The winner of the annual One Handed Musical Instrument Competition (OHMI) was announced at midnight. Designed to be performed at virtuoso level, the tenor and soprano saxophones developed by Maarten Visser won for 2016.

The saxophone works on a toggle system so he can slide his fingers across a metal bar to play different notes. It uses “tri-keys” which enable each key to play three notes. By pivoting on your finger, you can achieve all the notes a two-handed player can play on a regular sax.

The competition was developed by Stephen Hetherington, whose daughter only had the use of one hand, and was told she couldn’t play anything. The event has proved otherwise. The winner of the first of the competitions in 2013 was an adapted alto-saxophone.

Rachel Wolffsohn from OHMI says although there’s an annual winner the real benefit is bringing “learned wisdom into the public domain”, although the rarity of the instruments currently makes them prohibitively expensive.

“The sax which won in 2013 is about £20,000 and it takes a year for the guy to make it,” she says. ”

In an attempt to solve the problem of cost and availability, OHMI is working with Birmingham City University to see if 3D printing will enable them to produce these unique instruments in greater quantities.

See amputee Neill Duncan play the one handed instrument here: