RAMPD Pro Member, Diane Kolin, talks about writing about RAMPD in a new book including a chapter about Evelyn Glennie, Gaelynn Lea, and Lachi.

In an academic world where teaching of music and musicology has barely evolved in the past 20 years (at least), trying to include conversations about musicians with disability is challenging. Fortunately, I know how to make myself visible and heard. I am a singer in a wheelchair, and a PhD candidate and teacher assistant at York University in Toronto, Canada, so it is difficult to miss me on stage or in the corridors.

Since my research topic is about musicians with disabilities in the professional music world, I have been fortunate to interview many musicians around the globe, including some who are part of RAMPD today. RAMPD has been in my presentations since its creation – even slightly before, after the first time I interviewed Lachi. I have given many lectures in universities, conferences, music schools, etc., about all kinds of music and disability topics from historical point of view, Critical Disability Study, new technologies, Braille music, ASL performances, music as a tool for disability activism, performing in non-traditional ways… In my process, I have received many good advice from my colleagues in North America, to whom I am thankful.

For all these reasons, I was overjoyed when two editors of a volume about women leadership in music asked me to write a chapter about disability. I decided to choose three women who changed our current music industry: Evelyn Glennie, Gaelynn Lea, and Lachi. This chapter was the result of a series of interviews done between 2020 and 2022. After a few months of writing, retouching, feedback, etc., the chapter, called “Assumptions of Normality: How Three Women with a Disability Changed the Face of Music,” was ready to be published. A few extra months for the editors and the publisher to finalize everything, and the book Women’s leadership in Music, edited by Iva Nenic and Linda Cimardi, has been published at the end of March 2023 by Transcrip Verlag.

I am happy to share with the readers a free access to the chapter, by clicking on this link: https://www.transcript-verlag.de/chunk_detail_seite.php?doi=10.14361%2F9783839465462-006

Feel free to send me your comments or feedback. I am currently working on a new chapter about another topic, still related to disability in the professional music industry. Stay tuned! 

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