a family walked into the music school
while I was teaching in 2011 a mom a dad
and two sons 10 and 13 the two boys held
drumsticks they looked pretty nervous
just like any other beginning student
I’ve ever had and as usual I start
running through you know the motions of
meeting new students ask them where
they’re from
ask them what made them choose music
summon an ounce of energy try to pretend
like I’m not a hungover 21 year old
totally winging it but then the
receptionist said this is Eddie he’s 13
and he’s gonna be your first student
today I said something really lame like
hey buddy what’s up ready to swing those
sticks and bang on those drums not
surprisingly I got no reaction from him
but Eddie seemed more shy than most kids
like boy stirred almost so as we’re
walking back to my studio to start the
lesson his mom follows right behind me
and she says hey by the way
Eddie’s deaf is that gonna be a problem
he’s deaf to which I replied what he’s
who what deaf him no that’s that’s great
okay yeah
what’s whatever will be fine I was
trying to pretend like it wasn’t fazed
but I was freaking out I mean I had
trouble teaching kids who didn’t listen
to the radio much this kid has never
listened to music so we make our way
back to the studio and he sits behind
the drum set I sit behind my desk at my
computer it’s pretty silent I heard my
dinner digesting from the previous night
and when I feel awkward I’m the kind of
guy who just runs his mouth to fill up
that empty space that weighs doubt that
with social anxiety but you know that’s
not an option so I start framed to be
running through the usual first lesson
icebreakers in my head okay ask the kid
what their favorite song in the radio is
nope that’s not gonna work
put on an easy play a long song like we
will rock you just get things going no
that’s not gonna work just get to know
the kid nope I don’t know sign language
and he doesn’t read lips
I mean as a teacher and a human being I
was just utterly lost no curriculum was
a joke at this point so I made my way
behind my drum set and I just I felt
like I was failing him already
and I hit one of the drums just I don’t
know as a tick
you know unintentionally when I’m like
thinking about something and when I hit
the drum
Eddie’s head snapped towards me my head
snapped towards him I know he didn’t
just hear that I hit it again and he
smiled okay so then I hit the crash
cymbal that’s typically like the
shrillest loudest part of the drumset I
hit that Shh
nothing he looks confused
didn’t seem to do much for him
interesting so then I hit the bass drum
that giant drum that sits on the floor
the one you hit with a foot pedal I hit
that and his face exploded he moved in
his seat so we just started laughing I
mean now we were having fun we were
exploring things we were learning about
sound things about each other about what
music really even is that’s the day that
Eddie started to become a drummer okay
so what we were doing that first day it
wasn’t so much making music as it was an
exploration of what sound is how it
effects us and how it moves us literally
now at first I had no clue what was
going on but as the week’s went by I
ended up learning about why Eddie ended
up getting it just like any other
student in order for me to explain that
though
you’ll have to understand a few things
about sound okay so sound is just
pressure waves moving throughout space
when I make a noise I cause a physical
vibration that moves through the air and
that our ears are designed to pick up
okay now sounds can be high or low
alright that’s called pitch and we
measure that it hurts so the higher
sounds pitch is faster that wave is
vibrating the lower the pitch is the
slower it moves now we organize sound
into different ranges depending on their
pitch so let me show you here’s the
frequency the the spectrum of
frequencies that the human ear can hear
with low sounds on the left the high
sounds on the right okay the first range
we have is the sub-base range all right
at 60 Hertz and below this is nearly
inaudible it’s mostly just felt more
than it is heard now I can physically
shake things so like you know sounds
like planes going over us or thunder in
the distance fall into this range check
it out next we have the bass range
okay now bass range is where low sounds
start to become much more audible but
bass is very physical it moves through
our bodies
now something I actually found
interesting is that Eddy can actually
feel people when they talk behind his
back because lower human voices fall in
the higher end of the bass range check
this out everyone I have a microphone so
it’s hard but put your hand on your
chest and on three we’re all gonna say
uh in a deep voice okay
one two three ah see how you could feel
that so can he so check out here’s a
nice deep voice for you the lower your
voice is the better you sound
you know like that huh yeah alright next
we have the low mid-range this is where
most musical instruments start to fall
it can still be felt but not quite as
