Video-results: signed song research - BSL

A team of Portuguese and British deaf and hearing signers conducted this research, interviewing 9 artists, having 146 audience members reply to a questionnaire, and researching Signed Song history.These songs appeared in Portugal in the 1980s. The first Deaf professional performers emerged as a group in 2010. In the UK, songs appeared in the 1910s. Now, there are performances in groups, solos, duets, in theatre, and fused with Deaf dance. Any Deaf person can sign-sing. Hearing is not important. Artists range from being profoundly deaf to having some hearing, and they acquired signed languages (LGP or BSL) at different ages. The amount of hearing does not matter for deaf signing audiences. Yet, not everyone accepts Signed Songs. Some audiences say that Deaf and music cannot connect because music is auditory sound, thus belonging only to hearing people. Others say that they accept good quality Signed Songs (in language use and technique).Seeing music as "a hearing thing" is a form of Audism. Thinking that “only hearing people can create music” is equivalent to thinking “only hearing people can drive”, meaning seeing hearing people as superior.Each culture defines music differently. Deaf cultures have their own definition: Deaf Signed Songs are a Deaf way of making music. They are also Deaf Gain because they add a new perspective to how music can be defined.Signed Songs show Deaf culture because they portray love for sign language, convey deaf experiences, and share information on the world of songs and on deaf signers as musicians. Signed Songs transmit Deaf awareness, inspire deaf and hearing signers to sign better and (some) to become performers.Artists insert changes in the translated lyrics, including Deaf issues (education, mental health, history, and oppression), and show how a Deaf person experiences the world. For example, the word "hear" in the written lyrics becomes SEE or FEEL in sign. Deaf and hearing signing audiences state that they enjoy these changes.Good Deaf artists move the song from the hearing into the Deaf world. It is a Deaf product but also an intercultural artform, as well as political performance.Giving deaf children early contact with music is important for them to feel empowered and develop a Deaf musical taste. Hearing non-signers in the audiences state that they feel united to the artists and the deaf audience, learning from them.British performers use both BSL and SSE (Signed Supported English) as a creative form of using language and representing different people in the British Deaf community. In the UK, Deaf people have high social accessibility, feel more comfortable, and are thus more open to deaf diversity.Portuguese artists focus on using LGP only, intending to be strong language models for Deaf and hearing people. In Portugal, the Deaf community has less accessibility, is currently fighting for basic Deaf rights, and showing a strong image of LGP is a political weapon for educating society.Deaf and hearing audiences speak of feeling transported into a dream world, imagining how the world would be if all Deaf people had comfortable lives, and good sign quality was available everywhere.A good-quality Signed Song has visual music in the way the signing is performed and should cater to all types of audiences while coming from a Deaf perspective. Deaf, hearing and deafblind receive a different experience. All can enjoy if there is use of:– Visual, vibro-tactile & auditory information;– Technology: vibrating devices (chairs, vests, objects); instrumental tuning and sound-check conveying strong bass sounds and beats; and of vibro-tactile conductive materials (wooden floors, pillars, balloons, etc).– Braille lyrics, tactile signing, and tactile tours to the set.Good Signed Songs should have strong visual components, which show elements of music and the storyline of the song: videos in the background; lights of different intensities & colours following the songs’ rhythms; rich sceneries, props, clothes and artist makeup.Good Signed Songs show bilingual language use. They should have good-quality signing:– Assessed by language experts from the Deaf community;– Representing different ways of signing used in the local Deaf community, but maintaining quality; – Announcing the types of signing in advance of the show;– Integrating techniques from other types of Deaf performance (theatre, poetry, mime, dance, VV);– Conveying strong emotions and rhythm, via the artist’s body and face.Good Signed Songs should also have the written majority language available: – The written lyrics above the stage or on the recorded videos;– Displaying them in creative ways: using different colour fonts, font shapes, and displaying rhythm in the words (pulsating words). – There should be two texts in the show: the original lyrics and the creative translation. This allows everyone in the audience to appreciate the cultural and artistic changes and makes content accessible to all.