Evelyn Glennie Sounds Off

A Civilised Charm

2012-02-10T05:35:00.000-08:00

As the sun melts the snow in the surrounding Cambridgeshire countryside I thought I would see what the internet has to offer regarding the history of Lichfield.

"In 1776 Dr Samuel Johnson took his friend Boswell to Lichfield to show him

"genuine civilised life in an English provincial town". The description still

rings true today, for although Lichfield has grown considerably, it still

retains its civilised charm and many of the fine buildings at the heart of the

City, including the house in which Johnson was born, have remained largely

unchanged over the intervening centuries." www.lichfield.gov.uk

This description conjures up the most quintessential image of a very charming place and despite the snow and cold temperature forecast I am really excited about meeting and chatting to the people who come along to this evenings event at the Lichfield Garrick Theatre.

I love the spontaneity of these events and find each one takes a new turn, a different direction and a chance to really think about who the audience are and what they experience from me.
It can be a very scary process, opening oneself up in this way. So far audiences have been very kind and considerate and I hope the genuine civilised folk of Lichfield will bring along their charm this evening.
I will pack my car with as many items of interest I can possibly squeeze in and hope the colours, sounds and instruments will work their charm!

Red Letter Day

2012-02-08T01:00:00.000-08:00

I have just used the term Red Letter Day on my Facebook account to announce the fact that my new style website goes live today. After I pressed send I realised that I did not truly know why we use the term.
So I looked it up and found to my surprise that it has a very interesting history.
According to Wikepedia "A red letter day (sometimes hyphenated as red-letter day or called scarlet day in academia) is any day of special significance. The term originates from Medieval church calendars. Illuminated manuscripts often marked initial capitals and highlighted words in red ink, known as rubrics. The First Council of Nicaea in 325 decreed the saints' days, feasts and other holy days, which came to be printed on church calendars in red.
The term came into wider usage with the appearance in 1549 of the first Book of Common Prayer in which the calendar showed special holy days in red ink. Many current calendars have special dates and holidays such as Sundays, Christmas Day and Midsummer Day rendered in red colour instead of black.
On red letter days, judges of the English High Court (Queen's Bench Division) wear, at sittings of the Court of Law, their scarlet robes (See court dress). Also in the United Kingdom, other civil dates have been added to the original religious dates. These include anniversaries of the Monarch's birthday, official birthday, accession and coronation.
In the universities of the UK, red letter days are called scarlet days. On such days, doctors of the university may wear their scarlet 'festal' or full dress gowns instead of their undress ('black') gown. This is more significant for the ancient universities such as Oxford and Cambridge where academic dress is worn almost daily; the black undress gown being worn on normal occasions as opposed to the bright red gowns. Since most universities now only use academic dress on graduation day (where doctors always wear scarlet), the significance of scarlet days has all but disappeared."
I hope like me you enjoy discovering snippets of detail that seem to be lost amongst our busy lives. Reminders of how traditions are created and how our daily routines and actions evolve using remnants of the past.
I am feeling very cheeky now! I quite like the term scarlet days it feels liberating and risque so I am going to wear red today to match my exhilarating mood - I hope you have a reason to be 'Scarlet' today and very much look forward to your comments.

How to build a great venue

2012-01-27T08:15:00.000-08:00

As I prepare to perform Bela Bartók's Concerto for two pianos and percussion with my esteemed colleagues Janet Fulton, Noriko Ogawa and Philip Smith I am reminded of the time when I performed this piece with Sir Georg Solti

This video clip http://bit.ly/yqEh13 is adocumentary of a very early performance of the Bartók with Sir Georg, oldervideo's like this always set my staff off in fits of giggles when they hear myyounger, girlie voice! I can remember how deeply embarrassed I felt when I arrived late tothe session! A lesson I have never forgotten!

In Manchester we are about to perform this piece at the beautifully crafted Bridgewater Hall and I was interested to read about the history of the Hall and in particular how it was constructed. I was unaware for example that the Hall is 'neither concrete nor steel-framed, but is mostly formed from solid, reinforced concrete, moulded and cast like a vast sculpture'. I like this idea of moulding and casting a building it feels holistic is some way and wholesome. Apparently this provides the Hall with an acoustic ideal of enormous density and mass.
The roof is also quite unique in that it hovers above the building, weightless and the entire structure floats free of the ground on almost 'three hundred, earthquake-proof isolation bearings or giant springs' - now that invokes the most amazing mental image! The article also states the Hall is built this way to ensure the 'Hall’s carefully designed acoustic is protected from all outside noise and vibration'.
Well of course vibration is key to my ability to feel sound. I am intrigued by the way this building is 'crafted' to keep outside noise from entering in and inside noise from venturing out. My own sound world is heavily dependant on my body acting as a resonating chamber. Over the years I have developed a high degree of sensitivity to vibration enabling my body to identify felt sounds. I often describe my body as one huge ear.
Have you tried 'feeling' sound? Have you visited environments where you have been able to connect with the acoustics through vibration. I would be very interested in your experiences and welcome your thoughts.

'Just Listen' in 3D!

