Music for Other Senses

We rarely notice the natural things around us that pass without glory or sorrow, leaving behind that divine capacity to know what we can do with what we have, not noticing what happens in the distance.

Music for Deaf People and Sensory Perception

I attribute this comment and want to focus it on perception, on the capacity we have as human beings to appreciate with our senses. With this I refer to the innate, to what each person has from the moment they’re born: the ability to see, smell, feel, and my emphasis today—to hear.

Hearing is a method of communication; expressing in a precise way what we want to say is indispensable in our daily life, but what happens when we don’t have this gift?

One of society’s purposes is to achieve equality. If some type of disability is present, the idea is to generate a friendly environment for this population at all levels—social, humanitarian, and artistic. For this reason, I’d like to introduce several alternatives through which deaf people can feel music.

Musician Sean Forbes became deaf due to meningitis that affected him in childhood. He found a method for the deaf community to access music. He currently has a foundation with Joel Martin called Deaf Professional Arts Network. His album “Perfect Imperfection” presents a pleasant proposal for both people who cannot hear and those who can.

Another alternative is feeling music’s vibration through sign language, though this alternative is directed uniquely toward non-hearing people.