Music is a universal language that transcends cultural and personal barriers, fostering creativity, expression, and social connection. However, not everyone has equal access to music-making due to physical, cognitive, or economic limitations. Ensuring inclusion in music means providing accessible tools, technologies, and methodologies that enable people of all abilities to participate in musical activities. This is particularly crucial in education, where adaptive solutions can empower young learners and individuals with disabilities, allowing them to engage meaningfully in performance and composition.

In this context, we have designed and implemented a virtual musical instrument that aims to be inclusive and accessible, thus falling into the category of Accessible Digital Musical Instrument (ADMI). This software tool has no requirements concerning the level of musical knowledge or ability of its users. It was developed using the JUCE platform for the backend and the Electron open-source framework for the frontend. The original idea was inspired by the need to find performance strategies for a user capable of moving only their fingers, toes, and eyes. Currently, this musical instrument can be played using a wide range of heterogeneous devices, including a mouse, an accessible mouse, a joystick, a computer keyboard, an expanded keyboard, simple buttons, a game controller, an eye tracker system, and a musical controller.

Learning how to play this instrument not only nurtures creativity and technical skills but also promotes inclusivity, empowering students to explore music in ways that were previously unattainable. To this end, the paper proposes a teaching method to enable people with different types of disabilities to play the virtual instrument. The instrument offers settings to configure a user-tailored environment. The user, as well as a caregiver or educator, can choose how to map each connected controller onto musical events, such as triggering a note, a chord, a music sequence, a music sample, or launching events like turning a virtual score page.

Due to the instrument’s nature and its ability to connect to various devices, this software tool can easily adapt to both physical and cognitive disabilities. The flip side of such a highly flexible approach is the need to establish guidelines to promote engagement and avoid frustration. For this reason, we believe it is necessary to propose a method for learning and teaching, similarly to traditional musical instruments.

Keywords: Technology, Accessibility, Inclusion, Music Education.