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Missoulian: More than words: Montana School for the Deaf and Blind gives students a music lesson<img src="/newsart/minivideo.jpg" height="20" width="20" border="0" align="absmiddle">
Normally, the University of Montana students in “General Music Methods & Materials” ask to take a five-minute break during the 110-minute-long class.
But on Tuesday, when the choir from the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind arrived to give the college students a tutorial on teaching music to grade-school students with special needs, the class was awestruck.
Nobody wanted the usual break, and everybody complained the class wasn't long enough.
The Great Falls-based choir, called Expressions of Silence, includes students in the fifth through 12th grades, most of whom live with hearing impairments and some of whom live with visual impairments.
The choir's calm, cool and professional poise is not an act. These youngsters are in high demand and have a busy traveling schedule performing at schools around the state, as well as in front of the likes of the Montana Legislature and with the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Oak Ridge Boys.
Using choreography and sign language, Expressions of Silence performed some songs for the UM class, then worked with the college students to interpret and perform together the hit “When You Say Nothing At All” by Alison Krauss.
Choir directors Jennifer Wasson and Dessica Wilson helped fill in the rare communication gaps between the choir students and the college students.
Wasson explained that American Sign Language is a conceptual language that uses expressive motion and can't easily be transcribed.
It's also a system that doesn't translate word for word, so in order to translate music, the directors must figure out how to best summarize a song line by line, and figure out the best way to sign the abridged interpretation.
By way of example, Wasson passed around the score to Krauss' song, which begins, “It's amazing how you can speak right into my heart.”
Translated for the choir, she explained, the same sentence reads, “Really wonderful how you can speak in to heart,” and the last three words - “in to heart” - are compressed into one sign movement that more accurately translates as “into-heart.”
Choir member Thea Dupre explained that many people in the choir can feel the beat of the music, even though most can't hear the words. Max Jiron explained that some of the choir members like him wear hearing aids so they can hear some sounds.
Allen Nearhoof can't hear anything, he said, but he doesn't mind at all, proving with his expressive interpretations and fluid choreography that music has an undeniable power that is unique for each and every person.
“The choir is so awesome and heart-wrenching at the same time,” said Bridget Davis, a UM music major. “When the music is playing and the choir is signing, words can't explain the very loving feeling that comes through from the choir.”
UM junior Erin Knutson said the morning was one of the most inspiring experiences she's had during her college career.
“This has been amazing,” Knutson said. “The choir is so beautiful to watch, and being in music education and to see how music affects people is incredible.
“To know that it is possible to get other people to love and appreciate music in the same way music majors generally do is really cool.”
Normally, the University of Montana students in “General Music Methods & Materials” ask to take a five-minute break during the 110-minute-long class.
But on Tuesday, when the choir from the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind arrived to give the college students a tutorial on teaching music to grade-school students with special needs, the class was awestruck.
Nobody wanted the usual break, and everybody complained the class wasn't long enough.
The Great Falls-based choir, called Expressions of Silence, includes students in the fifth through 12th grades, most of whom live with hearing impairments and some of whom live with visual impairments.
The choir's calm, cool and professional poise is not an act. These youngsters are in high demand and have a busy traveling schedule performing at schools around the state, as well as in front of the likes of the Montana Legislature and with the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Oak Ridge Boys.
Using choreography and sign language, Expressions of Silence performed some songs for the UM class, then worked with the college students to interpret and perform together the hit “When You Say Nothing At All” by Alison Krauss.
Choir directors Jennifer Wasson and Dessica Wilson helped fill in the rare communication gaps between the choir students and the college students.
Wasson explained that American Sign Language is a conceptual language that uses expressive motion and can't easily be transcribed.
It's also a system that doesn't translate word for word, so in order to translate music, the directors must figure out how to best summarize a song line by line, and figure out the best way to sign the abridged interpretation.
By way of example, Wasson passed around the score to Krauss' song, which begins, “It's amazing how you can speak right into my heart.”
Translated for the choir, she explained, the same sentence reads, “Really wonderful how you can speak in to heart,” and the last three words - “in to heart” - are compressed into one sign movement that more accurately translates as “into-heart.”
Choir member Thea Dupre explained that many people in the choir can feel the beat of the music, even though most can't hear the words. Max Jiron explained that some of the choir members like him wear hearing aids so they can hear some sounds.
Allen Nearhoof can't hear anything, he said, but he doesn't mind at all, proving with his expressive interpretations and fluid choreography that music has an undeniable power that is unique for each and every person.
“The choir is so awesome and heart-wrenching at the same time,” said Bridget Davis, a UM music major. “When the music is playing and the choir is signing, words can't explain the very loving feeling that comes through from the choir.”
UM junior Erin Knutson said the morning was one of the most inspiring experiences she's had during her college career.
“This has been amazing,” Knutson said. “The choir is so beautiful to watch, and being in music education and to see how music affects people is incredible.
“To know that it is possible to get other people to love and appreciate music in the same way music majors generally do is really cool.”