SeeSound at Creston School, in ASL and English
A workshop in progress in the school auditorium. Depth of field added; no child is identifiable.
What happens in the room
Monthly two-hour workshops on the school's early-release days. Four groups of around five students each rotate through a twenty-five minute hands-on slot, so every child gets time with the instruments rather than watching from a seat.
Music is taught visually. SeeSound LED tubes turn pitch and rhythm into color and movement, so a note is something you see as well as hear. jam.audiolux.app puts the same color language on a screen, letting students play together and follow each other without relying on hearing.
Instruction runs in ASL and English together, with interpreters provided by the school. The design brief was explicit: accommodate every style of communication and every level of hearing in the room, rather than making Deaf students adapt to a hearing lesson.
Photographs from the school year
Select any photo to open the slideshow
No students appear in these photographs. Images of the sessions themselves are held back until a Portland Public Schools media release covers them, which is the same rule applied to every school program.
Why LED tubes and not haptics
Haptic vests give a richer experience but need rental, logistics and setup time that a monthly school slot cannot carry. SeeSound tubes are portable and self-contained: charge them, bring a sound source, and the room is ready. Choosing the simpler tool is what made the series sustainable across a whole school year.
Where it stands
- Sessions delivered from October 2025 through a STEAM Day in March 2026.
- The program satisfies both the music requirement of its Portland Public Schools funding and a multisensory STEAM component.
- Creston's principal has confirmed support for a spring 2027 return.
Delivered in partnership with Portland Public Schools and CymaSpace. Photographs of students are not published; the image above is composed and processed so that no child is identifiable.