Blog Archives
Singing & Signing Over the Rainbow
This was a song I worked on translating with my then mentor, Jean Kelly, in 1994, and I performed it as the finale to a one-man show I put on San Diego in 1995. I was only 28 then! If you can’t tell, I sang & signed this song simultaneously– a hard feat because what I was signing was not the same as what I was singing. I signed it as ASL as I could while singing English. Do you like it? Leave a comment to let me know what you think. Or, if you would sign it differently, post a video response.
By the way, looking back I can see that I took this song too slow, and my singing and signing were a bit over-the-top. Oh, well! 
P.S. “Over the Rainbow” was composed by Harold Arlan with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg. It is from the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, and it was sung by Judy Garland in the role of Dorothy. Judy Garland was known for "Over the Rainbow" her whole life. My piano accompanist on this song was James Bianchi.
I welcome you to June by singing “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over!”
One of my favorite songs for one of my favorite months: “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” from the Broadway musical Carousel– music by Richard Rogers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. Have a great June!
On singing the way I talk
I’m working on overcoming my classical training to sing the way I talk. Here I’m talking about and showing the difference between my “standardized” voice and my “individualized” voice, using the song Chasing Cars to give examples. What do you think?
Singing and Singing Happy Birthday in ASL
This is a creative interpretation of The Birthday Song sung in English while signed in ASL (American Sign Language). It is more a compilation of different ways people sign Happy Birthday in ASL than it is an answer to “how do you sign Happy Birthday in ASL?” It is difficult to sing these words and produce these signs at the same time, because the signs do not match the words verbatim— it’s like trying to rub your belly and pat your head at the same time.
I chose these sign couplets with similar handshapes to create sign rhymes; for example, the line CAN’T-WAIT ARRIVE-BIRTHDAY BABY YOU uses the B handshape for all four signs, the line CONDUCT-SONG-BIRTHDAY, TUG-EAR-BIRTHDAY uses the “Closed X” handshape for both signs, the line THRILLED BIRTHDAY uses the “Open 8″ handshape for both signs, and the line HAPPY BIRTH DAY TO YOU uses the 1 handshape twice and the B handshape thrice. I saved the “regular” signs for last, as the last two lines are the two most popular ways to sign Happy Birthday.
I thank the deaf people from other regions from whom I learned the signs CONDUCT-SONG-BIRTHDAY and EAR-TUG-BIRTHDAY, and I thank YouTuber hippiesordo for the line “YOU BORN TODAY, WOO-HOO.” This song is dedicated to my ASL interpreter friend Paul on whose birthday I made this video.
Singing “Try To Remember” from The Fantasticks in 1996
I put on a one–man cabaret concert in 1996. This is one of the songs I sang— “Try To Remember” from The Fantasticks, lyrics by Tom Jones & music by David Schmidt. This performance was held at A Better Worlde Galleria in the Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego, California in 1996. My pianist was James Bianchi.
