Blogs by Edie M. Batstone
Sign, Sign, Everywhere Sign
8/15/2012 4:09:29 PM
Music can speak to our souls and affect them far more than speech. When you add the element of sign language to beautiful music, the experience is indeed, very special.
Sign, Sign, Everywhere Sign!
John Lennon’s beautifully ‘signed’ and sung anthem, “Imagine” sent warm ripples throughout the hearts of everyone watching the closing ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games in London – ripples of hope for inclusion – of all peoples, in a brotherhood of love.
I flashed back to another performance, this past Spring:
We sat in the audience, at our granddaughter’s school concert, as a group of over twenty, seven-year-old children, signed the Our Father, while Michael W. Smith’s haunting version played in the background. Looking around the gym, faces were in rapt attention, caught up in the emotions that it brought to the surface in all of us watching. It was not merely a performance - The children up on the stage were putting such sincere energy and attention into what their hands and bodies were expressing – bringing the words to life in such a special way. It’s wonderful when life throws a surprise at you when you least expect it – and very humbling. Another surprise came at the end of the concert with the small choir giving an amazingly simple and beautiful version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. It reinforced for me, the importance of arts programs in the schools. Those lessons learned – of gaining confidence, and then sharing what is within – feeling those seeds of talent take root and start blossoming, are irreplaceable.
If we want peace to become a reality, then we need to feed the souls of our children with hope - all of the other riches in this world count for nothing without it; and if we want our children to learn respect for themselves and for others, then we need to encourage them, honestly, and by our examples, to have faith in their abilities, their worth; and we need to nurture the desire to share, not just materially, but of themselves.
. I think I’ll check out the actual sign language for the word hope, and practice using it daily – even if it’s only a greeting to myself in the mirror – it would be a neat way to clear those early morning cobwebs and focus on the positive. Let there be singing and signing – not just at concerts, and not just by children, but, by everyone, everywhere!
- I wonder what the sign for ‘rant’ is?
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