WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.360 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:07.880 align:middle line:90% All right, what a treat. 00:00:07.880 --> 00:00:12.000 align:middle line:84% I suspect that most folks here are familiar with spelling 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:13.220 align:middle line:90% as a form of communication. 00:00:13.220 --> 00:00:14.720 align:middle line:84% But just in case there are any folks 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:18.200 align:middle line:84% who have happened upon us without knowing what the heck is 00:00:18.200 --> 00:00:20.900 align:middle line:84% going on, just to give a little background, 00:00:20.900 --> 00:00:23.840 align:middle line:84% I've been working with spellers for about 10 years. 00:00:23.840 --> 00:00:26.720 align:middle line:84% My background is in creative writing. 00:00:26.720 --> 00:00:30.800 align:middle line:84% I studied poetry throughout undergrad, masters, PhD, 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:33.080 align:middle line:84% and started working with autistic community 00:00:33.080 --> 00:00:35.000 align:middle line:90% about a decade ago. 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:38.318 align:middle line:84% And these are just such amazing writers 00:00:38.318 --> 00:00:40.360 align:middle line:84% that I get to collaborate with, many of the folks 00:00:40.360 --> 00:00:43.800 align:middle line:84% who are here today and then an incredibly rich community 00:00:43.800 --> 00:00:46.640 align:middle line:90% of writers across the country. 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:48.920 align:middle line:84% But when we're doing these songs, everything 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:51.003 align:middle line:84% I'm going to share, I want to make it really clear 00:00:51.003 --> 00:00:54.440 align:middle line:84% that these are written completely by the non-speakers 00:00:54.440 --> 00:00:55.220 align:middle line:90% that I work with. 00:00:55.220 --> 00:00:57.760 align:middle line:84% I'm not writing any of the lyrics. 00:00:57.760 --> 00:01:00.400 align:middle line:84% I'm giving suggestions of maybe where some rhymes could 00:01:00.400 --> 00:01:05.239 align:middle line:84% go, giving some instruction about how songs are constructed 00:01:05.239 --> 00:01:07.920 align:middle line:90% and what makes a song work. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:10.520 align:middle line:84% But really, all of the text is completely 00:01:10.520 --> 00:01:11.860 align:middle line:90% composed by the spellers. 00:01:11.860 --> 00:01:13.990 align:middle line:84% They're making the choices about what rhyme words 00:01:13.990 --> 00:01:14.865 align:middle line:90% they're going to use. 00:01:14.865 --> 00:01:18.590 align:middle line:84% They're making the choices about what the topics and themes are 00:01:18.590 --> 00:01:19.830 align:middle line:90% going to be. 00:01:19.830 --> 00:01:22.330 align:middle line:84% And then once we have the lyrics, 00:01:22.330 --> 00:01:26.310 align:middle line:84% they give me music direction, explain either 00:01:26.310 --> 00:01:29.430 align:middle line:84% in terms of a sound like, oh, can you 00:01:29.430 --> 00:01:32.590 align:middle line:84% make it sound like Bruce Springsteen or Taylor Swift 00:01:32.590 --> 00:01:35.890 align:middle line:84% or whatever, or descriptive words, 00:01:35.890 --> 00:01:38.330 align:middle line:84% can you make it like fast or can you make it mournful 00:01:38.330 --> 00:01:40.670 align:middle line:84% or can you make it exciting or whatever. 00:01:40.670 --> 00:01:42.348 align:middle line:84% Sometimes they get very poetic ones. 00:01:42.348 --> 00:01:44.890 align:middle line:84% One of my very favorites of all time actually is from Aulton. 00:01:44.890 --> 00:01:48.870 align:middle line:84% He said, can you make it sound like a moose covered in frost. 00:01:48.870 --> 00:01:53.990 align:middle line:84% And that was such a good such a good music direction. 00:01:53.990 --> 00:01:56.550 align:middle line:84% But anyway, the songs that I'll share here 00:01:56.550 --> 00:01:59.190 align:middle line:84% are a mixture of ones-- some written at previous Teva 00:01:59.190 --> 00:02:02.750 align:middle line:84% camps up in Prescott with spellers who live here 00:02:02.750 --> 00:02:08.590 align:middle line:84% in Arizona, and then some are from a compilation album 00:02:08.590 --> 00:02:11.150 align:middle line:84% that we put out that we were celebrating the last time I 00:02:11.150 --> 00:02:12.570 align:middle line:90% was here called Silently Loud. 00:02:12.570 --> 00:02:15.270 align:middle line:84% That was funded by the Minnesota State Arts Board, 00:02:15.270 --> 00:02:19.810 align:middle line:84% and it's a full band record of songs also written by spellers, 00:02:19.810 --> 00:02:22.670 align:middle line:84% and then closing with a couple new ones 00:02:22.670 --> 00:02:27.020 align:middle line:84% by some other friends in the mix.