National Anthem – American Sign Language

Hey everyone,

I hope you enjoy the blurry video.  This is a video of MSU's Sign Language IV class signing the National Anthem at the MSU vs. UofM woman's basketball game on February 19th, 2009. I am the person in the dark green shirt all the way to the left, next to the U of M basketball players.

I just wanted to post this because I had a lot of fun doing it with my ASL class. A bunch of students from the Michigan School for the Deaf came and I had the opportunity to sign with some of them. They were all very supportive and came in good spirits. Many people in the Deaf community are very willing to communicate with you in Sign Language, no matter what level you are or how much you know. Most of them are just thrilled that you are learning a language that can provide so many good connections and relationships between the Hearing and Deaf communities. I also met a wonderful girl named Ashley who attends MSD and she gave me a sign name which was super duper exciting!!! I'll be sure to incorporate my sign name in my future videos and give you all a little background on what sign names are and what they can mean.

One thing I'd like to note about signing songs in American Sign Language: Songs in ASL don't necessarily have to follow proper ASL grammar. Many times, songs are signed based on personal preference. My instructor, Marta Belsky made this version up herself. Signing songs are a great way to express yourself and a lot of times, you may see the same song signed completely different between two people, this is based on their preferences and how they like to express the lyrics.

Be sure to come back later this week, I finally figured out my youtube problems and will be more consistent about posting from here on out. I learned some great tips from some knowledgeable internet marketers at a meeting this weekend.

Keep practicing because in the next post I'll be teaching you introductions and greetings in sign language.