Thursday 6 February 2014

Sign2Sing Record Breaking Attempt

Yesterday, I took part in the Sign2Sing record breaking attempt with the Rock Choir I attend in St Albans. 

Sign2Sing is a healthcare charity for vulnerable deaf children and adults. To raise awareness of the charity over the last few years, they have organised Guinness World Record Breaking Events, aiming to get as many schools, businesses, choirs and community groups to sing and sign the same song, on the same day, across multiple locations.

This year, the song to learn for Rock Choir choirs was "True Colours" written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, and made famous by Cyndi Lauper. We were given a video to learn the signing and the song, and we also practiced it during our choir sessions. This is a song which is quite predominant in the Rock Choir repertoire, but being a newbie, I hadn't sung the song with the choir before.

I have learnt some sign language before, but I am always in awe of those who are able to sign well, as I really think that it is a unique language to learn and one which is so inclusive. We had great fun learning the sign language for "true colours", and it was really simple to learn to - you get the hang of it in no time.

I didn't manage to get any pictures whilst we were singing the song, but here is our Rock Choir leader Mel, getting ready to lead us all in the record breaking attempt. She did a fantastic job of making sure that we were all singing and signing and the same time!! She also talked us through the emotion of the song, which bought a tear to everyone's eye!

Sign2Sing need fund to help to improve the health and wellbeing of profoundly deaf people and achieve equal access and opportunites. Many of their services are delivered on a one-to-one basis, using British Sign Language, so they are a real lifeline for those who are deaf. To donate to the charity, please click here.

Have you learnt any sign language before? Would you like to?  You can learn the song in the youtube video below.

13 comments:

  1. What a wonderful charity Sing2Sing is.. I am so sad to say that I know not a lick of sign language... although, my Grandson was taught signing from the time he was a baby.

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  2. This is such a wonderful initiative. I am so proud of you for learning British Sign Language for htis song. I reember wheN I was in first grade going to a school for the deaf and learning the finger alphabet and some signs. I went to a school fo r the visually ipaired, and they visited us too.

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  3. love that you can learn the song from the YouTube video. I don't really know much about signing, thanks for sharing x

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  4. That sounds fun and a great cause too.

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  5. Sounds like fun and a great cause too.

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  6. What a great charity and cause. I really can't sign or sing to save my life, but I really wish I could :)

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  7. Ah Rock Choir St Albans! I once sang with them as part of a charity thingy and loved it - despite my apprehensions of singing in public! What a great thing to do for such an important charity x

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  8. What a great charity and a great event!

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  9. I love combining singing & signing. I used to teach baby signing and before that I used to do some signing in school. Very powerful. Plus it is a fabulous charity to support. :)

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  10. That sounds great!
    We do sign a fair bit at home as one of my children has a speech disorder and another one has delayed speech, but not using BSL we use signalong which is more similar to Makaton. I don't know much of BSL - Would be good to learn at some point

    anna

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  11. Wow, I can't believe I've been missing this! I really must get back to Rock Choir soon!

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  12. Great initiative - thanks for sharing.

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