It’s heartbreaking to me, as a music lover, to have to tell my Deaf son, Alex, that there’s no use buying a music video featuring his favourite characters because he can’t hear it anyway. That’s not to say he doesn’t appreciate music in his own way. But my television and sound-system are incompatible, so there’s no way for him to feel the beat as he watches. The same goes for video games. Often they rely on sound. When he was very young, he would see his brothers dance to the music at the end of a movie. He began, then, to associate movie credits to music. To this day he still dances and “sings” (repetitive, monotoned, wordless chants) whenever he sees them.
Alex isn’t totally deaf. If I put headphones on him, he can hear at least a little, but he doesn’t like it. He has a fantastic sense of rhythm, as do many Deaf people – see the current “Dancing with the Stars” for evidence. But unless the music is cranked enough for him to sense it, one could say for the most part, he dances to the beat of his own drummer.
My A to Z theme concerns the joys and challenges of being the hearing mother of my Deaf son, Alex. To learn more about his beginnings in life, click here to go to my first A to Z entry.
May 14, 2016 at 7:29 pm
I’m trying to catch up before you take these down for your book. Isn’t Nyle amazing, especially considering he can’t hear anything at all? Monday’s Paso Doble with the seconds of no music was amazing. Your posts and Nyle make me appreciate my ability to hear even more.
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May 15, 2016 at 2:28 pm
I have yet to watch that one. I agree, watching him dance is pretty cool!
Thanks for reading. 😀
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May 16, 2016 at 8:17 pm
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May 16, 2016 at 8:20 pm
Thanks! 🙂
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April 16, 2016 at 2:42 am
We had one of those pointless, “if you had to lose a sense, which one would it be; sight or hearing?” conversations at work once. I immediately said sight and was told not to be stupid, because that was allegedly the more debilitating option. My argument was that I could live without a lot of things, but music was non-negotiable and I still stand by that.
I don’t know if I feel more sorry for people like Alex, who have never experienced music at all, or the ones who have the memory of melodies they will never be able to hear again. I think probably the latter; the thought of that being taken away from me literally gives me the shivers.
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April 16, 2016 at 1:51 am
Linda your Alex looks so happy and full of life. And he does dance well and obviously unashamed and unworried at the time you captured the video. It’s heartwarming. Thank you for sharing.
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April 15, 2016 at 8:15 pm
I think we could all learn from the lesson of “dancing to the beat of our own drummer.”
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April 15, 2016 at 6:02 pm
Ha looks so happy Linda. you say he has some small ability to hear – would it be possible to do bone vibration transmission or is the receiving end too damaged? I had a colleague who was a master mechanic and could fix any engine built – he also designed and constructed car racing engines and skidoo racing engines. I watched him one day when we were long haul trucking and he was troubleshooting a noise in his engine. He found a broken broom handle in the trash and cut one end square about 14 inches from the end – the other end was the round part. The engine was running (loud) and he put round end against his jaw bone and moved the square end from cylinder to cylinder. He was only seconds finding the problem cylinder and then the exact place where the ticking was taking place. I was astounded and he explained it bypassed the ear drum especially in a noisy environment. I tried it and it was amazing. Could some kind of adaption like this help?
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April 15, 2016 at 5:34 pm
That would be hard, to have to tell he can’t experience something that he wants to. I’ve always been curious about how the deaf experience the beat, and what sorts of sound systems qualify, or can’t, supply the tremors they need.
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April 15, 2016 at 12:01 pm
Bless him!!!
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April 15, 2016 at 11:41 am
That’s a good thing though. Marching to your own drummer is better than following someone elses.
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