Sign-singing: a Deafhearing musical experience (poster and performance)

Sign-singing, or song-signing, is a form of musical expression where song lyrics are interpreted through signed languages and performed, accompanying the songs, incorporating musical aspects such as elongation of words and notes. This distinct musical experience is a traditional form of storytelling in d/Deaf cultures around the world and brings a new appreciation of the original songs. In recent years sign-singing has come to the attention of h/Hearing communities and has begun to be enjoyed and performed by d/Deaf and h/Hearing members together. Sign-singing thus offers a unique space for d/Deaf and h/Hearing cultures to interact and for the Deafhearing members to gain a shared sense of musical contribution, participation, culture, community and belonging. It also provides a space for the informal learning and teaching of signed languages, thus facilitating a move towards the kind of bilingualism within h/Hearing communities which has traditionally existed in d/Deaf communities (i.e. English and British Sign Language in the UK). Through performance and autoethnography, Wrexham’s Singing Hands (a sign-singing group) will introduce sign-singing as a musical phenomenon and explore its contribution to bilingualism amongst group members, and its potential in facilitating bilingualism amongst other cohorts. The interpretation and translation processes will be explored, as will the difficulties in learning a language in a different modality (i.e. hand-shape error). Drawing on personal experiences, a collaborative autoethnographic narrative will be presented, including reflections on reactions to the concept and performances by Deaf and Hearing audiences.