much as the sub bass all right so
everything above that is where sound is
much more heard rather than felt that
gradient up there is where the feeling
of sound starts to taper off and it’s
mostly just heard the far right is what
we call the high range
it’s where sound just gets more nuanced
brightness is another term for that
alright now think back to how Eddie
responded to all those drums when I hit
that bass drum it opened up a new world
for it okay and that’s because Eddy
experiences the bass drum similarly to
the way we do because the bass drum
falls primarily in the sub bass and the
bass range next and the toms and the
snare the other drums on the drumset he
said he could feel those but they felt
smaller relative to their size that’s
because they fall on the bass and the
low mid-range and then there was that
crash cymbal the one that just didn’t
register at all for nothing that’s
because the crash cymbal falls primarily
in the high range so over the months
Eddy and I developed this system of
communicating how the drums felt we
would literally use our hands like this
tip to the sizes we learned how to read
drum music without a problem and we
worked on stick technique turns out
drums are the perfect instrument for
someone with deafness to learn because
it’s largely physical it provides
instant physical feedback and reading
drum music isn’t a problem since drum
music doesn’t require pitch drumming was
a revelation for Eddy now about two
months ago I actually met with Eddie’s
family to tell them about this speech
and I asked Eddie if he would explain
what being deaf is like for people who
might not be familiar with it and now
translated by his mom they said that
deafness is
isolating it creates a lonely world and
Eddie feels misunderstood because of the
communication disparity between him and
people who speak see people who were
born deaf they don’t grow up thinking
and communicating exactly like people
who hear so ed he mostly just didn’t
bother but every Saturday when we sat
down to play drums I saw him come alive
we were connected by this language that
didn’t require words or translations and
that communication brought him out of
that isolation now as a teacher I think
Eddie was that shake up that every
educate educators needs to like break up
the monotony so no longer do I just run
my mouth endlessly to fill up space or
forced curriculum on kids that doesn’t
apply I just let the students show who
they are how they learn best and then
adapt to them and outside of teaching I
kind of look at everyone differently now
I really like to watch how people dance
way more intently now at concerts and
the best example of how music physically
affects people is that dubstep and EDM
concerts
okay now that just totally flew over
your head dubstep is like electronic DJ
music you push a button and it’s really
loud that’s basically the gist of it so
yeah but when you go to these concerts
it’s really fun because there’s always a
part in every song where the DJ builds
up that intensity and then he cuts the
song out and then she just he unloads
the entirety of the low end of the
frequency spectrum onto the crowd and
everyone just starts convulsing in
unison
you know this this music it’s criticized
often for not having like music or
melodic value but the magic is how that
DJ abuses the part of sound that
physically affects us consuming our
bodies and souls interestingly enough
that sensation is universal despite
whatever since you might lack now
I stopped teaching Eddy because I moved
to New Orleans and since then his family
told me that they can’t find a drum
teacher because nobody is willing to
trial honestly you would have asked 21
year old me in advance if I teach a deaf
kid how to play music I don’t know I
might have responded safe luckily though
Eddie’s mom over there went with the
good old Trojan horse method on me which
seemed pretty sneaky at the time but
obviously I couldn’t be more grateful
that that’s and to those people who
won’t teach Eddy drums I say your loss
remember that video we watched at the
beginning of this speech the one of Eddy
playing drums that was taken two months
ago six years after his last drum lesson
with me he did that on his first try and
I did not tell him that we were gonna be
playing drums or asked him to practice
before I didn’t but he just did that
music is a language that is programmed
into him now and it’s hard to think that
under slightly different circumstances
he might not have been afforded the
ability to discover that gift yes
Eddie’s creative process is very unique
and his experience with music is
distinctly different from any of ours
but ultimately he comes away with the
exact same feeling every musician has a
love for playing and a passion for this
language that requires no words Thanks
[Music]
actually everybody
Eddie’s here Eddie’s here today so the
ASL translation for applause is like
this so while I’m walking off let’s all
give them the appropriate round of
applause
