Discovering New Songs

Believe it or not, Deaf people enjoy music. Each experiences music in his own way. Some play music like Beethoven’s Nightmare. Some turn up the stereo and feel the vibrations. Some listen through hearing aids and cochlear implants. This applies to songs not originally written for ASL.
Growing up, I loved musical theater music. I still do. Following the storyline was easier than a movie or play because of the dancing, colorful scenes, period costumes and the songs. My parents took me to many shows at Casa Mañana where I picked up favorite songs. I worked at Casa for two summers setting up the scenes.


I also discover songs from movies and TV shows where the closed-captions display the lyrics. In fact, one of the newer songs I like comes from CSI when George Ead’s character, Nick Stokes, listened to Lucky Too on the radio while driving.
The car radio isn’t the best place for discovering new music or artists. If I hear a song I like, there isn’t an easy way of finding out its title. After finding a new song, I look up its lyrics and download the mp3. Often, I repeatedly listen to the song as I follow the lyrics until I have most of it memorized.
Most of the songs I like fall in the classic rock and soundtrack genre. I also enjoy obscure songs here and there. Having finished reading the iPod’s biography (so it’s not a person, but the book tells all about the iPod), I agree with the author that people just a person by his playlist. I can’t bear to reveal some of the songs I like fearing they make me look like a dork.

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    • Richard Roehm on May 31, 2007 at 12:05 pm
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    I have a song in the works. It’s called “Burning Rock” and it’s a song that focus all the anger the deaf people have put on the hearing folks for their mistreatment.

  1. Check out the Deaf Performing Artists Network, http://www.d-pan.com we have some new stuff on the website and a new music video on the way SOON! Check us out and leave comments on the site with what music videos you’d like to see in the future!

  2. I absolutely love music and today, with the lyrics all over the net, my kids have an easier time learning new music than I did when growing up.

    • Meryl on May 31, 2007 at 3:10 pm
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    Agreed, Karen. Wish iTunes, Windows Media Player and all those apps would have lyrics scrolling ON their screen. It isn’t easy to have lyrics files open while working and listening to music. At least, you combine two docs in one: MP3 app and lyrics.

  3. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time and we’ll see the lyrics synched on every device. I just hope we don’t have to wait twenty years. 🙂

    • Meryl on June 2, 2007 at 8:55 am
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    Ya got that right, Karen!

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