not tied to one notational system, genre, or inherited structure. Instead, the project remains open to whatever creative approaches best support each collaborator’s individual way of making music, expressing ideas, and shaping their own artistic identity.

Why Collaboration Matters.

Research has shown that social isolation can be a significant barrier for disabled musicians, and this has shaped my thinking around Open Score as much as the music itself. For that reason, my aim is to create a mixture of solo and ensemble work: pieces that not only support individual expression, but also open space for connected collaboration.

Music-making happens between people, not simply between a performer and a score. The most rewarding part of writing is the ongoing development of a work through dialogue, testing, rehearsal, and experimentation. It is in that shared process that musicianship becomes most alive, not fixed on the page, but shaped through trust, exchange, and discovery.

Project Outcomes.

Open Score is intended to take shape through workshops, high-quality recordings, and a documentary film that follows the process in real time: showing not only the finished work, but the challenges, discoveries, and small wins that shape it.

Alongside the music itself, I hope the project will develop a body of language, reflection, and a practical toolkit that other composers may use as a point of reference in their own practice.

The project would also include a roundtable discussion on music-making and accessibility, creating space to reflect on the wider implications of this work for collaborative practice, composition, and education.

My Own Position.

This would be a first-time experience for me in this kind of work. Although I have spent time researching these ideas, I am not formally trained in community music. That said, I feel deeply moved by this project, and that feeling comes in part from my own life.

My younger brother is autistic, and through him I have seen what can happen when someone does not easily fit the structures of education and wider social expectation. I have also seen the damage that can be done when there is too little understanding, too little empathy, and too little support. For a time, he was home-schooled because his school was unable to support him in a way that met his needs. It caused him enormous stress and anxiety. He became withdrawn, resistant, and disconnected from his own sense of identity.

What changed his life was not force, but understanding. When he was finally supported as an individual, through a SEND unit in another school, he began to flourish. The transformation was remarkable. He grew into a confident, self-aware young man and went on to do very well in his GCSEs. Seeing that change firsthand showed me how profoundly attitude, empathy, and inclusion can shape a person’s life.

That has stayed with me. It is part of what motivates this project. It reminds me that understanding and meaningful interaction do make a difference, and that people often thrive when they are genuinely seen, supported, and engaged on their own terms.

Project Details and Contact.

If you are a musician living with limb loss, limb difference, or limb impairment and are interested in taking part in Open Score, the project currently involves:

Workshops.

In-person collaboration is preferred, though hybrid working may also be possible. Workshops could take place either with me travelling to you, or with sessions based at York St John University.

Composition and Publishing.

New work would be created collaboratively and developed around your individual musical practice. At present, the intention is for newly created work to be shared with 50% creative ownership and royalty entitlement for collaborators.

Recordings and Videography.

The project aims to produce high-quality recordings, ideally through live performance where possible, though studio or audio-only recording may also be appropriate depending on circumstances.

Documentary and Discussion.

The wider project would include documentary filming of the workshop process, interviews, reflections, and a roundtable discussion on music-making, accessibility, and future implications for practice and education.

Current Project Status.

At this stage, Open Score is a self-initiated project forming part of my MA Music work, and there is currently no dedicated funding attached to it. However, the project does include access to professional spaces, equipment, and accessible resources. There may also be scope for funding support later, particularly in relation to travel reimbursement.

Deadline.

Ideally, I would need responses by 31st of March, but this can be extended for a few weeks, if nessercary, with a fixed maximum dealine of 17th of April.

Contact.

If you would like to find out more, ask questions, or express interest in taking part, please get in touch. Email: damien.collis@yorksj.ac.uk