2012-01-11T04:41:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year,
January for me is often an extremely busy Month. However I also appreciate the return to normality and the quiet after the Christmas celebrations. If I have the chance I like to try and take time, before the business of touring begins, to get my head around the schedule for the forthcoming year. I have been told that some people think January is a bit of an anti-climax after all the hustle and bustle of the December but for me it is a wonderful time to reflect and consider the projects I will be involved in throughout the year.

This period is a time of working out, evaluating and planning for the year ahead and one of my new projects is titled 'Just Listen'. This project is currently being developed by Brad Lisle and his team in Canada and is intended for the 3D IMAX cinemas and the world wide web. The idea is to investigate and present the science of sound. I am honoured to be part of this project because I am fascinated by so many facets of the natural world and have always wondered about the sound affects on and within the unconscious brain.

Since the onset of my deafness I have explored, and continue to explore, the body's ability to 'feel' sound. Our world is about vibration and as the sound waves vibrate around us it is possible to feel the impact physically. For example it always amazes me when I am on an aeroplane with a bottle of water and as the plane vibrates the water jiggles around in the bottle. When I clasp the bottle I can feel the water moving around.

The project has already begun to change the way I experience the natural world around me. Over the Christmas break I managed to take time out just to walk through the woods and lanes close to where I live. As I wandered my thoughts turned to the countless creatures that would be hibernating in the undergrowth, the birds building nests and the squirrels darting around the fallen leaves foraging for food. I became immersed in the 'feeling' of the winter sun on my skin, the wind brushing my hair and my boots crunching the broken twigs beneath my feet. The intensity was warm and wholesome.

I would be interested to hear what positive thoughts you have for your New Year and if you have any ideas about the 'science of sound' in the natural world.

Mummy I want a drum for Christmas

2011-12-08T01:30:00.001-08:00

When your child asks for a drum for Christmas - rather than run a mile! consider this

Prim by the Icelandic composer Askell Masson

My first drum and practice pad

Letter to Santa

2011-12-01T02:41:00.001-08:00

When I was a child I wanted a musical instrument for Christmas. Now I am an adult I would like every child to have the opportunity to play and hopefully enjoy music regardless of culture, ability, crede or social circumstances. http://www.youtube.com/user/dameevelynglennie

So please Santa do your best despite the world recession, greed and poverty.

What would you ask Santa for?

What pops your Cork?

2011-11-24T01:43:00.001-08:00

It is a gloriousday here in Cork,

Ireland

. The sun is shining and I am feelinggreat! I hope you are experiencing this wonderful weather so late in November and that you are able to feel the warmth of the sunshine on your face before it disappears for the day.

Corcaigh (the Irish spelling for Cork) is thought to be the real capital of

Ireland

by those who inhabit this beautifulcity. From my hotel on the Quay over looking the River Lee I can see a very vibrant and stunning sight and it all looks very exciting to me and I cannot wait to take a closer look before I begin rehearsing.

I am told this is the Isle of Shamrockand Leprechauns who like a drop of home brew now andagain. Apparently'they never become so drunk that the handwhich holds the hammer becomes unsteady and their shoemaker's work affected'.I hope this works for me too because I definitely feel in high spirits today!

Cork is the home of so much inspirationalmusical influences including the CorkSchool of Music where I will be performing later today and I hope you willfind time to join me.

What picture is my body painting?

2011-11-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

In response to a question from Lisa in Sweden who mentioned that she is currently doing a photo documentary project at a church involving many shoots of musician’s and also listeners attending the services and events.

Lisa said “If you have any thoughts on how to really show the making of music and the act of listening in photography I'd be really keen to hear your opinion” – I would like to suggest Lisa concentrates on taking close up images of the people who are actually listening to music or playing music concentrating on the detail.

In my opinion good musicians ‘experience’ the music and listeners relay the music being played to something meaningful in the brain. As we do this our bodies, both as musicians and listeners, often reflect our feelings and emotions.

If we are listening to an upbeat piece of music we may tap with our toes or fingers. Alternatively if the music is soft and gentle we may relax or sway with the rhythm.

Likewise if we are keen to be educated about something we demonstrate this by paying attention. We engage with the tutor. Eye contact becomes key as we listen carefully.

Ultimately, the human has to create the sound, even if it's done electronically and the human has to participate in the listening process. Therefore I believe that by capturing the human activity of listening and creating sound is the key.

Utilising the idea that the audience is part of the performance/event by how they sit, tilt their head, position of body, where the eyes are focussing, young, old, formal, informal and so on seems to me to be one way of demonstrating visually how that person is feeling and what they are engaging with which leads to the question for the tutor – is that person listening to what I am saying? Can I see that from their body language if they understand what I am teaching them?

The same applies for musicians, by concentrating on close ups of limbs such as the movement and mechanics of fingers or facial muscles you should be able offer the viewer an ability to see effort, strength and how the body is supporting the instrument and vice versa.

Try to capture movement of bows or mallets. Examine how feet move when playing. By allowing movement into your photographs you will be demonstrating the whole and parts of the body and how it is experiencing the sound.

This should create an album of total experience from the action of creating the sound to the activity of listening - what do you think?

My Life in a Plastic Bag….

