Teaching jazz you can feel, at Southern Oregon University
An ASL interpreter works at the front while the demonstration runs. Roughly forty-five people attended across two sessions.
What happened
Two workshops ran with SOU's Honors and Percussion ensembles, joined by members of the local Deaf community. Everyone in the room, hearing and Deaf alike, was given a haptic vest so the music arrived through the body as vibration. ASL interpreters worked throughout.
Myles led the presentation, introducing how Deaf people perceive and make music, and how technology can carry sound into sight and touch. The sessions covered the history of jazz and improvisation, and what changes when a Deaf ensemble plays it.
Why it mattered
- Hearing music students learned directly how Deaf musicians engage with sound, from Deaf musicians.
- Deaf attendees in a rural part of Oregon got access to a communal music event of a kind that rarely reaches them.
- Feedback gathered on the vests fed straight into the next events on the tour.
- The group was invited back to expand outreach in the community.
The ensemble
The tour ensemble, The Confluence, was assembled to reflect the range of abilities and disabilities among its members:
- Myles de Bastion (DeafBlind), guitar and electronics
- Nate Hergert (Deaf), synthesizer and electronics
- Dillon Simeone (Deaf), percussion and custom sonic interfaces
- Dr. Shawn Trail (Autistic), percussion
- Jake Chapman, electric marimba and electronics
- Tony Barba, saxophone and electronics
The rest of the tour
Three days later the tour reached Western Oregon University for a percussion ensemble workshop and a concert with the WOU Jazz Orchestra. Thirty haptic vests went out to the audience of about eighty, roughly half students and half community members.
What it looked like
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Delivered in partnership with Southern Oregon University and CymaSpace, under the Universal Music Design program. Helpful Tech carries the method and the relationships forward.