"Deaf Music"
A few years ago, I was a
teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing in an elementary school where students
could take band or strings in the fifth grade. While I was there, all of the
fifth grade deaf and hard of hearing students did take band or strings. At
first, the music teachers were a little skeptical, to say the least; but before
the end of the year, they were enthusiastic supporters of "deaf music". I had
students that played percussion instruments, flutes, trumpets, saxophones, and
even the cello. Then, this year during the holiday season, I attended a
Christmas concert at one of the elementary schools. One of the percussionists
was profoundly deaf. I was inspired watching this student, the interpreter, the
teacher and the other students perform together. These music teachers often told
me that they wished the other students had the same sense of rhythm and the same
focus that my students had. One of the students had a tuning meter attached to
his saxophone within his vision so he could see when he hit the correct note.
Some had interpreters to give them the information the teacher was voicing and
keep the students on the "same page", same note on the sheet of music. They
all, everyone, enjoyed the experience and the exposure to the language and math
of music.
I have been to deaf rock
concerts where all members of the band were deaf and so were the members of the
audience. The music was loud, the people were dancing. All of a sudden,
balloons appeared and were bounced around amongst the dancers. I grabbed one; I
could FEEL the music through the balloon. I could feel the music through the
floor. I could feel the music in my body and soul. I learned I could "hear"
music without using my ears.
I became very curious about
this so I took my students to a "Stomp" concert, read about different deaf
musicians, my class made drums and practiced different rhythms after watching an
assembly on Taiko drummers, and I looked up "deaf music" on the internet. I
found many interesting articles but one stood out;
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/11/011128035455.htm
Here are a couple of quotes
from that article:
Vibrational information has
essentially the same features as sound information so it makes sense that in the
deaf, one modality may replace the other modality in the same processing area of
the brain. It's the nature of the information, not the modality of the
information, that seems to be important to the developing brain.
In addition, Shibata says,
the research is important because it suggest that it may be helpful to expose
deaf children to music early in life so that their brain "music centers" may
have the stimulus to develop.
We are so lucky in the field
of education to have these opportunities which allow students to develop a
variety of interests and skills and also will allow them to determine for
themselves what they are able to do. We are giving them a foundation for
confidence to try things that might, at first glance, seem impossible at a time
in their lives when we might say, " all things are possible".
BEETHOVEN LIVES!