Jess Fisher, musician, Nottingham. A part of the Able Orchestra for many years, Jess has been involved in the development of Control One, an assistive instrument made by Digit.
What are the biggest barriers you experienced while building your career in music?
I’d say personally for me the biggest barriers that I’ve faced are having to prove and show people that it shouldn’t matter whether I have a disability or not, or how I present my music, I’m still a musician, I’ve just had to work around playing a different way to everyone else - I’m still able to do what I love at the end of the day.
I have also found there’s a lot of negative stereotypes when it comes to disabilities, I do have the mental ability to play music! This is something that I want to change people’s view on.
How are you attempting to solve them through your work?
I’m attempting to solve these issues by continuing to work at Digit, and continuing pursuing a music career, being a voice for people with disabilities in the music industry.
I want to show that it doesn’t matter who you are, because at the end of the day if you’re passionate and willing to put in the work and effort it shouldn’t matter how you play or present your music.
Control One shows the potential for this, as it’s just an amazing new piece of technology to help musicians like myself achieve our ambitions within the music industry.
What lessons or advice would you pass on to someone who is in the same position you once were?
First of all, don’t give up! If you have a passion for music, anything is possible. Don’t allow people to put you down based on your disability – talk to people within the industry and prove yourself.
Make sure you have a good team around you to help, and just enjoy what you’re doing, because if you’re not enjoying playing music then your passion won’t shine through.
Lastly, I would say if there are things you want to get better at, find ways to educate yourself. I found it useful and helpful to understand more about music software and how it all works, so I can then go on to help others in the future with that knowledge to help guide me, and hopefully inspire others.