Analysis Paper: Music and the Deaf
How would you describe music to someone who could not hear? As a young person who enjoys listening to and playing music I have begun asking myself this very question. In performing for all ages I am seeing people experience music at a variety of levels. During marching band, I see young people living their school years through the current popular songs. While performing with the symphony, I see many older people in the audience, many with hearing aids, enjoying, though perhaps not as demonstratively as the youth, the performance. A segment of our population have the view that Deaf people do not know what music is, but this is not true. Others including myself are of the opinion that people in the Deaf community
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enjoy music just as much, if not more, as one whom can hear. Many people make the controversial statement, “If a person can’t hear it, then it is obvious they can't experience and appreciate what music has to offer.” As Walter Lippmann, an American political columnist whose career spanned 60 years, stated, “It requires wisdom to understand wisdom, the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.” The latter part of his quote leads one to believe that music is irrelevant or pointless if people who cannot hear are “listening.” Many in the hearing community can only explain music from what they hear.
This viewpoint is sorrowfully common among individuals. Most are unable to internalize the full meaning of a musical score. They can only describe a song as having a good beat, or it is easy to dance to. But in general they can not go deeper and share what they visualize from the song or what emotions it may stir. As a result, if this is the basis for “liking” music and this level of understanding many have for music is superficial, then seeing the connection between music and being deaf is a tough one to …show more content…
make. Although Deaf cannot hear the music, many of them enjoy music, perhaps to a level that the hearing may never attain. While observing a performance at the Ohio School for the Deaf, I was fascinated at the pleasure the students had in performing the songs. Equally enjoyable was watching the response of the audience. While most of my experiences would have the hearing people in the large majority, I was, for this evening, in the minority. This is when I began to realize the significance of music and the influence of musicians. In fact, there are famous Deaf musicians who have made important contributions to the world of music.
Beethoven, whose musical scores are still challenging musicians after several centuries, had significant hearing loss beginning at the age of 26. Yet as his condition worsened, he continued creating masterpieces that are enjoyed to this day. No one can argue Beethoven’s influence on the world.
More recently, and a person whom I admire since she also plays mallet instruments, is Evelyn Glennie. Evelyn is a percussionist who describes feeling the rhythms and sounds through her other senses. The visual response by the audience push her to be the best musician she can be. As she plays, the quality of the notes send vibrations that are felt throughout her hand, lower body, and feet. The following quote proves that not being able to hear stops a Deaf person from experiencing music “I never hear a sound, but I still make music a part of my life” (Sounds of
Silence). I believe music has a positive impact on everyone’s life. Music gives me many chances, a chance to reflect on experiences, a chance to smile, laugh, or cry, a chance to connect with the lyrics, and most importantly a chance to relax. As a musician, I often find myself listening to different types or genres of music based on my mood, energy level, or time of the day. I describe music as not just an auditory aspect but also a visual aspect. Not just seeing them play but seeing their emotions while they perform and moving to the rhythm. The tapping of their foot, their clicks of their sticks are all sounds but are also visual musical aspects. I agree with Shaw’s statement of, "Everyone can get something out of learning music, whether it's the conventional way or the unorthodox way." (Smedley). He goes on to say, "I find that music is just a wonderful way for folks with challenges to communicate back and express themselves." (Smedley). Whether you can hear or whether you cannot hear, music still can be experienced and enjoyed in different ways.
In the autobiography Deaf Again, Mark Drolsbaugh writes about his life being born hearing, growing up hard of hearing, to eventually becoming deaf. By writing this book, he helps many people view from his perspective on what it is like for someone to struggle trying to fit in the hearing society. Through his early years, his eyes were closed to the deaf world, being only taught how to live in a hearing world. Not only does the book cover his personal involvement, but it covers some important moments in deaf history. It really is eye-opening because instead of just learning about deaf culture and deaf history, someone who lived through it is actually explaining their experiences.
