Understanding Signed Music
Cripps & Lyonblum
The first author of this paper produced a documentary in 2016 called Signed Music: A
Symphonious Odyssey. The documentary was first presented at the Society for American Sign
Language conference in November 2015 at Towson University near Baltimore, Maryland. This
documentary is available online as well: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JjFCM8UZHM).
A website developed by this author and his colleagues focuses on signed music, including the
definitions of each musical element, chronological signed music performances, grants,
publications, and presentations (http://wp.towson.edu/signedmusic/). All of these resources
available comprise a compilation of artistic works that can be studied as a musical canon. It is the
hope of the authors that this paper provides a clear explanation of, signed music and its basis in
the theory of language, culture, and music.
References
Akmajian, A., Demers, R. A., Farmer, A. K., & Harnish, R. M. (2010). Linguistics: An
introduction to language and communication (6 th ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
Andersson, Y., & Burch, S. (2010). Deaf and disability studies: A conversation with Yerker
Andersson. In S. Burch, & A. Kafer (Eds.), Deaf and disability studies: Interdisciplinary
perspectives (pp. 193-203). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
Bahan, B. (2006). Face-to-face tradition in the American deaf community: Dynamics of the
teller, the tale, and the audience. In H-D. L. Bauman, J. L. Nelson, & H. M. Rose (Eds.),
Signing the body poetic: Essays on American Sign Language literature (pp. 21-50).
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Bauman, H-D. L. (2004). Audism: Exploring the metaphysics of oppression. Journal of Deaf
Studies and Deaf Education, 9(2), 239-246.
Baynton, D. (1993). ‘Savages and deaf-mutes’: Evolutionary theory and the campaign against
sign language in the nineteenth century. In J. V. Van Cleve (Ed.), Deaf history unveiled:
Interpretations from the new scholarship (pp. 93-112). Washington, DC: Gallaudet
University Press.
Baynton, D. (1996). Forbidden signs: American culture and the campaign against sign
language. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Bender, R. E. (1981). The conquest of deafness (3 rd ed.). Danville, IL: The Interstate Printers &
Publishers, Inc.
Bergman, B., & Wallin, L. (1990). Sign language research and the deaf community. In S.
Prillwitz, & T. Vollhaber (Eds.), Sign language research and application (pp. 187-216).
Hamburg, DE: Signum.
Branson, J., & Miller, D. (1998). Nationalism and the linguistic rights of deaf communities:
Linguistic imperialism and the recognition and development of sign languages. Journal
of Sociolinguistics, 2(1), 3-34.
SASLJ, Vol. 1, No. 1 – Fall/Winter 2017
90