Ryerson University’s Centre of Learning Technology and the Science of Music, Auditory Research and Technology (SMART) Lab have been working on the Alternative Sensory Information Displays (ASID) project to develop a ‘musical chair’ precisely made to induce vibrant emotions to deaf people thanks to music (ouch, that was a tough one).
In other words, the ‘Emoti Chair’ as they call it is built to bring musical pleasure to the deaf and the hearing impaired. The chair has a multitude of build-in speakers and vibrating devices delicately calibrated to “translate music and sound into movement. Whether it be rocking or vibrations, the music can be heard through the movement of the chair, expressing to the person sitting, the emotion heard in sound”. Music becomes the medium and the vibration became the generated art form (I remember citing a similar sentence in my post on Daito Manabe’s facial experiments, also extremely related to that audio-tactile realm of manipulating sounds and music)
The concept in itself is already a beautiful and a revolutionary one, opening our beloved musical world to the hard hearing people, but it is also an intriguing and very interesting means of experiencing music like never before.
Reading testimonials from the deaf people who experienced the chair really got me thinking about how personal and subjective a musical stimulus can be. Ellen Hibbard, a deaf PhD candidate in Ryerson’s Communications and Culture program explains: “The first time I used the chair, I was blown away by the amount of information I could get about music from the vibrations” . “For the first time in my life, I could feel sad or happy because of how the music vibrations felt on my skin. I never felt those kinds of feelings before when music was played.” She even goes on to saying she experienced flashbacks triggered by the vibrations of the music, much like music constitutes an amazing memory buffer for us all.
And here’s another interesting quote I found by Frank Russo, director of SMART Lab, who took a prototype of the chair to the Bob Rumball Center for the deaf: “It seemed that deaf people were able to identify the emotions that a hearing person would. The people became really animated, they would just dance in the chair and many of these people have been deaf from birth”.
Beautiful…just beautiful. Let alone the fact that music is made inaccessible to you if you’re deaf, so is dancing and singing. The technology behind these experiments may change that in a not-so-distant-future.
And so to get to the original point of this post, the second ever concert for the deaf (they had already tried out a test gig I think somewhere) is taking place in Toronto’s Clinton’s Tavern on March 5th, with a series of Canadian performers and bands (that I’m discovering while I’m writing this here article) such as Hollywood Swank, The Dufraines, Fox Jaws, Dj Stephane Vera and some other acts that you can actually see on this flyer I just found.
I contacted a couple of guys from Hollywood Swank (the drummer from Hollywood Swank, Carmen Branje is apparently one of the main organizers of the event and has worked on the development of the chairs as a student at Ryerson) and The Dufraines and here is what they go to say about the gig:
I think its a pretty cool opportunity for us to be involved with the event. There’s gonna be a few genre’s of bands at the show and I guess there will be a number of deaf people there coming up and trying the chair while we’re playing, so it’s a cool way to connect with the audience on a totally new and unique level.
Donny from Hollywood SwankMySpace: www.myspace.com/hollywoodswank
As far as playing we’re amazed. The concept and the whole idea is crazy and we couldn’t be more excited to play. This is the kind of show that will carry the fondest memories of any show we are likely to play, ever.
Dan from Fox JawsMySpace: www.myspace.com/foxjaws
So there, for all of you living in Toronto, I wouldn’t miss out on this, and If ever you go, I’de love it if you could leave your comments and impressions on this post (would be great to have it streamed live or something. I’ll see if my doggy psychology will help me convince someone).
Mruff!
[…] è descritta molto bene in questo post di GigBloggy, che mette a fuoco un primo punto, molto interessante: Music becomes the medium and the vibration […]
[…] Fri, Feb 13, 09 From the makes-you-cry department, via gigbloggy, Concert for the deaf and the hard of hearing in Toronto: […]
[…] Concert for the deaf and the hard of hearing in Toronto. « The way bands do it And so to get to the original point of this post, the second ever concert for the deaf (they had already tried out a test gig I think somewhere) is taking place in Toronto’s Clinton’s Tavern on March 5th, with a series of Canadian performers and bands (that I’m discovering while I’m writing this here article) such as Hollywood Swank, The Dufraines, Fox Jaws, Dj Stephane Vera and some other acts that you can actually see on this flyer I just found. […]
I am soooo IN for this…I cannot wait!