Kimmy Bachmann A Journey into the Deaf-World Chapter 1 The narrator begins this chapter by introducing himself as well as his colleagues and co-authors. Ben Bahan, the narrator, is a deaf man from New Jersey whom was raised by deaf parents and a hearing sister. After spending an immense amount of time studying American Sign Language (ASL) he moved on to now become an assistant professor at Gallaudet University in the Deaf studies Department. His colleague Harlan Lane, a hearing man, is a specialist in the psychology of language and having many titles is a key aspect of this book as he believes, as does most of the Deaf-World, that they are a minority language and takes up their point of view to the hearing world.
While reading Mark Drolsbaugh’s Deaf Again where he wrote about his experiences with becoming postlingually deaf, I realized that I was able to relate to some of the situations he encountered, especially when he spoke of his frustrating childhood due to his disability. As he grew older, he needed to find new ways to cope with and accept his deafness. Because of his unique viewpoint with deaf parents who were not allowed to sign around him, the book gave readers a different perspective to look at deafness with. Drolsbaugh’s personal account of his life was inspirational as he grew up with a truly exceptional situation, yet was able to overcome his obstacles and become successful after he quit denying who he really was.
In Ben Jarashow’s Journey Into the Deaf World, he explained Deaf culture and how it feels to be deaf within the world of those who hear. People who are born deaf have a loss of what is commonly viewed as the most important sense, hearing. This leaves them with four senses instead of five; most important sense now being sight followed by touch. In return, this means that a language must be developed that is based heavily on sight. In the United States, it was not until 1960 that American Sign Language (ASL) was recognized as its own language.
Beethoven’s early life was one out of a sad story book. For being one of the most well-known musicians one would think that sometime during Beethovens childhood he was influenced and inspired to play music; This was not the case. His father was indeed a musician but he was more interested in drinking than he was playing music. When his father saw the smallest sliver of music interest in Beethoven he immediately put him into vigorous musical training in hopes he would be the next Mozart; his training included organ, viola, and piano. This tainted how young Beethoven saw music and the memories that music brought. Nevertheless Beethoven continued to do what he knew and by thirteen he was composing his own music and assisting his teacher, Christian Neefe. Connections began to form during this time with different aristocrats and families who stuck with him and became lifelong friends. At 17 Beethoven, with the help of his friends, traveled to Vienna, the music capitol of the world, to further his knowledge and connection...
Beethoven, I believe, was ahead of his time. To me, he is the greatest composer of all time. His music is not just sounds of music played together in harmony, but a way of life. The music he created for the world is not just to listen to it, but grabs onto the emotion he was setting up. Beethoven's unordinary style cannot ever be copied by any composer or music artist.
...cal and romantic eras. He is one of the most well-known composers of all time. By the last decade of his life, Beethoven was almost completely deaf. He gave up conducing and peforming for audiences, and instead took to composing.
The deaf and hearing cultures express their individual styles in similar ways, through art, music, literature and even language. It is a common misconception that the deaf are unable to truly understand music, however Christine Sun Kim argues that the deaf understand it more than any one else. The deaf understand music and language through movement, wether it be through dance or even a drawing. Kim explain how deaf understand music by showing a musical staff which lacks notes. She explains that the deaf understand the slight movements in the hand drawn staff are perceived as a small slight sound and that to the deaf and in the hearing world their is no such thing as silence. Only very subtle noise. Kim then explains that sign language and
In the United States today, approximately 4500 children are born deaf each year, and numerous other individuals suffer injuries or illnesses that can cause partial or total loss of hearing, making them the largest “disability” segment in the country. Although, those in the medical field focus solely on the medical aspects of hearing loss and deafness, members of the deaf community find this unwarranted focus limiting and restrictive; because of its failure to adequately delineate the sociological aspects and implications of the deaf and their culture. Present day members of deaf culture reject classifications such as “deaf mute” or “deaf and dumb”, as marginalizing them because of their allusions to a presumed disability. (Edwards, 2012, p. 26-30)
The documentary of “Through Deaf Eyes” has open my eyes to the deaf culture. The movie has made it “click” that deaf people are just that people and individuals like me. Deaf community has its struggles just like everyone else. They struggle with growing into who they are as a person, harmful situations, and feeling a sense of belonging. They just speak a different language like Italians and Hispanics. Communicating with a different language does not make them lesser than a hearing person. When able to learn to communicate, the deaf are able to learn and gain knowledge just like a hearing person. The only difference is they have to learn more and work harder to achieve their goals and gain knowledge, which a hearing person learns just by hearing their surroundings.