while I was teaching in 2011 a mom a dad
and two sons 10 and 13 the two boys held
drumsticks they looked pretty nervous
just like any other beginning student
I’ve ever had and as usual I start
running through you know the motions of
meeting new students ask them where
they’re from
ask them what made them choose music
summon an ounce of energy try to pretend
like I’m not a hungover 21 year old
totally winging it but then the
receptionist said this is Eddie he’s 13
and he’s gonna be your first student
today I said something really lame like
hey buddy what’s up ready to swing those
sticks and bang on those drums not
surprisingly I got no reaction from him
but Eddie seemed more shy than most kids
like boy stirred almost so as we’re
walking back to my studio to start the
lesson his mom follows right behind me
and she says hey by the way
Eddie’s deaf is that gonna be a problem
he’s deaf to which I replied what he’s
who what deaf him no that’s that’s great
okay yeah
what’s whatever will be fine I was
trying to pretend like it wasn’t fazed
but I was freaking out I mean I had
trouble teaching kids who didn’t listen
to the radio much this kid has never
listened to music so we make our way
back to the studio and he sits behind
the drum set I sit behind my desk at my
computer it’s pretty silent I heard my
dinner digesting from the previous night
and when I feel awkward I’m the kind of
guy who just runs his mouth to fill up
that empty space that weighs doubt that
with social anxiety but you know that’s
not an option so I start framed to be
running through the usual first lesson
icebreakers in my head okay ask the kid
what their favorite song in the radio is
nope that’s not gonna work
put on an easy play a long song like we
will rock you just get things going no
that’s not gonna work just get to know
the kid nope I don’t know sign language
and he doesn’t read lips
I mean as a teacher and a human being I
was just utterly lost no curriculum was
a joke at this point so I made my way
behind my drum set and I just I felt
like I was failing him already
and I hit one of the drums just I don’t
know as a tick
you know unintentionally when I’m like
thinking about something and when I hit
the drum
Eddie’s head snapped towards me my head
snapped towards him I know he didn’t
just hear that I hit it again and he
smiled okay so then I hit the crash
cymbal that’s typically like the
shrillest loudest part of the drumset I
hit that Shh
nothing he looks confused
didn’t seem to do much for him
interesting so then I hit the bass drum
that giant drum that sits on the floor
the one you hit with a foot pedal I hit
that and his face exploded he moved in
his seat so we just started laughing I
mean now we were having fun we were
exploring things we were learning about
sound things about each other about what
music really even is that’s the day that
Eddie started to become a drummer okay
so what we were doing that first day it
wasn’t so much making music as it was an
exploration of what sound is how it
effects us and how it moves us literally
now at first I had no clue what was
going on but as the week’s went by I
ended up learning about why Eddie ended
up getting it just like any other
student in order for me to explain that
though
you’ll have to understand a few things
about sound okay so sound is just
pressure waves moving throughout space
when I make a noise I cause a physical
vibration that moves through the air and
that our ears are designed to pick up
okay now sounds can be high or low
alright that’s called pitch and we
measure that it hurts so the higher
sounds pitch is faster that wave is
vibrating the lower the pitch is the
slower it moves now we organize sound
into different ranges depending on their
pitch so let me show you here’s the
frequency the the spectrum of
frequencies that the human ear can hear
with low sounds on the left the high
sounds on the right okay the first range
we have is the sub-base range all right
at 60 Hertz and below this is nearly
inaudible it’s mostly just felt more
than it is heard now I can physically
shake things so like you know sounds
like planes going over us or thunder in
the distance fall into this range check
it out next we have the bass range
okay now bass range is where low sounds
start to become much more audible but
bass is very physical it moves through
our bodies
now something I actually found
interesting is that Eddy can actually
feel people when they talk behind his
back because lower human voices fall in
the higher end of the bass range check
this out everyone I have a microphone so
it’s hard but put your hand on your
chest and on three we’re all gonna say
uh in a deep voice okay
one two three ah see how you could feel
that so can he so check out here’s a
nice deep voice for you the lower your
voice is the better you sound
you know like that huh yeah alright next
we have the low mid-range this is where
most musical instruments start to fall
it can still be felt but not quite as
much as the sub bass all right so
