The Adoo movement

May 22 2007 By Tamzin Lewis, The Journal

Paralysed musician Clarence Adoo rediscovered his ability to play and will now conduct an orchestra. He talks to Tamzin Lewis about a possible world first.

Musician Clarence Adoo is never put off by the seemingly impossible. When he was paralysed from the neck down in a horrific car accident he was told he would barely be able to move his head, never mind play trumpet again.

While he may not be able to hold a trumpet, Clarence can play one, and many other instruments, using HeadSpace, a software-based musical instrument he can control with slight motions of his head.

After performing a specially commissioned work for HeadSpace last year at The Sage Gateshead, Clarence was last month invited to play a new work with the HeadSpace Ensemble at a music festival in Porto, Portugal.

He is still honing his skills on HeadSpace, but has now set himself a new challenge: to conduct an orchestra in concert for the first time. In doing so he is reinventing the stereotype of an impassioned orchestral conductor throwing urgent and expressive arms in the air. Clarence's style of conducting will be through subtle movements of his head which will require deep concentration by the orchestra.

I meet Clarence at the Sage, where he says: "Conductors use one hand to encourage a certain style and volume and the other to make sure the musicians play together and keep rhythm. When I am conducting, a lot of the onus goes on to the players as they are not seeing my arms conducting.

"They have to concentrate hard and it isn't so easy when they are following the music and don't have a lot of movement to see. I have to use my face to encourage the different dynamics, because my head movement is not exaggerated enough to show clearly. I don't know if this has been done before, but I suspect not. It is a coincidence to be at this level of disability and also to be a musician who is interested in conducting."

Clarence has been assisted in his aspirations by Mike Broadhurst at Newcastle General Hospital's department of medical physics. Mike has designed a headset with a conductor's baton attached which Clarence will wear at the Sage when he conducts the North-East Cobweb Orchestra's performance of Beethoven's Coriolan Overture and Symphony no.2.

Clarence, who lives in Newcastle, says: "I have always been interested in Cobweb as they give an opportunity to anybody who is even slightly interested in music. I have known the orchestra's founder, Andy Jackson, for a while and he has drafted me in several times to coach a small ensemble. After seeing me at work, he asked me if I'd be interested in conducting a programme."

When I ask why he chose Beethoven, I learn that Clarence has deliberately picked works which will be challenging to conduct. "They are not pieces where you say `go' at the beginning and `see you at the end'. There are lots of stops and starts," he explains. "I usually conduct from a classical repertoire and I have been listening to a lot of Beethoven over the last year.

"It seemed suitable to choose two Beethoven pieces to work with and the Coriolan Overture is an exciting piece of music. The reason I chose Symphony no.2 was because it was the first ever piece I played professionally. After choosing them, I started playing them over and over to work out how to conduct them."

To make things even more difficult, Clarence has had to invent a code of communication through eye signals with his carer, who cannot read music but will turn the pages for the conductor. Although Clarence tutors a class at the Sage and has been taking rehearsals of the Cobweb Orchestra, this will be the first time he has conducted a concert.

He says: "I know what it is like to sit on the other side of the fence and how reliant you are on a conductor. This gives me a head start with looking at the problems involved with conducting a big orchestra. I have to make it as easy and clear as I can.

"As they are not a professional orchestra, many people need extra help with their cues. It only works if the musicians are listening and hearing the rhythm and I have been amazed at how well it is working.

"I have to up my game, but I don't think it is all down to me moving my head and being as accurate as I can. A lot of it is because the musicians have upped their concentration levels too." He says: "I have to be really alert and on my mettle. That is how it used to be when playing."

Clarence played trumpet with the Northern Sinfonia and had tried his hand at conducting before 1995 when his spine was broken in an accident on the A1. He refused to accept that he would only ever be able to move his head an inch from side to side and, since making trips to Miami's Jackson Medical Centre, has improved the mobility of his head. This movement is crucial to Clarence's ability to play HeadSpace, which was developed for him five years ago.

Clarence premiered the instrument in 2005 at the St Magnus Festival in Orkney with a specially commissioned piece by John Kenny, which was performed in a programme at the Sage last year.

The HeadSpace Ensemble is made up of trumpeter Torbjörn Hultmark, sound projectionist Chris Wheeler, Clarence and John on trombone. In April, the ensemble spent five days performing and lecturing at Porto's Casa da Musica, where they premiered a new composition by Rolf Gehlhaar and Martin Parker.