Signed Music in the Deaf Community

In the spring of 2019, first signed musical stage production was performed at Festival Clin d’Oeil—the world’s largest deaf arts festival that brings thousands to Reims, France, biennially. Surrounded by visual and performing arts, an invited delegation from Canada debuted The Black Drum internationally, incorporating physical theater, music, projection, dance. Signed music is inter-performance art demonstrates elements culturally individuals who have explored creating performances with their hands bodies. These operate according a distinct artistic style, languages; rhythmic hand, facial, and/or body motions; media video arts. This article offers insight into performers’ process development deaf-created for international audience, ways galvanizes community identity through self-expression, impact on audience d’Oeil. Through ethnomusicological analysis reflection perspectives as insider-outsider-mediator, has been researched authors observed throughout in preparation its Canadian European premieres. setting place where new types are welcomed evaluated acceptance community. Responses members performers revealed emerging genre own.