#22. Mixing sign language and music.
Jan 22nd by Jon
When I was in college, we had a competition called “Step Sing.” It was basically a musical event where different student groups would dance and sing to a medley of songs which were judged for points. (File this entry under “this guy is a dork.”) Every year, the frats and sororities would change their themes, but there was one thing you could count on: the Baptist Student Union was going to do a little sign language in their performance. Year after year, they found a way to make the symbol for Jesus or king or majesty in their routine using their hands and arms. And it’s not that we had a large deaf population. For some reason, churches and Christians really like throwing a little sign language into their music. I have to imagine that when deaf people see this they feel like George on Seinfeld felt when Kramer told him he was going to wear an eye patch just for the fun of it, “that would be like me riding around in a wheelchair just for kicks.”
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Yeah, I lead this kind of worship group for kids and it’s totally awesome but I always cringe when my deaf friend comes to evaluate
I’ll be posting a video from our Easter “Arise My Love” when I get it loaded (eventually.) Stay tuned…
yeah i always think that deaf people find it offensive that we use there method of communication as some kinda performance
don't hearing singers use our method of communication as some kind of performance?
The difference, KatherineLn, is that there is a language that we as hearing people don't generally take the time to learn but just coopt for our own performance pleasure. It's like people who take Chinese symbols or Native American symbols and market them or wear them without any real knowledge of the culture. We as hearing people marginalize Deaf culture (we don't expect our kids to learn ASL in school for instance and generally have developed a society that disables those who cannot hear) and yet when it is fun or convenient or pretty or helpful to us, we take part of their language and culture. For OUR benefit. That's appropriation.
I didn't start signing during worship until I took an ASL class and learned about the culture and the beautiful language. And I don't do it as a show…I do it as another way of worshiping and communicating with my Father!
see Pro Deo Sum's comment below for more information about how oppressive this appropriation can be
note to komplex – from the deaf people I know (and are in my family) – they very much enjoy the fact that sign language is used in worship and brings hearing people into the style of worship that they enjoy.
I’m sure there are some deaf people somewhere who are offended in some way because people everywhere can be easily offended, deaf or hearing, but I do believe the majority are cool with it.
In high school I was in a Christian Interpretive Dance troupe called “Alabaster Box Theatre.”
There’s this thing the world calls “Interpretive Dance,” and it involves organic tribal music, spandex unitards, dark lipstick, and poetry that doesn’t rhyme, and it’s very scary. (See “She’s All That.”)
Then there’s what Christians like to call Interpretive Dance that involves soaring CCM melodies, flowing ribbons and streamers, glitter, sweeping motions and sign language, and generally reduces 20-60% of the audience to tears by the first chorus.
I liked doing it, but I never understood why people liked watching it.
Our BSU drama team(which I was not on) always did interpretive movement and sign language to music. It was truly awful and to this day (12 years later), I can crack my husband up by doing cheesy movement to a song on the radio ala BSU drama.
As a former ASL interpreter and a kinesthetic sort of person, I do sometimes use sign language during the singing as a private expression of worship. I try to stay in the back where no one will see me, but I get people coming up to me (who sneak peeks toward the back of the room) telling me how “beautiful” it all is, and how “inspired” it makes them. That’s like a non-native English speaker coming up and telling us how “beautiful” and “inspiring” she finds it that we sing in English, and what a “graceful” language it is. Puh-lease. Sometimes I like to sing in French, too, but no one comes up to me swooning over that. It’s just a language, just like any other language. And yes, it does give me hives when I see people randomly throwing in a sign here and there in their musical/dance performances. It would be one thing if they signed the whole thing so that a Deaf person would be able to understand it, but just doing it “cuz it looks kewl” is not a good enough reason to exploit someone else’s language just because it’s manual instead of verbal.
Well, my deaf friend just say -oh look, they’re signing ~ bless their hearts!
(Just kidding)
I take it you haven’t been to Step Sing in a long time. It seems it’s evolved quite a bit since your times there. Independent Ladies have won the Sweepstakes and placed ahead a number of the sororities for several years in a row. A new group, called Dudes a Plenty (aka independent men), have stole the show countless times winning the sweeps and placing high. Also, Student Ministries (formally the BSU, SU no longer has a BSU, it’s all Student Ministries) no longer sign in their shows. They still are the only co-ed group and there shows are pretty cool as well. Seems to match more in line w/ everyone elses as far as choreography and themes.
I think when I read this post, I was thinking you were going to be talking about the interpretive dances people do at church and add sign language, etc. Either way, it still is an interesting way in which Christian Evangelicals express themselves.
I just figured out that you went to the alma mater in Birmingham. Growing up in “the Bubble” could be a whole new blog. I’m MUCH older than you and remember Step Sing well.
The A Cappella Choir (of which I was a member) also did a little signing in the final segment of our concerts. I had a couple of signing solos. Back in the day it was moving. Now it’s just silly since Napoleon Dynamite joined the Happy Hands club.
SO so true! Ha. I don’t think it’s offensive until hearing people TALK like they know it all (sign language) when they just learned the signs out of a book. That cheapens the language the Deaf people SO value.
Otherwise, whatever floats your boat. It IS more for hearing enjoyment than Deaf, though. For sure!
–Sarah (wife of Deaf husband, and gal who LOVES to sign songs. But, of course, I’m hearing.)
I loved doing that for VBS songs.
I was told once that Southern Baptist don’t dance but do sign… so that is why we sing and sign… you can fit some dance moves into the flow of things and the older people won’t notice the moves.
lol. I remember doing a song called 'Love in any language' in sign language. Found out later that it wasn't even correct sign language!
Holy crap that is funny because it is true.
Two words: Napoleon Dynamite. That is all I can think of when I see "Lyrical Sign-Interpreted Performance" (my favorite title for the singy/signy stuff so far).
Three more words: Drop Dead Gorgeous.
As a signer and teacher of deaf kids, I have to say the only real danger is when people mistake learning a few…ahem…interesting translations of Amy Grant songs for real connection with Deaf folks.
I assume the 20-60% in tears in heidi's comment were wetting themselves laughing. That's what we were doing during 'devotion in motion' – can't remember if that was the official name for it, or just what we called it – but there was a number of moves involved (a post in itself) which we used to mimic in diving contests at a friends backyard pool. Probably wrong of us, but so much fun. Thanks for the memories.
I would have to ask a deaf person to know what they thought about this. Someone signing a song which is communication for the deaf cannot be compared to someone wearing an eye patch for nothing. It can but it's apples and oranges.
We had a "band" that led the music part of chapel at our college, and two girls signed the whole time. We still make fun of them. But I absolutely LOVE when a true interpreter signs during songs or services.
This takes me back to my childhood. We had so many things at church that used sign language, and we had 0 people who needed it.
I'm 15, and I sign all the time, it's my second language.
But I still always get nervous talking to "real deaf people"
and will sometimes totally freeze, and having to spell out, instead
of sign some words..totally embarassing.=P
but signing to a song, can be like dancing to a song,
it can add so much more emotion,
and personalize it more. =)