The most interesting thing Meetup had for today was a concert by deaf musicians, at King's Place. The event was hosted by Henning, from the London European Club - well hey, it'd been an age since I'd been to one of his, and it sounded interesting! I was, in fact, the only one to RSVP "Yes" on the event page..
Now, whenever I've gone up there before, I've taken a combination of train and Tube - today being Sunday, I decided to try and bus it the whole way! Google Maps helpfully told me to take the 344 to Elephant and Castle, then the 63 - and that the process would take just over an hour. Well, it had been nearly an hour by the time I got to Elephant and Castle - and Google had completely neglected to tell me that the 45 would do just as well as the 63. Luckily, when that arrived first - with King's Cross as its destination - I had the good sense to hop on.
The whole journey took nearly an hour and a half.. Isn't it vexing though, when you're in a hurry, your stop is in sight, and the bus takes five minutes just to go around the corner to it?! Handily enough, the stop is actually on York Way, which saved me having to trek from the station. King's Place is visible from there, just up the road on the other side. I collected my ticket from the box office - unusually for me, as the last few times I've been here have been with the Man with the Hat, who performs that service for us! Anyway, no sign of Henning, and with the concert to start soon, I headed straight downstairs, where the doors had just opened. No sign of him there either, or by the time the lights dimmed for the start. My dicey phone battery died before I could even check to see whether there were any messages.
The concert, introduced by one of the performers, a profoundly deaf pianist, consisted of the performers coming on in turn to do their pieces - and introducing themselves briefly, with a description of how deaf they were. All speech - and lyrics for the singer - were accompanied by a BSL interpreter to the side. We began with a profoundly deaf flautist, accompanied by her father on guitar; she explained that she came from a musical family, so it really didn't matter that she was deaf. Next was a trumpet player, who removed his hearing aids to play, explaining later that they were suitable for speech, not instruments. Instead, he relies on the depth of vibration. A singer followed, who didn't sound deaf at all - she forgot to tell us about herself in the first half, later explaining that she was moderately deaf, and wore two hearing aids. The pianist rounded off the set. (Henning, by the way, sheepishly trooped in with a couple of others, 20 minutes late - they were sat at the back.)
The music was classical - with the exception of the song from the first half, which was contemporary. I winced when I heard that - and sure enough, I hated it: but that's not the poor girl's fault! She was a lovely singer - and overall, the standard was impressive. However, you have to remember that these performers are starting with a disadvantage, and some mistakes were made - one piece had to be restarted, one piece sounded a bit wrong. I must say, the second half seemed much more confident, and was a pleasure to listen to - although the trumpet player's performance had a comic bent that I found OTT. (I assume he was faking drunkenness..) Still, the whole show had a nice, relaxed vibe - pity the poor sign language interpreter to the side, sat right beside the trumpeter, who winced when he let rip.. Must be some volume from that instrument, up close!
Performance of the night I'd have to give to the birdlike, elderly lady - Elizabeth Elliott - in a beautiful blue gown, who came on as a guest, and in a very gentle voice told us the sad tale of how music was her life, and she was a music student when she started to go deaf. She persevered, but ultimately had to give up her beloved violin. Finally, a cochlear implant in one ear has allowed her to play the piano again, which she did for us, most beautifully.
It was a most interesting evening - it's a revelation to see what deaf people can accomplish, with the help of hearing aids, cochlear implants, or just sensing vibrations. It was fun at the start, when the audience couldn't figure out whether to clap, or use the sign language equivalent of waving. (Clapping won.) And at the interval, we got chatting to a deaf lady with a "hearing dog"! She was happy to tell us that his usefulness was twofold - firstly, he alerted her to sounds she was unaware of, like say a fire alarm, the alarm clock, or a text message. Secondly, he was the alternative to her wearing a neon t-shirt saying "speak to my face!". Because you can't tell someone is deaf just by looking at them, you see.. Anyway, this particular hearing dog was a happy doggy this evening, all the attention he was getting - sod the fact that he was on duty, he merrily rolled over at one point for the person behind his owner to give him a tummy rub!
Turned out Henning was accompanied by another couple of souls, who just hadn't replied on the Meetup page. And they'd all thought the concert was at 8, it seems, and had been outside enjoying the sunshine. Hey-ho.. we walked back to the station together and said our goodbyes - I was the only one catching the bus. And this time, it was the 63 that arrived first.. When I changed at Elephant and Castle, I had to find the right road to catch the 344 from. I was confirmed in my choice of road when I saw the 344 pass down it. Then I realised I had to cross.. and there was traffic.. and sure enough, the 344 was pulling out by the time I got across. A chilly wait ensued.. when the next one finally came, we made good time as far as Vauxhall, where our progress was impeded by large groups of crazy people, brandishing enormous Portugese flags. Which is how we concluded that Portugal won the Euros - well done, guys!
Tomorrow, 'tis back with the wild and crazy followers of the Man with the Hat, as we return to Southwark Playhouse, for Through the Mill, a musical about Judy Garland. Place won't know what hit it.. Another convivial night is to be expected.
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