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The innovative workshop building instruments to play with one hand

Peter Worrell crafts adaptive instruments for people with limb differences

Radio 3's Music Matters visited Peter at his workshop in Norwich to find out how he developed the one-handed clarinet, and the difference it makes to young people who might otherwise not have access to a musical instrument.

Image: Peter stands in his workshop, holding a one-handed low-D whistle he made. He's wearing a long, dark blue apron and blue fleece, and smiling broadly. To the left is a long workbench covered in tools and small pieces of instruments. To his right are a couple of big, industrial looking machines which have obviously had a lot of use. The walls are covered with materials to make the instruments, lots of documents, tools and other kit.

Peter has been making musical instruments for 42 years

As an apprentice oboe maker, he was given the task of crafting a one-handed recorder. After attending a reception given by the at the House of Lords in 2016, Peter was inspired to design a one-handed clarinet.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I started to experiment鈥�

“I actually thought it’s not possible, it’s too complicated.”

Meeting musicians who played his instruments inspired Peter to experiment with prototypes.

After nine months, the clarinet was ready.

Image: A collection of more than 30 whistles are arranged standing on end, close together, in the workshop. The black tubes of the instruments are lightly reflective, and studded with silver keys down each of the lengths.

The whistles and clarinets work by having additional keys which replicate what a second hand would do.

鈥淗aving a lesser instrument is not an option鈥�

Peter says that sometimes it's possible to take an instrument for a two-handed player and move things around to make it playable with one hand.

With the clarinet, there was so little of the instrument left, it was better to start from scratch.

The design can be easily flipped to make it playable with either the left or the right hand.

Peter鈥檚 workshop is full of instruments in various stages of completion

Peter has produced four kinds of instrument: the high D whistle, the low D whistle, the recorder and the clarinet. Working out how the hand moves around the instrument took a lot of development. For instance, the thumb only operates one key, because it’s already working hard to stabilise any movement.

"A lot of the people who come to me have never played"

In the workshop there is a polishing machine, a lathe, a milling machine and a 3D printer.

Peter has been working on making instruments with the printer from resin, for a long time. The resin instruments sound good, but there is a question mark over how long they can last.

Peter hopes that more people will try to build adaptive instruments using his 3D printer design. This could bring the cost down from £500-£600 a piece to around £300.

“The biggest problem is that I am the only person who makes one-handed instruments. I’m making as many as I can, and I will continue.”

Image: Peter is seated at his workbench, carefully building an instrument and wearing a blue fleece. He is surrounded on all sides by materials, lots of documents, tools and other pieces of kit. Amongst these objects are a couple of large, industrial-looking machines which have obviously had a lot of use.

Peter's one-handed whistles are not the only kind of adaptive instrument

The Clarion is an instrument playable with any part of the body, including the eyes.

The award-winning Clarion was developed by Barry Farrimond-Chuong MBE, creator of the world's first disabled-led national youth orchestra the .

Image: Alessandro sits in a chair, facing a laptop with screen and keyboard. On the screen, lots of coloured shapes are displayed, each identified with a musical note in letter form, like B flat or G. This is the Clarion, which is positioned on a music stand in front of Alessandro, who is operating it using a headset.

Peter is currently working on a one-handed bagpipe, but the instrument that he gets most requests to make is the saxophone. "I’m not sure it can be done yet, but I’ve got an inkling that it’s possible."

“I try to make instruments as beautiful as I can.”

For the musicians with limb differences dreaming of a one-handed sax, Peter’s workshop could be where their dreams come true.

An interview with Peter at his workshop features in Radio 3's Music Matters on Saturday 2nd December at 11.45am. Listen to the programme live or on-demand on 大象传媒 Sounds.

Image: An adaptive recorder, clarinet and whistle sit on a workbench, with tools that made them. One is is a long narrow tube with holes at regular intervals, made from shiny yellow material. One has a similar long body, in shiny black material with silver keys. The third is pink and has similar holes and keys along it's length.