Ever Had A Deaf Saxophone Student?

I am currently researching something for which there is very little data: Is it possible for a profoundly deaf person to learn play the saxophone? My initial thoughts are yes it is possible, but let me explain why this is of interest to me.

I’ll be honest, when I was doing my Masters of Adult Education, I did not give hearing impairments a lot (any) thought. At the time, I assumed that all the adults my health promotion work would reach, could hear. My bad…

Now here I am, 13 years later, faced with a really unique challenge: a profoundly deaf woman in our social circle, has always wanted to learn to play saxophone. For me, that means going back to the education and other journals to see what has been written in the general area of music performance and deafness, and specifically woodwinds and deafness.

How I ended up with a deaf saxophone student: the backstory

The other night there was a get together of friends at this woman’s house. I noticed an upright piano in the living room. It turns out that Jessy (not her real name) already plays piano, and has years of music theory under her belt. The thing is, Jessy is totally deaf, and has been since birth.

For the last 20 years Jessy has had cochlear implants, so she can hear some sounds. She asked me the other night after the party, if I thought she might be able to learn how to play saxophone.

My off the cuff answer was: Yes, it might be possible. If you can play piano, and feel the different notes through their unique vibrations, then the saxophone should be no different, since the mouthpiece would send vibrations along your jaw line into your ear bones. You might very well be able to learn to distinguish the different notes through the different vibrations you feel in your jaw along to your ear, or in your head. Or, perhaps in your hands, through the different vibrations of the instrument.

Jessy’s biggest concern was tuning. She wondered how a saxophone tuned. I explained this to her, and suggested that playing with a tuner might be an option in order to figure out how best to get each note on the instrument in tune. However, yes, saxophones do not just play in tune like a piano does once it is tuned properly. That said, I didn’t think the problem was necessarily insurmountable.

I said I would need some time to research this, but that we could have a get together at our house. I could play the sax for her, and she could feel the vibrations for herself, and then I could get her set up, and she could try to play one of my horns. This would give her an idea of what the vibrations would be like, and how the notes would feel.

Since Friday’s party I have done some research on both regular Google and Google Scholar, and did find a few newspaper articles, as well as articles in educational and other journals that did indeed confirm exactly what I suspected: Deaf people can and have played saxophone. It is possible. I have also posted this question to SOTW, and have received a few leads that way. Now I have to start digging through the university’s library to see what journal articles I can dig up that way.

For any of you sax instructors out there: Have you ever had a profoundly or completely deaf student? How did you work with them? What worked? What didn’t? Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated.