The delicate art of making music performance accessible to d/deaf audiences
What does integrated accessibility in the performing arts mean to you?
For me it either means integrating performers who are deaf, blind or have other disabilities into a performance, or giving access to audience members who need to be ‘viewing’ the performance in slightly different ways. In terms of deafness, there are several different ways that you can convey that; it could be through an interpreter who stands on the side of the stage and interprets the performance, or the interpreter could be a performer themselves, or you could have a particular deaf or hard of hearing performer who is accompanied by their own interpreter. Within this there are many different styles; the interpreter could be on the side but ‘acting’ as well, or just interpreting in a very straightforward way. There’s definitely a spectrum involved.
How did you get into interpreting music?
The London Symphony Orchestra used to have concerts that were interpreted, and as far as I’m aware, it was something that emerged out of the circumstances. There was music being played that some of the audience could not hear, so it was about trying to find a way for these concerts to be of some meaning to everybody. The interpretation of the music became like a visual score; another way of conveying the musical content to the audience. I was fascinated with how much you could play with this, once you knew either what was written in the music or what you had heard, you could take this on board and project it back out again.
How do you approach the interpretation of music for deaf or hard of hearing audience members?
There are different ways to do it — sometimes it’s like a dance move; the audience know there must be a ‘high bit’ because you’re doing something like reaching up with your arms, or you might use personification such as in Peter and the Wolf where you make yourself into a character.
I like to interpret the different layers of the music, and not just focus on the melody. I’m interested in how the different music layers interact with each other, and how you have to keep watching what is going on.
An example of this is from 2004 when I was part of a project delivering a Harry Potter workshop for children, and a couple of those attending were deaf. We were focusing on characterisation through musical themes which we also interpreted with the body, so the activity worked if you were deaf or not. This approach is so much more inclusive, which is an aspect I really like.
Have you had any experiences of performances where you feel accessibility was really well integrated?
Working with the dance company, Green Candle, at Sadlers Wells was a truly accessible experience. In fact Sadlers Wells had done a great job about making their whole ethos accessible, including the building etc. They literally knocked it down and put it back up in an accessible way. It was about asking the audience ‘what is it that’s missing at the moment that you don’t have?’ There’s obviously an element of needing equipment and so on but it’s also about simple things like making sure you don’t turn off all the lights in the theatre, because then deaf or visually impaired people can’t see anything at all or interact with each other either. Equally, flashing the lights is normal for deaf people, to signify it’s time to come back after the break, for example. This could be adopted for everyone, perhaps combined with the traditional bell used at theatres.
What do you think are the key challenges that artists are facing trying to integrate accessibility within their creative practice?
I think funding plays a huge part. If you are only going to attract small audiences who appreciate each style of accessibility is it financially viable to make it tailorable to each of them? You run the risk of staying in a middle ground where you don’t please everyone because nobody wanted it quite like that. Sometimes everyone gets herded together into a ‘disability group’ even though there’s a massive range of needs. It can be quite overwhelming to try and cater for all these people, and I don’t think that’s possible for most shows.
Community involvement in the creative process is important because it is about building audiences. If you have 10 disabled people involved, they might each bring one or two audience members, who will then attract more.
The main difficulty comes with personal preference. Some people will love to have the interpreter acting away with everyone else, other people won’t, and you literally can’t please everyone. Similarly, some will say that subtitles are enough, some people hate that. Some people who are hearing hate the fact that there is an interpreter because it’s really distracting. If the interpreter is too separate, the audience will have to look towards them then back to the action. There’s very few things that I’ve seen that are accessible to everybody. I think that’s why I like the idea of interpreting the music rather than the words, because it can work better for everyone.
In what ways do you think could performing arts could be made more accessible for performers and audiences?
Being able to pick your own seats online is useful as people can have a think about what works best for them. It’s not always obvious until people turn up what they are going to need. Maybe things will become more accessible as technology advances, but at the moment some of it doesn’t actually work that well, it still very much needs a human involved who knows what they are doing.
It would be great to somehow make it more ‘normal’ for a deaf child to go to a concert, so that when they are an adult it’s just one of the many things they feel they can do.
What examples of good practice have you seen in this area?
The majority of performances I’ve seen have had the show going on with an interpreter to the side. I suppose it’s difficult to have a huge west end cast and have the interpreter mixing in the middle. I went to see Les Mis because I know it really well and wanted to see how they would work it with a sign language interpreter. It was really interesting and obviously a really tiring task to sign through the whole thing.
I also saw another show where an actor spoke her lines and signed at the same time which was quite clever. For me this style works better with a theatre production than a musical. I also like it when the music is signed without any words at all, where the music is the concept.
What principles underline your practice in this area?
I feel strongly that you must include the expert, ie the deaf or disabled person, even if you don’t agree with their feedback. You’ve got to weather it and take it on board. You are always learning. Every new person you meet you will either present you with a new sign, style or twist on things.
What would you like to be working on in this area?
I’d like there to be more workshops for deaf children, short themed projects. Whether it’s a project based around a kid’s story or a particular theme, thinking more openly about the concept and enabling the children to respond with their own interpretation. For me, one of the main reasons to catch them small is for them not to be concerned about what other people think. If you’ve done these things from a young age, you are not so bothered, and will give things a go. There’s definitely a mainstream feeling of ‘what’s the point?’ when it comes to involving deaf children in music but I think there’s a lot that can be gained, even just from coming together as a group and working together as a team.