He puts a big red plastic button on his cheek and moves it on his skin… suddenly, music invades the room.
Then he passes his arm over a wooden cylinder, this time the sound of a xylophone escapes from the speakers. Mickaël Fourcade is an organ builder and he designed, created and manufactures an instrument with considerable inclusive potential: the sensory organ.
Convert a breath, a movement, a look… into music
Thanks to his invention, everyone can play music, even with severe disabilities. No need to be able to press keys on a piano, hold a flute or strum strings. The sensory organ converted into music, from sensors, a small movement of a finger, pressure of the hand, breath, movement of the head “or any part of the body which can translate the expression of the person”, adds the inventor.
Obviously, the instrument had long interested the Limoges conservatory, which has sought to open its teachings to everyone since 2021. But its means were “relatively reduced” and the equipment remained “restricted”, explains Françoise Tintou, to the communication of the conservatory.
There, “we are taking a huge step towards inclusion: Mickaël Fourcade's organ adapts to all forms of disability”, she says, visibly delighted that all the media in the region are taking up the 'event.
That Thursday, in order to present the organ to the teachers who will use it (in Limoges and elsewhere), the inventor had traveled from Anglet, where he lives. Mickaël Fourcade came to reveal the secrets of a device which took him 10 years of work, and which “requires time” to be tamed. But the trainer is patient, it must be said that his approach is not devoid of activism: “I experienced the fact that not everyone could play music as an injustice,” he explains.
Violin, piano and song of seagulls
Openness to others and to the world, strengthening of attention, pleasure, improvement of motor skills… Organ users will also find in the instrument a way “to say to themselves 'me too, with my handicap, I can produce beautiful music,” rejoices Françoise Tintou.
The new equipment, obtained for 8,000 euros thanks to a grant from the Ministry of Culture, works with a computer and special software serving as a store of all recorded sounds. Violin, piano, clarinet… but also seagull songs, ocean waves or mouth sounds are contained in the infinite palette available.
