«Maler's groundbreaking analysis redefines music by challenging modality chauvinism and reframing music as movement through a study of deaf musicking. In presenting provocative questions about the essence of music, she demonstrates how deaf perspectives enrich our understanding of human expression. Seeing Voices is an essential contribution to music theory, history, applied linguistics, and Deaf Studies.»

Octavian Robinson, author of Crip Linguistics Manifesto

«Not long ago "language" meant "spoken language." That particular conceit ended with the recognition of complex signed languages. Now another truism has fallen, the notion that music is necessarily aural. With this insightful, beautifully written, and very important book, Maler puts the spotlight on ASL songs, deaf singers, and music without sound to challenge received truths and unexamined assumptions about the nature and possibilities of musical performance.»

Douglas Baynton, author of Forbidden Signs: American Culture and the Campaign against Sign Language

«This book will make you think deeply about questions you thought you already knew the answer to. What is music? Against the traditional understanding of music as organized sound, Maler's magisterial study of sign language music shows that music is better understood as organized movement. That permits her to offer compelling analyses of music produced within the deaf community, using American Sign Language, to create undeniably musical melody, rhythm, meter, form, and meaning. Along the way, she elucidates and validates deaf ways of knowing music and creating distinctive and engaging visual and tactile forms of music-making.»

Joseph Straus, author of Broken Beauty: Musical Modernism and The Representation of Disability

«In the ongoing educational battles over diversity and inclusion, disabled people are often overlooked in our music academies, perhaps none more so than deaf persons. In Seeing Voices: Analyzing Sign Language Music, Maler unpacks the rich history of this music by centering the experiences of deaf persons and challenging readers to rethink how they analyze and interpret the most basic aspects of music and music making. A must read for all those committed to musical justice and belonging.»

Philip Ewell, author of On Music Theory, and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone