Music video featuring local deaf and hard-of-hearing children goes viral

HIGHLAND, Mich. (WXYZ) - They don’t hear music the way many of us do, but perhaps they hear it the way it’s supposed to be heard: through the whole body.

Ten-year-old Noah Rangel of Lake Orion is deaf, but that didn’t stop him from feeling the pulse of the White Stripes’ song “We’re Going to be Friends” when he signed the lyrics in a new music video . “Instead of standing and talking and hearing the music like that, we can feel the music,” signed Noah, using American Sign Language. “We just stand and sign the song instead. So it’s really not that much different.”

The Deaf Professional Arts Network, also known as D-Pan, coordinated the music video this summer, shooting it in Bloomfield Hills and featuring children who are either deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Rangel’s friend, Morgan Nimmo, also appeared in the video, which has gone viral. “I did good!” said seven-year old Morgan during an interview at her home in Highland. “I thought I was going to do bad, but I was great. I was proud of myself.” With more than 258,000 hits on YouTube.com in just a week and a half, she certainly has something to be proud of.