wfn.org | Church choir pairs music with sign language

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

March 23, 2004 News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
7 E-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org 7 ALL-YE{000}

A UMNS Feature
By Amy Green*

The idea struck Susan Plymell 10 years ago, when she was pastor of a church
where a deaf boy attended services. 
 
"I just thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if we had a choir that could sign the
music for him?'" she says. "I think sign language is such a beautiful
language to begin with. I thought if you added music, it would be even more
wonderful."
 
It is perhaps an unlikely blend, music with sign language. But Plymell put
the two together five years ago as pastor of SonRise United Methodist Church
in Pueblo, Colo., organizing a choir that signs the words to all the songs it
performs. 
 
She started the choir to reach out to deaf congregation members and raise
awareness, but now it performs across the community, inspiring churches,
community groups, schools and others with its music and synchronized signing.
It is preparing for a performance on Easter at Pueblo's Riverwalk, a central
community gathering place on the Arkansas River.
 
The 20-member choir of church and community members - some deaf, some from
other congregations - rehearses two hours each week. It focuses primarily on
contemporary Christian and gospel music but performs some secular tunes for
community groups and schools.
 
Word has spread quickly about the choir. It makes a few performances each
month - some as far as an hour away - for groups such as the local Shriners
chapter and at the Pueblo Community College and area elementary schools. It
also performs for special events at other churches and participates in the
community's annual Fourth of July and Christmas parades. 
 
"It's a real service to the deaf people," Plymell says. "It's an opportunity
for them to actually participate in the music. ... For the hearing people,
they love it because it's so beautiful to watch, and it enhances the music
that's being played." 
 
Plymell learned sign language as pastor of another church where a deaf boy
attended services. When she joined SonRise United Methodist Church, which
draws about 60 on an average Sunday, she became reacquainted with Donna
Roberts, who had taken the same sign language class as Plymell years before.
Roberts offered to direct the choir.
 
The choir enables her to share her beloved music with deaf friends, Roberts
says. 
 
"I feel for them because they can't hear music, and this is my way of sharing
music with them," says Roberts, an interpreter for the deaf at Pueblo
Community College. "They feel the vibrations, but putting the lyrics together
... puts a different meaning to the music."
 
Tiffany Sterner, 14, who has had hearing problems since she was born,
struggled with sign language until joining the choir with her mother. She has
been with the choir for two years and is glad to be able to communicate with
the deaf. 
 
"I get to learn a new language, and my mom doesn't have to shout at me all
the time when she talks to me," says Sterner, who eventually wants to nurture
other children through serious health problems as a pediatrician. "It's a
beautiful thing, and it's just interesting to watch."
 
Tiffany attends services at a Pentecostal church but joined the choir after
her mom heard about it at a community event for the disabled. She says she
enjoys visiting various congregations and learning about how other
denominations worship. Her father, Doug Sterner, believes the choir has had
another effect on his daughter. 
 
"It also gives Tiff a sense of purpose, that she does something that is
important and makes a difference," he says. 
 
Plymell believes the choir has succeeded in raising awareness. She notes many
of the choir's members joined after they saw a performance and then signed up
for sign language lessons. She feels the choir's movement to the music
inspires audiences. 
 
"It just adds more depth to the words," she says. "It adds almost a physical
and emotional response to the words." 
 
She believes the choir has reached beyond its original goals. 
 
"It connects unchurched people with the churched people of different
denominations," she says. "We're a truly diverse group of people, and that's
really wonderful to see."

# # #

*Green is a freelance journalist based in Nashville, Tenn.

 
 

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org