Meet Austin, Texas-based Barbie Parker and her über-hip network of American Sign Language live performance interpreters

Filed under: Themes, Deaf Jam, Irked Videos

Quoting The Austin Chronicle’s Off The Record music column:

If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, imagine how difficult it must be to sign the otherworldly musings of the Mars Volta or Erykah Badu in real time. Such is the challenge facing Alive Performance Interpreting, an Austin-based network of American Sign Language interpreters that has worked with Austin City Limits, among other festivals, since 2002. “We really want to be the conduit delivering the message that’s onstage to the deaf consumers so they have access to the whole vibe, the whole groove,” says API’s Lucy Brotherton, sister of longtime Robert Earl Keen guitarist and producer Rich Brotherton. “They can see the artist and their costumes; they can feel the bass and the beat. What we add is the story or the concept that’s coming across vocally. It fills out the whole picture.” API’s preparation begins months in advance, finding current set lists for performers and accurate lyric sheets. “We take the content of each song and find what we call the ‘meta-message’ to deliver,” Brotherton stresses. “Then we listen to the music over and over again until we get it into our minds and into our hands.”

Screengrab of an awesome article that appeared in Spin Magazine and on Spin.com:

Quoting Sean ONeal’s Austin City Limits Festival journal from ’07:

4:02 p.m.: …He brings out Mark Keen and Mel Draisey from British band The Clientele (in town for a club gig tonight) to assist on “Young Folks,” noting that “Mel is perfect for this because she looks like the cartoon girl in the video.” The song gets everyone swaying, particularly the woman from Alive Performance Interpreting, the group providing sign language interpretations for every band today. Surprisingly, whistling in sign language looks a lot like actual whistling.

Great slideshow of Alive Performance Interpreting doin’ what they do:

Quoting John T. Davis, writing for Austin360.com:

…for the entirety of [Bob] Dylan’s highly anticipated set, Barbie Parker will have her back to the stage. Parker is the coordinator of Alive Performance Interpreting, an Austin-based company that specializes in interpreting live performances for deaf audiences. She and her corps of interpreters are taking turns signing at least 41 performances over the three days of the festival . . . “You have to have a really strong base in ASL (American Sign Language) to get up and perform,” said Parker, who will also be signing for Muse and Pete Yorn, among others. “You have to be able to do it lyrically, and that requires a lot of rhythm, and also the confidence to be up in front of that very large crowd. Prep work is vital—you have to be able to take those lyrics and listen to the music and really get a feel for what the artist is talking about.” Signers using ASL, Parker said, do not translate music lyrics word for word (an improbable task—imagine trying to literally sign the blizzard of language in a rap song). Rather, she said, interpreters deal in “meta-messages”—second and third meanings of what is actually being said. She and her cadre, “interpret conceptually.” ”I interpreted for Lupe Fiasco at Lollapalooza this year, and he has a ton of lyrics in one song,” she said. “It would be impossible to put a clear message out in sign language that quickly. So you really have to go for the meta-message—what’s the meaning he’s giving out?” Though the interpreters—hands flashing, bodies swaying, heads nodding in counterpoint—might seem swept away in the passion of the musical moment, it is all deliberate and carefully considered. There is a ferocious amount of preparation involved . . . Although it’s uncertain who was the first to pioneer the use of ASL interpreters at live music events, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival included the process a good number of years ago . . . Alive Performance Interpreting came together out of a network of interpreters with whom Parker had worked in years past. The group also interprets for the deaf at conferences, business meetings, theater performances, at other group events and even over the phone via video linkups, but their bread and butter has proven to be signing at large music events . . . The payoff from her perspective, said Parker, “is knowing that your clients, the consumers of your service, are receiving the same energy, the same message and the same experience—they’re getting equal access. And the reward is being able to carry that energy of the performance through you. It’s an uplifting and inspiring experience.”

Some concert video footage from Flickr:

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Quoting musicstreaker.wordpress.com:

The music was solid and the sound was good. The stage show was largely fantastic. But somehow, I found myself a little…dare I say, bored. Maybe I could have been more familiar with [the album] In Rainbows. Or maybe it was the electric performance of the woman with the streetlamp light at the bottom left corner of the stage who was signing (meaning sign language) the lyrics (I assume) during the show. I found her to be far more compelling and intriguing than Radiohead (or, at least, a great distraction from them), but that might have been because she was the most out-of-place sight of the entire day. While Radiohead had a quality light show, this woman was standing there, for all to see, using sign language to convey the lyrics to the hearing impaired in the audience. The woman looked like a middle-aged midwestern mom, which was a clear contrast to the barely dressed 20-something masses. She also danced . . . And it was difficult to figure out, while she was dancing, where the dancing stopped and the signing began. I don’t know sign language, but she seemed to be signing for most of Thom Yorke’s moans and groans (which is a significant part of any Radiohead show) . . . While watching her, I also couldn’t help but wonder if she was really signing the lyrics. Was she a devoted Radiohead fan and knew the lyrics by heart? There was no sign of a teleprompter or lyric sheet for her. Or was she signing something else? . . . It also occurred to us that given that podium, she could have easily been advertising her availability to any hearing impaired person who was looking for a date. Obviously I wasn’t the only person who thought she stole the show. Here’s some video… OF HER:

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“Ideally, we’d love to have a lot more proactive coordination by dealing with their managers and other people in their camp before the festival. We’re not seeing that yet. What we’re seeing is coordination day-of.”

—Barbie Parker

For more, visit aliveperformance.com

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