In this guest blog written in celebration of our 60th birthday, Ruth Montgomery reflects on her journey with Orchestras Live. Ruth shares how our leadership programme and projects have shaped her practice and inspired her to champion music accessibility for deaf people.

My name is Ruth Montgomery and I am based in Chelmsford, Essex. I am a professional flautist and educator with a focus on making music accessible to Deaf people. I worked with Essex Music Services (EMS) as a peripatetic music teacher for around 10 years, a career I very much enjoyed, before establishing my own music charity, Audiovisability.

It was through my work at EMS that I was made aware of Orchestras Live’s leadership programmes for Deaf and Disabled musicians. Having my interest piqued, I signed up. The meetings were wonderful and I felt inspired to be surrounded by like-minded people, but I was the only Deaf person there. What became apparent to me was how important communication was, and how I would need to have a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter with me. The programme made me step away from my comfort zone of 1:1 and small group teaching to embrace a new way of thinking.

Orchestras Live partnered me with Claire Henry for the Lullaby project. Claire was the presenter for this magical trip into imaginative play for children under 5 and the orchestra played many well-known pieces. For the second tour, I felt more confident and was able to advance into the role of assistant presenter. Being a part of the project helped develop my confidence and showed me the joy in community audience engagement. Orchestras Live’s ethos of working with hard to reach communities made me reflect on my own community and how Deaf people can be difficult to reach. With this in mind, we recruited BSL interpreters for performances so deaf families could be fully included.

Later, I joined the Deaf Perspectives project, exploring the life of Deaf photographer Walton Burrell (1863 -1944). Working with deaf young people, we explored barriers, successes, and how technology has changed. Together, we created a concert with BSL and captions, making sure it felt representative of the deaf experience. The children were proud of what they achieved, many experiencing a live orchestra for the first time.

Orchestras Live has helped me to understand that the role of an orchestra isn’t just to perform pieces. Their vision of community engagement and outreach has directly impacted my practice; it has made me a more confident leader and educator, and has encouraged me to work more with the Deaf community to harness the power of music.

I founded my charity, Audiovisability, in 2021 to do just that. I look forward to continuing to show that Deafness does not define a person nor their ability to enjoy music.

Thank you, and happy 60th birthday, Orchestras Live. May you long continue to bring musical joy to everyone!

Watch Ruth's Tea Break episode with your Senior Producer, Stuart Bruce, which explores the Deaf Perspectives project in more detail, as well as Ruth's careeer.