some of my first exposure to ASL was with Holly Near when her sister Timothy (yes sister--yes timothy) signed along...the movements were often exaggerated as if a dance....since then i have studied ASL and the final test of my class i signed From a Distance the song by Julie Gold which has been recorded by Nanciu Griffith and Beet Midler...it is a good song for that as there are a lof of images that are easily depicted
snow capped mountains, river meets the stream, no guns, no bombs, no diseases,
I worked for 5 years as a classroom aide for the severly disabled and did some class aide work for deaf children to interpret for them in teh class. Thge class often learned a song for the shcool christmas program and we did the sign language too. "I'm dreaming of a white christmas"
comes to mind as a good one to sign and sing.
the sign for "music" is one arm outstretched and the other (thumb up)
brushing back and forth across the top of it from wrist to elbow as if buttering bread...this indicates that instrumental music is going on with no lyrics. a good book to read for insignt on language learning for the hearing impaired is Oliver Sach's Seeing Voices. It points out the two schools of deaf learning--Lip Reading verses Sign Language.
and highlights the history of deaf education, Gaulidette university, etc.more info here:http://www.lessontutor.com/ASLgenhome.html
http://www.musictherapy.ca/content/postconf/curtis.html
in some communities, the seats in the front rows on teh right hand side of the hall are reserved for hearing impaired audience and the sign language interpreter is positioned on the stage near them.