Producer Christine Thornton writes about her remarkable new RTÉ documentary Good Vibrations, a portrait of Deaf and Visually Impaired pianist and music teacher Orla O'Sullivan.
Watch Good Vibrations now on RTÉ Player.
When RTÉ put out a call for a documentary exploring the experiences of Ireland’s Deaf community, I started thinking about what my life would be like if I became deaf and what I would miss the most.
Music quickly came to mind as it is one of my greatest loves and so it prompted me to wonder how does a Deaf person experience music. Do they ‘hear’ it? If so, how? Can they enjoy it the way I do? Can you learn music if you are deaf? So much ignorance on my part and so many questions needing answers.
I typed in music + deaf into Google and up popped the name Orla O’Sullivan. Though we are both from Cork, I was annoyed (and a little ashamed) that I had never heard of her. As soon as I started to read about her musical achievements I knew I had to meet her to learn more about her life and work. And if I was lucky enough, she might let me make a documentary about her.
When Orla was six weeks old, she became Deaf and Visually Impaired after receiving life saving medication for double pneumonia.
Her mother Betty was determined that she would be treated the same as her siblings, and would be given all the same opportunities. In spite of her profound deafness, Betty was determined that Orla would talk and so she started to teach her nursery rhymes which helped her speech. Refusing to accept Orla’s profound deafness, Betty would play songs on the piano and would hold Orla’s little fingers on the keys so that she could ‘feel’ the different sounds through the vibrations. From the first note, Orla was mesmerized and this was the beginning of her experience of the sound of music. Little did Betty realize that she had already put Orla on her musical path and future career.
I couldn’t believe it when I discovered that Orla went on to not only play classical piano but that today she also teaches piano and keyboard to the hearing and the deaf….and to exam standard. She uses ISL to communicate with her deaf students and speaks to her hearing students. Lessons take hours of preparation for Orla who has to magnify the pages of notes and memorise them.
I loved Orla from our first meeting. Her no nonsense attitude and ‘can do’ approach in spite of the obstacles that have been put her way is not only impressive but inspiring. Her passion for music is palpable and while it gives her great personal enjoyment, it is her determination to share this joy with others in the deaf community that drives her. I was fascinated to learn that in between teaching and parenting her son John Amadeus with partner Danny, Orla has spent the last number of years developing a music teaching tool, Sound Senses. She is currently exploring ways to further refine this audio-visual tactile tool. Her dream is that one day every deaf child or adult has the opportunity to learn music.
I learned so much from working with Orla. When I first met her and was trying to explain why I wanted to make the documentary I had to remind myself to slow down and speak clearly and to keep eye contact throughout. I felt ashamed that I hadn’t a clue about sign language not to mind what the etiquette was when communicating with a deaf person. I realised that in fact Orla was the first deaf person I had ever met… To my shame, I presumed she would read my lips and basically do all the work. I expected her to enter into (my) hearing world. An embarrassing and early lesson learned. Note to self – learn sign language.
As a producer, I am used to explaining to participants how the filming of a documentary works but with Good Vibrations, I yet again found myself pulled up by my ignorance as I was reminded that Orla doesn’t experience TV the way I do. It isn’t as straight forward for her to watch/hear as it is for us in the hearing community. Orla uses a monocular to watch TV and in spite of using strong hearing aids, she is dependent on watching the programmes which have subtitles available.
There were many lessons learned throughout the making of the documentary but above all I think Orla’s patience with our lack of sign language and her decision to put her trust in total strangers to tell her story is testament to the brave and inspiring person that she is.
