Learn to sign with Rock Choir!
At Rock Choir, we have always been committed to providing equality, accessibility and inclusivity throughout every aspect of our business and membership experience. With this in mind, we would like to introduce our new initiative of communicating our Rock Choir performances with the Deaf/deaf and Disabled Community. All Rock Choir Members are welcome to join us on this journey to help our performances become more accessible if they wish to do so.
We are thrilled to announce that we are now running a selection of FREE, fun and active signing sessions featured in our existing Rock Choir Membership experience.
Each session allows our Rock Choir Members to explore aspects of disability awareness and learn more about sign language and the Deaf/deaf Community in a fun, supportive and friendly environment.
If you are a Rock Choir Member, you can now find full access to these sessions and future times and dates inside your Members Area.
Sessions are led by the talented and charismatic Stacey Stockwell, a Musical Theatre/Performance Signer, a well-known long-standing Rockie, and the Leader of The Hands That Rock!
All new and existing Rock Choir Members can take advantage of this unique opportunity and join in with these sessions.
Please look below at what’s on offer and learn more about Stacey Stockwell!
MEET STACEY
Stacey is the owner of Stacey Stockwell Training Ltd, providing Disability Awareness training courses to companies and organisations throughout the UK. She is a Musical Theatre/Performance Signer and a Deafblind Communicator-Guide, a physical lead and interpreter for all categories of Deafblind people. She has a diploma in Autism Awareness and has been training in almost all aspects of Disability Awareness, including mental health, autism and dementia, for over 20 years.
Her training style and presentations are upbeat and often humorous, which she feels enables her to engage with a wide variety of people from all walks of life. The messages she delivers are interlaced with real-life scenarios, which help people relate to them on a personal level and bring the subject of disability closer to home.
She specialises in removing some of the many misconceptions surrounding disability, giving her delegates the tools to communicate and interact with disabled people correctly and, most importantly, the confidence to do so.
Stacey is passionate about providing accessibility for many different types of shows and performances so that members of the Deaf/deaf, Disabled and Deafblind Community can enjoy them and loves the challenge of interpreting different types of arts and music.
She specialises in Musical Theatre and was the resident Signer at the Reading Hexagon Theatre for eight years, where she signed for many hit musicals, including; Avenue Q, Hairspray, Sister Act, FAME and Spamalot. She was also a member of the UK Festival Interpreting Team and has signed for hugely popular bands, including; Fall Out Boy, EMINEM and Bastille.
Stacey is an extremely proud ‘Rockie’ (she often says that if you cut her in half, it would read “Rockie” all the way through her like a stick of rock!!) and sang for many years in the Bass section of the Caversham Rock Choir (now the Reading Rock Choir) under the direction of Rock Choir Leader, Lucy Hewes.
During her time with Lucy, she signed many of their choir’s performances culminating in her filming a series of tutorials during the lockdown in 2020 to teach the entire Rock Choir Membership how to sign ‘Symphony’! Her passion for signing and communication has inspired many Rockies, and we are delighted that we are now offering this opportunity to everyone!
Offering added value to our existing membership, Rockies are invited to learn more about Sign Language for FREE, exclusively with Rock & Sign. Read more below!
ROCK & SIGN
Our online Rock & Sign Sessions are available twice a week. One is with Stacey, who teaches Rockies to sign some of Rock Choir’s amazing catalogue of songs using a mixture of BSL, SSE (Sign Supported English) facial expression and natural body language. The other is another feel-good session with one of Stacey’s Prefects, Jeanette, who is currently working on BSL Level 3 and is a wonderful musical signer.
Full access to these online sessions, plus dates and times, can be found in our Members Area, under the Rock & Sign tab.
What’s the format of an online Rock & Sign Session?
• Each Rock & Sign session starts with a keep-fit style warm-up.
• Rockies can sing, dance, and sign their way through a session, with up-beat playlists consisting of Rock Choir songs and other popular tracks (be prepared for the occasional ‘Agadoo!’)
• All sessions end with a cool-down period.
• Most importantly, the signing element of these sessions isn’t compulsory. It’s perfectly fine to just come and have a great time with fellow Rockies. You can also attend as many sessions as you’d like each week, there’s no need to book!
Learn To Sign Rock Choir Songs
One session a week consists of a tutorial so members can learn to sign some of the Rock Choir songs. These tutorials remain available on YouTube afterwards so people can recap the sign language teaching at their leisure.
You’ll find that these sessions also promote positive well-being, whilst providing a fun and friendly opportunity to learn to sign Rock Choir songs in a relaxed and supportive environment.
THE HANDS THAT ROCK
The Hands That Rock are a group of Rockies who have been selected to sign at Rock Choir performances based on their understanding and delivery of sign song.
Members of The Hands That Rock will be required to pass Rock Choir’s sign language course designed by Stacey Stockwell and gain an in-house certification. This will allow ‘The Hands That Rock’ members to officially sign at future performances enabling the shows to be accessible to the Deaf/deaf and Disabled communities.
Due to the high level of expertise needed for The Hands That Rock, this opportunity will not be available to everyone. Therefore, numbers are extremely limited, and certification is required.
If a Rockie is showing great strength at Rock & Sign and wishes to join The Hands that Rock, they may be invited to join “The Hands that Rock School” to train and continue their learning journey with Stacey and attend several sessions of tutorials a week on Zoom or YouTube, all included in their Rock Choir membership!
Join Rock Choir to take part in our exclusive membership benefits.
