Chapter 66

        Another cultural aspect of the Deaf community includes signsongs.  However, this new musical genre seems to be bringing up a lot of great questions.  In the beginning of the chapter, a woman named Holly Roth asked a couple questions that I had never thought about asking! These included:

1. It seems that many hearing children (and adults) are learning signs from their (hearing) teachers in order to sign and sing songs for (hearing) audiences.  I am bothered by this.  Do Deaf children and Deaf adults enjoy seeing hearing people sign and singing songs?

2. If Deaf children learn to voice songs for Deaf audiences, would this make sense?

3. Anyway, signing songs word-for-word is just a string of vocabulary words, not a translation.  Where's the meaning?

        "Signsongs are an artistic hybrid, borrowing the concept of choral singing from Hearing culture and the signs from Deaf culture" (pg 385).  I love this idea, and I love watching signsongs performed...which I guess is expected from a hearing person.  However, it is understandable that some Deaf people are opposed to signsongs.  Signsongs are not an original part of Deaf and ASL culture and they feel like hearing people are basically changing their language by performing them in straight signed English.  This goes along with Roth's third question, Where's the meaning?  If you translate signsongs into English, it does not make any sense to a person fluent in ASL.  But, meaning apparently is not the main worry for those performing.  Signsongs are instead visually pleasing to many (especially those who do not sign).  I can relate to this, because even though I am learning sign language, I still find these signsongs beautiful.  In addition, I found it interesting that in some circumstances, signsongs are used as a way for students to use their hands when singing, in order to prevent fidgeting.
        Another question that was addressed was, If Deaf children learn to voice songs for Deaf audiences, would this make sense?  I honestly did not have any idea as to what the answer was, but I love the way HPO confronted this question.  "Is there something artistically (and ethically) bogus about "borrowing" another culture's songs and appropriating them?  Many of us would say no.  Music is a universal language, and songs treasured by a culture become part of our global heritage" (pg 387).  Signsong is just another newer type of music that I think allows Deaf and Hearing cultures to come together.  I feel like another reason some deaf people have negative feelings towards this is because they are not willing to share their culture, perhaps based on bias?  In reality, signsongs have the ability to be beautiful and if performed correctly, they have the ability to remove the idea of cross-cultural pastiches and instead just show artistry.