Symphony of Silence : Interpreter Uses Sign Language to Describe Music to Deaf Concert-Goers

Violins, oboes, flutes. Each of the 100 instruments on the Music Center stage will make a unique contribution during a symphony concert today in downtown Los Angeles.

Only one instrument will perform without making a sound, however: Mindy Brown’s fingertips.

Brown is an interpreter for the deaf who uses sign language to bring the spoken word to life. She hopes to do the same thing to an intricate symphony score during a Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra concert.

The performance is part of the orchestra’s Symphonies for Youth series at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. It will feature works by Johann Strauss Jr., Dvorak and Gershwin, organized on the theme of “Music Around the World.”

Except for the generalized “world” concept, the performance will have no story line. There will be no lyrics, no dancers on the stage and no scenery in the background.

From her spot about 15 feet away from conductor Lucas Richman, Brown plans to compensate for all of that.

“There will be a story. The story will be in my mind,” said Brown, 32, of Culver City. “I’ll think about the music with my heart and then paint a picture of it with my hands.”

The thought of deaf people attending a classical music concert is surprising to some. But orchestra officials say they have encouraged them to come to youth concerts for years.

“People ask how you can interpret something that doesn’t have words,” said James Ruggirello, an executive with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn. “It’s a matter of educating the hearing people: Many deaf people do love music.”

Brown tries to convey the tempo and the tone of the classical compositions by using sign language to explain the sounds coming from instruments.

“I may describe a flute as sounding like the wind, like leaves falling off a tree,” she said.

“A bassoon may be a big, bad, evil person grabbing something. Cymbals may be thunder in the sky. I think up a story--I analyze it as I perceive it.”

Up to 50 deaf concert-goers attend each of the youth programs. They are seated close enough to clearly see the interpreter and feel vibrations from such instruments as timpani.

But they puzzle over hidden sounds they know are coming from smaller, more delicate instruments.

“Deaf people want to know what a violin sounds like,” Brown said. “I describe it is a butterfly in the air. Or like a storm brewing and clouds passing by as the sun comes through as a ray of light.”

Philharmonic officials recruited Brown for this spring’s series of five concerts after the sign language interpreter who had performed for several years moved out of state. Brown arrived in Los Angeles last fall after working as a teacher and as a part-time interpreter at several off-Broadway theaters.

Brown said she learned sign language nine years ago after doing volunteer work at a school for the deaf.

She made her Music Center debut March 13. The initial audience reaction was a good sign.

“She showed me some pictures that were just beautiful,” said concert-goer Rhondee Beriault, a North Hollywood actress who has been deaf since birth.

Beriault, 25, had gone to the Music Center uncertain about what to expect. But any doubts she had about interpreting music quickly disappeared.

“The deaf children around me were very excited,” Beriault said. “They probably didn’t understand what a violin does. But they can feel the wind, and when they saw Mindy translating it into pictures, they could understand.”

The idea of symphonic sign language has gotten a thumbs up from others in the deaf community.

“Most people can’t explain sound,” Herb Larson, director of the National Center on Deafness based at Cal State Northridge, said Friday. “I cannot hear music, so it’s hard for me to imagine the sound myself. I have to have an imaginary picture of sound. It’s a very difficult thing to do.”

For Brown’s part, her fingers were putting the finishing touches on today’s concert program. Concerts are also planned for April 24, May 22 and May 29. Programs begin at 9:15 a.m. and tickets are $5 and $7.50.

Brown admitted having difficulties visualizing Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance No. 1. “What comes to mind?” she asked. “A peasant dance?”

She would not, she promised, be throwing up her hands in despair.