WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:23.800
"Singing Hands" was developed as a game 

00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:28.630
aimed at enabling primary school 
students to experience both the vocal 

00:00:28.630 --> 00:00:35.320
and gestural communication channels
while singing. The project, essentially 

00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:40.059
based on singing lessons - a very effective 
learning tool in the primary school - 

00:00:40.059 --> 00:00:43.410
combined the vocal expressiveness 
used when singing with the

00:00:43.410 --> 00:00:50.559
translation of lyrics into Sign
Language. The initial idea became an 

00:00:50.559 --> 00:00:58.269
actual project thanks to the work started 
in a first-year class with Laura, a colleague

00:00:58.269 --> 00:01:04.480
whose deaf parents' mother tongue 
is Sign Language, of which she is an 

00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:10.860
interpreter, and into which we began
translating unpublished pieces on educational

00:01:10.860 --> 00:01:15.490
topics such as the water cycle,     
spelling, the importance of time, 

00:01:15.490 --> 00:01:21.700
friendship…basically, all topics 
covered with the students in 

00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:27.689
other subjects.
We experienced this method 

00:01:27.689 --> 00:01:32.229
during our hours of contemporary presence
in class, as we were working together

00:01:32.229 --> 00:01:40.090
in a 40-hour full-time setting. Therefore, in
our hours of contemporary presence, we had

00:01:40.090 --> 00:01:46.360
the possibility to combine our individual 
competences. I would like to specify that

00:01:46.360 --> 00:01:52.329
I am not a musician, so I don't have
any related competences, nor have

00:01:52.329 --> 00:01:56.260
I ever studied the specific subject. However,
in the 

00:01:56.260 --> 00:02:01.210
primary school it is necessary to have
some musical competences for the

00:02:01.210 --> 00:02:06.180
normal music curriculum, so over 
the years I have developed and 

00:02:06.180 --> 00:02:10.690
broadened them through specific 
training in the formulation of lyrics. 

00:02:10.690 --> 00:02:15.030
In changing schools over the years,

00:02:15.630 --> 00:02:21.420
and in teaching in other classes, 
Laura and I ended up no longer 
            
00:02:21.420 --> 00:02:29.200
teaching together, but I realized that 
this method based on singing 

00:02:29.200 --> 00:02:34.720
using Sign Language was a truly
engaging and expressive way to sing,

00:02:34.720 --> 00:02:41.530
because Sign Language is a very 
strong tool for memorizing words.

00:02:41.530 --> 00:02:45.310
The use 
of signs allows to memorize words 

00:02:45.310 --> 00:02:51.490
more quickly, and the fact of 
combining the Italian language

00:02:51.490 --> 00:03:00.000
with Sign Language obliges to activate 
different cerebral areas, since the two 

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:06.670
languages have different syntaxes. 
It is a bit like studying a musical

00:03:06.670 --> 00:03:11.170
instrument along
with music in general. Moreover,

00:03:11.170 --> 00:03:17.590
iconicity, that is giving shape 
to gestures, being often intuitive and 

00:03:17.590 --> 00:03:24.349
logical, accelerates the learning of the 
Italian language, especially in foreign 

00:03:24.349 --> 00:03:28.879
children. Another aspect highlighted
by this method concerned 

00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:35.810
the graphic-manual improvement
identified in all the students involved,

00:03:35.810 --> 00:03:42.159
especially those with SLDs related to 
dysgraphia and dyspraxia. In fact, the

00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:49.700
method obliges students to move 
their fingers and control their

00:03:49.700 --> 00:03:55.400
movements, the width and directions 
of their gestures without looking at 

00:03:55.400 --> 00:04:04.340
their hands, which is something that allows 
to develop a sensibility that improves the              

00:04:04.340 --> 00:04:10.040
graphic trait and 
the control of the ocular-manual   

00:04:10.040 --> 00:04:15.349
coordination in this "touch generation",
whose proprioceptive sensibility with

00:04:15.349 --> 00:04:20.169
the fingers is limited to the thumb and forefinger.

00:04:20.440 --> 00:04:27.050
Moreover, "Singing Hands" 
requires to pay attention to the

00:04:27.050 --> 00:04:32.030
choir conductor, in order to synchronize
gestures and singing. This aspect 

00:04:32.030 --> 00:04:41.030
is much more incisive as to the 
rhythm and coordination of the

00:04:41.030 --> 00:04:48.409
conducting, so that the optical effect can 
be synchronized with the choreography, 

00:04:48.409 --> 00:04:55.820
and as to the synchronization of voices 
in the choir. Besides, this method 

00:04:55.820 --> 00:05:03.469
allows to preserve individuality 
because, while in a vocal choir it is possible 

00:05:03.469 --> 00:05:09.110
to sing some notes out of tune or 
even sing in playback knowing 

00:05:09.110 --> 00:05:15.199
to be vocally covered by the other 
choir members, this is not possible in 

00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:21.319
"Singing Hands" because a wrong gesture
or the absence of a sign is immediately

00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:26.389
visible.
Another important aspect is the

00:05:26.389 --> 00:05:31.009
need to control any involuntary
gestures during the musical pauses of 

00:05:31.009 --> 00:05:37.279
a song.  Since every gesture is important
in this method, the students have

00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:42.619
to carefully control any gestures that     
are not present in the lyrics, like scratching

00:05:42.619 --> 00:05:50.259
their nose, 
touching their hair or their body.