Music translator Rian Gayle invites us to reinterpret music together

Rian Gayle makes music come alive for those who can’t hear it and even those who can.

The Amer­i­can Sign Lan­guage music trans­la­tor moves his body to the rhythm, uses facial expres­sions to con­vey emo­tion and spends count­less hours trans­lat­ing phras­es and metaphors into signs that dri­ve home mean­ing. At TEDxSalem Jan. 5, he will not only trans­late but teach every­one to sign a pop­u­lar song to the music.

“Some peo­ple who are deaf real­ly appre­ci­ate see­ing the music in ASL,” he said, “and they say ‘oh that’s what that song means.’ They’re fas­ci­nat­ed with the signs and the trans­la­tions them­selves. Some of them think final­ly I can access music.”

With­out this type of trans­la­tion, music can fall flat with lyrics that often make lit­tle sense in direct trans­la­tion. Imag­ine read­ing the lyrics to Bohemi­an Rhap­sody with­out expe­ri­enc­ing the emo­tion or the soar­ing ups and downs. Gayle can con­vey emo­tion, tone and show whether some­one is yelling or calm.

Gayle became deaf at the age of three, but he can still pick up the beat and feel the rhythm. He start­ed music trans­la­tion per­for­mances about 15 years ago at church and now offers class­es to those who want to learn through Salem ASLu­sic.

He loves reg­gae, hip hop, blues and pop, and his favorite song is “Redemp­tion Song” by Bob Mar­ley.

“It’s a great song,” said Gayle, who, like Mar­ley, is from Jamaica.

By day Gayle is the accom­mo­da­tions coor­di­na­tor at West­ern Ore­gon University’s Office of Dis­abil­i­ty Ser­vices. He also serves on sev­er­al boards and com­mis­sions that work to bring greater access to those with dis­abil­i­ties.

Music trans­la­tion is anoth­er way to not only pro­vide that access to the deaf com­mu­ni­ty but also build bridges. The per­for­mances are for deaf and hear­ing audi­ences.

Hear­ing audi­ences get to expe­ri­ence songs and ASL in a whole new way. He invites audi­ence par­tic­i­pa­tion and even teach­es a few of the signs. It also brings greater aware­ness, Gayle said, “yes we are deaf, but we can have fun, and we can enjoy music.”

To any­one look­ing to team up with Gayle, he said“We can work togeth­er through music, and I can per­form with you.”

“That is some­thing that I’m try­ing to work on for the future so our com­mu­ni­ty and our lan­guage becomes more vis­i­ble,” he said.

Rian Gayle

Home­town: Kingston, Jamaica,

Edu­ca­tion: B.A.  in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion and M.A. in Inter­na­tion­al Devel­op­ment for per­sons with Dis­abil­i­ties from Gal­laudet Uni­ver­si­ty, Wash­ing­ton, D.C.

Fam­i­ly: Wife, Laine, daugh­ter, RiLana (com­bi­na­tion of Rian and Laine)

Hob­bies: Bik­ing, hik­ing, dance, sal­sa, read­ing, watch­ing movies and row­ing with drag­on boat team “Peace Drag­on War­rior”

Favorite recent movie: “Roma”

Favorite music: “I do love reg­gae, hip hop, rap and some indie music, neo soul and Span­ish music for danc­ing.”

Favorite Food: “I do absolute­ly love Indi­an food, and the Jamaican restau­rant in Port­land serves great food.”

TEDxSalem VI

TEDxSalem VI is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag. It runs 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sat­ur­day, Jan. 5 at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Tick­ets are on sale now for $55, $45 for stu­dents. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.