James’ help is music to Jenny’s ears

It has hi-tech accelerometers, complex hardware and specially written coding to beat the band — but it’s all music to their ears.

Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) engineering graduate James Fogarty has developed a tailor-made “assistive system” to help Jenny Garde, who has cerebral palsy, realise her dream of making music.

James, 23, a biomedical engineer from Co Waterford, who graduated from CIT last month, spent the last year of his course working with Jenny as part of Music Generation Cork City’s SoundOUT proramme — the inclusive music education programme run in several schools across the city.