everything above that is where sound is
much more heard rather than felt that
gradient up there is where the feeling
of sound starts to taper off and it’s
mostly just heard the far right is what
we call the high range
it’s where sound just gets more nuanced
brightness is another term for that
alright now think back to how Eddie
responded to all those drums when I hit
that bass drum it opened up a new world
for it okay and that’s because Eddy
experiences the bass drum similarly to
the way we do because the bass drum
falls primarily in the sub bass and the
bass range next and the toms and the
snare the other drums on the drumset he
said he could feel those but they felt
smaller relative to their size that’s
because they fall on the bass and the
low mid-range and then there was that
crash cymbal the one that just didn’t
register at all for nothing that’s
because the crash cymbal falls primarily
in the high range so over the months
Eddy and I developed this system of
communicating how the drums felt we
would literally use our hands like this
tip to the sizes we learned how to read
drum music without a problem and we
worked on stick technique turns out
drums are the perfect instrument for
someone with deafness to learn because
it’s largely physical it provides
instant physical feedback and reading
drum music isn’t a problem since drum
music doesn’t require pitch drumming was
a revelation for Eddy now about two
months ago I actually met with Eddie’s
family to tell them about this speech
and I asked Eddie if he would explain
what being deaf is like for people who
might not be familiar with it and now
translated by his mom they said that
deafness is
isolating it creates a lonely world and
Eddie feels misunderstood because of the
communication disparity between him and
people who speak see people who were
born deaf they don’t grow up thinking
and communicating exactly like people
who hear so ed he mostly just didn’t
bother but every Saturday when we sat
down to play drums I saw him come alive
we were connected by this language that
didn’t require words or translations and
that communication brought him out of
that isolation now as a teacher I think
Eddie was that shake up that every
educate educators needs to like break up
the monotony so no longer do I just run
my mouth endlessly to fill up space or
forced curriculum on kids that doesn’t
apply I just let the students show who
they are how they learn best and then
adapt to them and outside of teaching I
kind of look at everyone differently now
I really like to watch how people dance
way more intently now at concerts and
the best example of how music physically
affects people is that dubstep and EDM
concerts
okay now that just totally flew over
your head dubstep is like electronic DJ
music you push a button and it’s really
loud that’s basically the gist of it so
yeah but when you go to these concerts
it’s really fun because there’s always a
part in every song where the DJ builds
up that intensity and then he cuts the
song out and then she just he unloads
the entirety of the low end of the
frequency spectrum onto the crowd and
everyone just starts convulsing in
unison
you know this this music it’s criticized
often for not having like music or
melodic value but the magic is how that
DJ abuses the part of sound that
physically affects us consuming our
bodies and souls interestingly enough
that sensation is universal despite
whatever since you might lack now
I stopped teaching Eddy because I moved
to New Orleans and since then his family
told me that they can’t find a drum
teacher because nobody is willing to
trial honestly you would have asked 21
year old me in advance if I teach a deaf
kid how to play music I don’t know I
might have responded safe luckily though
Eddie’s mom over there went with the
good old Trojan horse method on me which
seemed pretty sneaky at the time but
obviously I couldn’t be more grateful
that that’s and to those people who
won’t teach Eddy drums I say your loss
remember that video we watched at the
beginning of this speech the one of Eddy
playing drums that was taken two months
ago six years after his last drum lesson
with me he did that on his first try and
I did not tell him that we were gonna be
playing drums or asked him to practice
before I didn’t but he just did that
music is a language that is programmed
into him now and it’s hard to think that
under slightly different circumstances
he might not have been afforded the
ability to discover that gift yes
Eddie’s creative process is very unique
and his experience with music is
distinctly different from any of ours
but ultimately he comes away with the
exact same feeling every musician has a
love for playing and a passion for this
language that requires no words Thanks
[Music]
actually everybody
Eddie’s here Eddie’s here today so the
ASL translation for applause is like
this so while I’m walking off let’s all
give them the appropriate round of
applause
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