Do You Hear What I Hear?
Do You See What I See?
In 1962, the song Do You Hear What I Hear? became an instant success when its lyrics asked us to hear, see, listen and “Pray for Peace, People Everywhere.” 1962 was a time of fear and uncertainty–much like 2017.
Today, as the year is coming to an end, I invite you to journey virtually to the Middle East–to the land of shepherds and millions of stars Listen and See this new version of a holiday classic.
‘Tis a Season of Magic
Blake Roberts and Pastor Snoopy Botten are musicians and visual artists who have collaborated on many CDs. Both are artists who inspire us to reach for the stars.
Their magic is their vision, talent and… a speech synthesizer with DECtalk software which helps people who can’t sing with words–sing with tech. Those who can’t see–paint with tech.
The result is poetry in motion.
Enjoy!
Do You Hear What I Hear? |Music and Visual Art
In Blake’s Words:
Dectalk is a speech synthesizer that can be programmed to sing. I like Dectalk because I enjoy making it sing. Additionally, an almost infinite number of voices can be created with it.
Snoopi is a good friend of mine whom I met on the Internet several years ago. We enjoy working together on the CDs Snoopi has produced over the past couple of years. I did all the DECtalk programming and Snoopi mixed my DECtalk file with the karoake track.
My friend Snoopi is the same Snoopi you know on Facebook.
Snoopi programs Dectalk because it lets people who can’t talk sing like everyone else. I program Dectalk because I enjoy it.
I program songs at the same level of excellence as Snoopi. In fact, I am slightly better in some areas. Snoopi is the best Dectalkist in the world, I am second best. We never intended to be first and second best, we just are.
In summary, programming Dectalk is my favorite thing to do. Blake
More information about Blake and Snoopi:
If you would like to contact Blake Roberts go to: [email protected]
If you would like to contact Snoopi Botten email Snoopi at [email protected].
The video below is about Snoopi. Imagine, he sang the National Anthem for a professional baseball game. Don’t you love his confidence and spirit? His goal is to get a Grammy–and I think he will.
Keep Climbing and Singing: Onward and Upward
All my best,Mary
What do you hear? See? Think? Want to discuss?
What did you think of Blake and Snoopi’s version of “Do you hear what I hear?” Do you know anything about DECtalk? or other programs to help people with disabilities talk/sing/dance/make beautiful art? I was struck how their work makes me listen and see differently, how it helps me see “goodness and light.” What about you? Do you know anyone who might also be interested in collaborating with Snoopi or Blake? Does their can-do spirit remind you of Aimee Mullins?
I just realized that the song link which Mary provides annually during the holiday season is old, out-of-date and no longer working. Here’s the current working link:
http://www.theflameofhope.co/songs/DO%20YOU%20HEAR%20WHAT%20I%20HEAR.mp3
Mary, when you post about the song in future please provide the link provided here which should remain valid for years to come. Thanks for sharing this Dectalk song annually.
Snoopi and I can also be contacted on Facebook. Snoopi’s wall is at
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000726917782&sk=wall
My Facebook page is at
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000928586266&ref=tn_tnmn
Hi Blake, you and Snoopi do amazing work. I hope others check it out. Have a terrific holiday.
Thanks for this nice post you’ve made!
Hope you’ll check out more about Blake and Snoopi.
Merry Christmas,
I found the Santa part of your article extremely thought provoking. I have commented before on age appropriateness and Santa is one that I struggle with. Many of my students (teenagers) still believe in Santa and I will not disappoint them. We would never do Santa in a public place but I do concede and allow Santa to visit the classroom on the last day of classes. For the students who do not believe, I tell them the fun in watching the others who get so excited. It allows the students who “know” about Santa to work on not “ruining” it for others. There are times as the teacher that I have to deal with many many topics including religion, terrorism, war, and hurtful family relationships. I try to be as honest as possible using language that my students understand. As I have said previously, I can not ruin Santa for the ones who still believe.
Thank you for bringing up such a “touchy” subject. It is over for me this year but i am sure I will struggle again next year
Happy New Year
Frannie
HI Frannie,
You’re right it is over for this year, but we will all struggle with it again next year. I guess the only thing that makes sense is to treat it individually. You seem very sensitive to your student’s needs so you will know what to do.
The secret santa worked for us. It still have Tommy and Aaron a fun role to play. My class did adopt a younger class one year and the student’s enjoyed being the “secret santas.” Another year we went to a nursing home. That seemed to work for them, but it is a tricky issue.
Nice read. Big thanks for this.
Aren’t these guys terrific. Glad you enjoyed it Leba.