Delivered by Intellect to: Stefan Sunandan Honisch (33343162) IP: 128.189.114.126 On: Tue, 26 Mar 2024 22:10:47 JPME 7 (3) pp. 343–362 Intellect Limited 2023 Journal of Popular Music Education Volume 7 Number 3 www.intellectbooks.com 343 © 2023 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. https://doi.org/10.1386/jpme_00128_1 Received 5 May 2023; Accepted 29 August 2023; Published Online March 2024 KURT THUMLERT York University JASON NOLAN Toronto Metropolitan University STEFAN SUNANDAN HONISCH University of British Columbia The disconnected keyboard: Inclusive learning and musicking practice with modular synthesis ABSTRACT Since the 1960s, electronic sound synthesis and the keyboard interface have been so closely associated that many young musicians have come to see them as insep- arable components, if not interchangeable terms. In this article, we ‘disconnect the keyboard’ and explore an alternative history of electronic sound synthesis – modular synthesis – that has remained largely overshadowed by keyboard-based synthesizers since the Minimoog. Researchers in music education signal that Eurocentric aesthetic norms, ableist performance ideals and exclusionary practices are interwoven in keyboard technologies, creating barriers that extend into popu- lar music education. Drawing upon critical discussions in music education and science and technology studies (STS), we examine the underexplored opportuni- ties of using modular synthesizers for music learning. We examine how modular synthesis, liberated from the keyboard-controller, serves as a basis for exploring an KEYWORDS accessibility disability inclusion learning with sound modular synthesis modular synthesizers musicking science and technology studies