At Prabhadevi's St Stephen High School for the Deaf and Aphasic, the racket of children playing on the grounds is welcome. Sound, if there is, means different things to each one of them: sometimes a hum, otherwise a disturbing buzz and for a few fortunate, muffled, incoherent words. In this universe, audible frequencies barely matter. It's here that 30-year-old Vashi resident Arvin David carried out an unusual experiment earlier this week.

David, who runs the music company Connect, with the help of a women's group Spreading Smiles of Joy, introduced students from the campus to the beats of the djembe - a rope-tuned goblet drum with origins in West Africa. For most of these kids, to whom music, let alone playing an instrument, is alien, the late afternoon workshop was a break from the monotony of articulating themselves through otherwise, soundless art. David is not alone. Breach Candy resident Nicole Fernandes recently joined hands with her former colleague and friend Nandita Venkatesan, 28, who suffers from 90 per cent hearing loss, to start an electronic keyboard tutorial on YouTube. The trio is motivated by a common dream - to bring music into the lives of those who didn't know they could feel it.