In mainstream American society, we tend to approach deafness as a defect. Helen Keller is alleged to have said, "Blindness cuts people off from things; deafness cuts people off from people." (rnib.org) This seems a very accurate description of what Keller's world must have been. We as hearing people tend to pity deaf people, or, if they succeed in the hearing world, admire them for overcoming a severe handicap. We tend to look at signing as an inferior substitute for "real" communication. We assume that all deaf people will try to lip-read and we applaud deaf people who use their voices to show us how far they have come from the grips of their disability. Given this climate, many hearing people are surprised, as I was at first, to learn of the existence of Deaf culture. To me deafness is not a defect but a source of connection. Imagine yourself deaf, growing up with a beautiful language, visual literature, humor, and theater. Imagine taking pride in your identity without any desire to become a member of the majority culture. For many deaf people, their community is a comforting relief from the isolation and condescension of the hearing world. However the Deaf community is far more than a support group for people who share a physical characteristic. Members of the Deaf community may have hearing levels that range from profoundly deaf to slightly hard-of-hearing. But no members of the Deaf community are "hearing impaired." Inside this community, deaf people become Deaf, proudly capitalizing their culture. Hearing people suddenly find that they are handicapped: "Deaf-impaired."
Today’s society consists of numerous individuals who are diagnosed with disabilities that prevent them from partaking in their everyday tasks. Not everyone gets the chance to live a normal life because they might have a problem or sickness that they have to overcome. Deafness is a disability that enables people to hear. All deafness is not alike; it can range in many different forms. Some people like Gauvin, can be helped with a hearing aid, but some can’t because of their situation and health reasons. In society, hearing individuals consider deafness a disability, while the deaf themselves see it as a cultural significance. In the article “Victims from Birth”, appearing in ifemnists.com, Founding Editor Wendy McElroy, provides the story of
Deaf Culture is often misunderstood because the hearing world thinks of deafness as a handicap. The Deaf are not given enough credit for their disabilities even though they are unable to hear. Being misunderstood is the biggest reason why they are not accepted in the world of hearing. The learning process for them may be slower and more difficult to learn, but they are still very bright individuals. The problem at hand is the controversy of trying to “fix” the Deaf when they may or may not want to be “fixed”. The hearing world should give Deaf people a chance to show their true talents and abilities of intelligence before rushing to assumptions, such as hearing aids will fix all Deaf people, because Deaf are dumb, have social problems, and
The Deaf event I attended was the DEAFestival. This festival took place at the Los Angeles City Hall on October 3rd at 12:00pm. I specifically attended this event because I felt I would be much more comfortable at a larger gathering with more space and people rather than a small one such as Starbucks. Since the festival was greatly occupied I had more time to observe, take everything in slowly, and prepare myself. To say the least, I was extremely nervous. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I was genuinely that apprehensive. The cause of my anxiety was I because didn’t want to embarrass myself and I especially didn’t want to offend anyone. There were so many things going through my head. I stood to the side and repeated everything I knew about Deaf culture and American Sign Language in my head. Nonetheless, after several conversations with deaf individuals I felt marvelous. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I anticipated. The people I had the privilege of communicating with were very
Imagine seeing people speaking, moving their mouths and not being able to hear anything. Welcome to the world of deafness. The journey for someone who is deaf can be challenging, but those challenges can be overcome with perseverance. Today I am going to share with you the story of my journey with deafness and see that if I am my disability. It is an experience that has shaped my life through body, mind, and spiritual matter.