Sunday, January 23, 2011

Music - Woman gives the gift of music to the deaf

This is one of those feel good stories about one person making a difference. I promote music and poetry in the virtual world of second life where many hearing impaired people find communication easier because of course, chat is text and so there is no difference in the hearing and the non hearing - up until people like me come along promoting live music and spoken word performances. I do attend events where what is spoken is transcribed into text and some events pass out the text of poems on note cards so that everyone can participate. The other day, at a music event, I was singing along by typing some of the words into text and was surprised by a private message from someone in the audience thanking me for giving them the words. Apparently, nobody knew this person was deaf. I have been haunted by that and trying to think of ways to open the door of music and spoken word to the deaf. I myself am a spoken word poet and understand that my poetry does not go over well just in type alone. I also not to mention - I do a lot of improv poetry, so it is totally lost - unless someone translates for me. This video shows me new possibilities. A big thanks to ABC news person of the week Allyson Townsend. 

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/23928119

No comments:

Post a Comment