Lawrence AUMI Group will receive award from Kansas Commission on Disability Concerns
LAWRENCE — On Aug. 2, the Kansas Commission on Disability Concerns (KCDC) will present a Michael Lechner Advocacy Award to the Pre-Pandemic Ensemble (PPE), a Lawrence-based mixed-ability improvising band that uses an instrument called AUMI, or Adaptive Use Musical Instrument, to improvise across abilities.
According to the KCDC, the award is given to those who have advocated for people with disabilities in their community. The Pre-Pandemic Ensemble demonstrates to the public that people with disabilities have talent, hope, inclusion and passion for music.
The Pre-Pandemic Ensemble came together through monthly all-ability jam sessions using the AUMI at the Lawrence Public Library and continued over Zoom during the pandemic isolation period. The ensemble includes Sherrie Tucker and Ray Mizumura-Pence, both University of Kansas faculty members in the Department of American Studies. Tucker has published extensively on the AUMI. She and other ensemble members were among co-authors of a 2024 book about its origins.
The PPE plays AUMI on iPads, which need to be charged and updated regularly. AUMI comes preloaded with hundreds of sounds, but PPE members enjoy gathering their own sounds, such as the sound of member Drew White's favorite bowling alley, Royal Crest Lanes in Lawrence. A musical piece might include such an array of sounds as a bowling ball smashing into pins, a loop of someone playing recorder, kitchen percussion and kalimba.
“You have to put hard work into it, and you can't do it without other people. We all have to work together,” White said.
As important as the PPE’s work is to its members, and as enjoyable as it has been to foster rare opportunities of all-ability music-making in the Lawrence community, winning an award came as a surprise to the musicians. For local poet and ensemble member Julie Unruh, the recognition from the KCDC “left me in awe. I was shocked I didn't think anything like would happen to us.”
Mizumura-Pence said he appreciated the award.
"My colleagues and friends in the ensemble revel in the possibilities of bringing campus and communities together to make the music of the future a reality today," he said. "I'm sure I speak for my fellow improvisors when I express my deep gratitude to KCDC."
The PPE has performed at the Society for American Music (virtually), the Lied Center Pavilion and the Lawrence Public Library Auditorium. Monthly jams will resume in September at the library's Sound+Vision Studio for people of all ages and abilities, with no experience necessary.