The Headbangers: (left to right) Andrea, Crystal, Joe, Mike, Holly, Colleen, Dan, Carlos, Mayumi, Nick, Jon
Hi! Welcome to the Headbangers Home Page! We're a band made up of students from Massachusetts Hospital School in Canton, Massachusetts. We play an eclectic blend of Rock, Jazz, Pop, Reggae and Classical music.
Because all of the members of the band have disabilities we don't play using traditional musical instruments. Instead, we use a variety of adaptive computer input devices as a way to control a music synthesizer. Many of us use head switches to trigger musical events (thus our name "Headbangers"), but we also use a variety of other devices as well (see the photos below). Our main software program, Super Switch Ensemble, was written by our teacher, Jon Adams.
Colleen demonstrates
a single switch
Mike uses an
Intellikeys to jam
Joe demonstrates
his two switch technique
Carlos plays
along with Mike
Nick demonstrates
his foot switch
Andrea plays
chords
Dan plays with
a chin switch
Holly demonstrates
her squeeze switch
Joe sings to Crystal's accompaniment
Photos of the band rehearsing
Photos of the band in concert
These songs were created by both past and present members of the band. You will need to have the free QuickTime Plug-in to listen to the music. Get it here.
All Through The Night
Oshogatsu
Low Tone Blues
I'll Be There For You
To
A Wild Rose
Porto Paulo
White Christmas
What Up!
Aura
Lee