Drew McMillan is no stranger to playing live music.
As a jazz saxophone player, McMillan was an accomplished improv musician - holding a diploma in instrument and composition and his Honours and Masters in composition.
In his teenage years, he wanted to be a rock star - getting banned from playing at school after his band were cut off while playing at the school ball.
While an article on school balls in metro magazine said they started a riot, McMillan said it was merely an onstage rant.
When he was studying jazz, McMillan found a love for composition, combining Pacific-style rhythms with contemporary jazz. This came from a passion to push the genre forward.
“In the history of jazz, you’re learning about how jazz came together because of these cultures all coming together. And I thought this was crazy."
"I thought it was crazy because we were learning how these cultures came together in the US, but we weren't encouraged to explore or discuss the cultural influences that might exist in our region."
In 1996, he formed the New Pacific Music Ensemble, combining Pacific rhythms, jazz, free improvisation, western music and avant-garde.
He played alongside an ensemble of log drummers, who he is “still friends with today".
“We did some really cool things.”
But everything changed in 2004.
While doing a trick on a BMX at a friend's house, one he’d done many times before, he fell.
McMillan landed on his head, severely damaging his spine.
“I came to, and I couldn’t feel my legs,” he said.
“I could see them, but they felt disjointed from my body.”
The injury made him a tetraplegic, unable to move his legs and fingers - meaning the saxophone was now a difficult instrument to play.
But McMillan’s passion for music didn’t stop after the injury. While recovering in hospital, he immediately accepted a composition job and started looking for ways to be able to play music.
“I didn’t really think about it, I just immediately said yes.”
While McMillan has been using music software for years
He’s now working on his PhD at University of Auckland, researching ways to make music accessible for the disability community.
How do you make an instrument accessible?
Most instruments are made for people with full use of their bodies, and the uniform design of instruments makes them difficult for people with disabilities to use.
McMillan’s research is centred around solving that problem.
His first goal is to quantify the relationship between the musician and their instrument rather than just the technical side of it.
“It’s not just about the technical solutions for enhancing the movement I have, or accessing the movement I have, or the facility I have to make music to power an interface.
“Instead of thinking about the technology of that, and what the solution of that is, and that's the goal, the thinking has shifted to what is the most essential part of my relationship with the instrument.
“How do I create an instrument that I’ve got a relationship with.”
McMillan is using himself at the centre of his research, delving into his relationship with the saxophone to progress the system’s development.
“I can’t access the instrument in ways that I used to before, I’m not free on it - I’m able to make nice sounds or explore sonic textures, but I can’t really repeat those very well.
“So I’m trying to get back to that point.
“I have some experience of trying to create or re-create that same relationship with instruments after my accident, and I haven’t been able to.”
He said the “fundamental” issue the research is trying to solve is seeing how that relationship can be remade.
In his research, McMillian is using methods for creating everyday items for people with disabilities and applying them to music.
“A lot of the groundwork is already there,” he said.
An example of this thinking in action is Microsoft's adaptive controller, which is a highly customisable video game controller that allows users to swap out buttons and electronics.
It means that users can fully personalise their control scheme to their individual disability, allowing them to play games.
“Every disability is different. Which is why the musician's relationship with an instrument is so important.”
“It’s not designed to be one size fits all.”
He’s working on a “bespoke” prototype tailored to him specifically.
“It might be suitable for other people. It will be designed for me - which is why the relationship is so important.”
While he continues his research, McMillan is still playing live music. He plays guitar for his band The True Bliss Experience.
To play, he rests the guitar on a table-like stand, using his arms to produce sounds.
"This has given me that response and the tactility or feel that lacks from performing with the laptop."
He also has a solo project, bonehead, where he uses an audio interface, adapted controller and microphone on his head to create "a fury of incoherent babbleous shouting and arm flailing flung directly at his inanimate laptop throwing it into a whirl of sonic instability".
"Working with the laptop has extended my abilities to perform in ways that have been most rewarding.
"However, the one thing that it is lacking is having the tactile feel and response of an acoustic instrument," McMillian said on his website.
He also runs weekly jazz improvisation gigs alongside a group of other musicians called Vitamin S, at Auckland’s Wine Cellar. These happen every Monday.
McMillan’s research should be ready to present in late 2025.
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