Slainte,
RLStephenson-Read, Gore’s Landing, ON
[…] Music for the deaf and hard of hearing April 13, 2009 The ‘Emoti Chair’ as they call it is built to bring musical pleasure to the deaf and the hearing… […]
I like what you have said and posted on this article , iI had no idea there where special services for the hard of hearing..
I need to know… when this concert for deaf and hard of hearing performance this year? smile
[…] for the deaf and hard of hearing The “Emoti Chair” as they call it is built to bring musical pleasure to the deaf and the… Category: art, music | Tag: accessibility, emotion, live […]
[…] and the Science of Music, Auditory Research and Technology SMART Lab have been working on the Alternative Sensory Information Displays (ASID) project to develop a ‘musical chair’ for deaf […]
[…] and the Science of Music, Auditory Research and Technology SMART Lab have been working on the Alternative Sensory Information Displays (ASID) project to develop a ‘musical chair’ for deaf […]
The teacher is a psosefrional young man in his mid 20s. He has wanted to be an educator for his entire life and loves his job and enjoys helping his students. One of his students is an attractive young woman that seems to have taken a liking for her teacher. The teacher is not impervious to her charms but realizes how inappropriate it would be to pursue anything romantic. The student is seventeen years old and one of the teacher’s better students. They talk frequently and exchange emails the discussions are usually about literature (the subject the teacher teaches is English) but occasionally veer into the personal department. The teacher also occasionally meets with the student outside of class to help her work on an essay she is writing. They meet once or twice a week at a coffee shop. The student and teacher have not (yet) done anything of a sexual nature but they do have physical contact. This contact is mostly things like hugs, playful touching and hand holding. The teacher realizes that having this close of a relationship with a student is not perfect but enjoys spending time with the student and being of assistance. Almost all of the out of school contact is initiated by the student. The student flirts with the teacher frequently the instructor tries his hardest not to flirt back and only smiles and looks away when receiving attention. The teacher is not sure how to proceed as earlier this week the student kissed him on the lips when they were leaving after working on her essay. The teacher told her they shouldn’t at first but after a little bit returned her kisses. They kissed outside his car for several minutes before going their separate ways. They have seen one another in class since and been psosefrional but there is a lot of romantic tension between the two. Their emails are becoming more and more personal and romantic in nature and the teacher is losing his resolve to refuse the advances. What should the teacher do in this situation. He cannot go to administration because he has already acted somewhat improperly. The student is not immature or troublesome and would not do anything to reveal the indiscretions. Is it wrong for the teacher to continue the relationship and/or escalate the relationship?ADDITIONAL DETAILS/RESPONSES:The teacher is not confused, behaviorally stunted . This is the first and only incident of such behavior. And it is not as if the teacher is chasing anyone. The teacher has repeatedly turned down the student and not acted on cues/hints. He is not a paedophile pursuing his young students. The teacher has been in numerous relationships with attractive women of his own age. This is not the norm nor is it a romantic relationship. Nothing has gone on physically beyond the one kiss. The young woman is a brilliant student who is nothing like one of Tiger Woods’ mistresses. She is a tremendous student and writer who came to the teacher for advice because of their shared passion for writing and literature. She is not a whore looking for attention she is a well raised, articulate, smart young woman. The student cares a lot about the teacher and would never intentionally do anything to harm him. The teacher has not had sexual intercourse or commThe final detail should read: The teacher has not had sexual intercourse or committed any sexual acts of any type with the student. The only thing of a romantic nature is the one kiss. And regardless if anything happened or not the age of consent in the state that the teacher and student reside in is 16.@Tuesday The teacher is not dating the student. No where in the question did it say that and in no way shape or form are the student and teacher dating. They are nothing more than friends. There is perhaps maybe light flirting that is involved in their interaction. The student is not at all the teacher’s girlfriend. I honestly have no idea why you would misread the question that much. The coffee shop meetings are not clandestine dates. They are simply for the student to show the teacher any changes she has made to the essay she is working on. The meetings take no more than an hour. They look over the paper for about a half hour and chat for another half hour and then finish up. The emails are not usually overly flirtatious. Mostly it is just a back and forth about a novel or film or friendly discussion of day to day activities. The teacher is not a predator as you seem to think.