As the Boston Landmarks Orchestra played Florence Price's "Adoration," Canadian violinist Adrian Anantawan awaited his solo. He hoped when it was his turn to play, the audience would hear his violin and what it represented: the sound of possibility.
"A lot of times, we let fear get in the way of trying anything," Anantawan told "Good Morning America." "For me, my story has always been a result of just trying something, being okay with failure, and then just seeing what the results are."
"In my case, it's really just beautiful, expressive music," he said.
Music, however, is not something that has always been made with people like Anantawan to perform in mind.
Born without his right hand and most of his right forearm, Anantawan only has five fingers. The disability was an initial barrier to music when, in fifth grade, he said his music teacher wanted all the students to learn to play the recorder.
Instead of giving up, Anantawan and his parents decided to find him a different instrument to explore his musical talent. The trumpet would have been the most adaptable instrument for Anantawan, but he did not like its sound.
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The family chose the violin "because it was the most beautiful instrument," Anantawan said. They contacted the Toronto-area hospital near the family, asking them to create an adaptive cast that would allow the then 10-year-old to hold the bow.
A group of engineers worked alongside Anantawan to build a device called a spatula, a plaster cast with a tongue at the end. With it, Anantawan could slip the bow and use his shoulder to make the sound.
"From the very first note that I was playing, I was really attracted to the sound and the connection of my body to the instrument and being able to express my imagination," he said.
Although Anantawan is grateful for the technology that allows him and others with disabilities to find access to music, he said the most important part of inclusion and access is the attitudes of teachers, supporters, and people who encourage young learners or musicians that they can do anything.
Anantawan is working to provide that space for others. As an associate professor at the Berklee College of Music, Anantawan founded the Music Inclusion Ensemble, a group of students with disabilities within the student body that provides accommodations for musicians according to their needs.
"The idea is that we're all coming together upon a common human cause, and the results of what we do are very much an expression of our collective voices, as much as collective advocacy of what disability can be and how it can be perceived within society," he said.
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"My duty and job is to use this platform in some way to show folks what a person with a visible disability can do. And it's always an honor to do that. And you never know who's watching in the audience or who will be moved or inspired to be able to make a change in their lives," he said.
Anantawan hopes to inspire people without being defined solely by the challenges he faces as a result of his disability.
"I also want to be defined as someone who's just inherently unique as much as anyone else is," he said. "Just being able to be defined as a person first, a musician, someone who struggles like everyone else, but also has a common sense of striving to be able to become better or the best version of myself."
"That's how I'd like to be perceived," he added.