2011-11-10T01:37:00.000-08:00

Here I am again at Heathrow airport I have been debagged, checked in and now I am eagerly awaiting for that final degradation of going through security. As I stand patiently waiting for all my possessions to be scanned and viewed by people who I have never met and the possible additional delight of being frisked, I look down at my little plastic bag and begin to reflect on my life.

My virtual reflective ‘little plastic bag’ contains an interesting mix. I have met and worked with some amazing people. Along the way my ideas, inspirations and achievements have been shaped, moulded, guided and strengthened by people.

They say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and that can certainly be true of many things that we all encounter along the way. As I stand quietly in this interminable queue I think back to the freedom of living on a farm way up in the North of Scotland. My life seemed very simple, I knew that I wanted to be a percussionist and nothing was going to stop me.

I shared those feelings with Thomas Reidelsheimer in the film Touch the Sound which has been a great backdrop for my career.

I look down at the scant makeup in my Heathrow standard edition see through container and I consider what to wear when I appear on the stage with the talented Maya Beiser when we perform the new piece titled ‘Stuttered Chant’ at the UCLA. I think about the unusual piece I am going to play written by David Lang and his brief to me about enjoying the experience of creating sounds from a Cello –an instrument not usually amongst my arsenal!

Isn’t it amazing the things that go through your mind when you are standing in a queue clasping a little plastic bag!

How would you perform……

2011-10-28T05:21:00.000-07:00

I am just standing in a queue at Heathrow airport waiting for my flight to Lausanne,

Switzerland

where I will be performing at the Salle Métropole. On this occasion I will be performing the world premiere of Cosmos by Jean-Luc Darbellay.

As I wait my turn I think about the journey I have taken so many times to reach this point of performing a world premiere. As part of the journey my performance will be critiqued and it set me thinking about how you would feel if you went to work one day to be told your performance that day would be reviewed by a journalist and it would appear in The Times!

As musicians we are critiqued for most performances we give and the comments are printed for all to read and often nowadays there will be an additional poor quality video posted on YouTube taken on a mobile phone just for good measure!

How would you review your own performance?

How would you prepare?

My preparation often involves the most mundane processes such as pacing a distance between an imaginary instrument set up. A composer may decide to use a lot of instruments and I am not always able to position them in my studio the way they will be on stage so I ‘pace’ the imaginary distances in my lounge! My neighbours probably think I am quite potty!

If you were subject to such reviews how would you structure your day? Would you do things differently? How would you feel if your day was scrutinised and laid out for others to judge and how would you feel about being judged by others in this way?

I am not a judgemental type of person and of course I don’t have to read the reviews. But somehow it is a useful benchmark to have and be aware of and on some occasions really nice and interesting things are said about me which are always welcome. I try to analyse objectively the less kind reviews and of course just like you I need to balance the comments against many other factors that the critic would not be aware of.

We all go to work with some degree of ‘baggage’ and I am no different. I try very hard to approach each event with minimal baggage impact but I am sure that sometimes a little seeps out! When I meet a new orchestra it is critical that we begin to work together as a team from the first meeting – we cannot take time to ‘gel’ or slowly build up to a good working relationship purely because we will be performing in concert within hours of our first meeting. We may not even have time to know everyone by name or casually chat over the coffee machine. From the minute we start rehearsals we need to bring the music together.

Let me know about your day and how you would deal with published reviews – I really am interested.

Have a great day – I know I will!

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Living in a nursery rhyme

2011-10-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

Living in a nursery rhyme

In a nonsensical way how often do you have a day or two when you feel as if you are in another dimension. Somehow you have wandered inadvertently into a cartoon or rhyme where nothing makes sense at the time or that you are seeing events around you but you are not participating in the traditional sense.

During a recent photo shoot for German fashion magazine Brigitte I found my thoughts wandering in the strangest directions.

The shoot was done at my new business unit in Huntingdon Cambridgeshire using some of the instruments from my own private collection. The photographer, Philipp Rathmer , is a great professional and has photographed many celebrities including Lady GaGa, Steffen Hennsler and Wilma Elles and many others. And here he is photographing me warts and all!

To the reader of a magazine and to the observer of the photo shoot watching a person standing in front of a white screen, with a variety of interesting objet d’art dotted about, probably seems very glamorous. The reality is that this kind of thing can be very exhausting for everyone concerned not least of all the model as I quickly found out.

Those of you who follow me on Facebook and who have seen me perform in concert will know that I often perform with a whole gamut of instruments which require a great deal of energy. My need to pay attention to detail is critical too but on a photo shoot it is almost the opposite – keeping still, only being required to make small movements and smiling without a stimulant, laughing without a joke is very hard to do for a prolonged period – hats off to fashion models the world over!

As I stood posing for shot after shot I found my mind wandering to the strangest places. The room we were in has instruments all around and I remembered when I had last been in the room and had thought I had placed the instruments in order - so why had I left that crotale there? Where was the Loch Ness practice pad? and which box did I put the jewellery samples in? as I stood motionless these thoughts would pop in and out of my mind like bubbles! Had I put the tax disc in the car, left the gas on! Fed the cat and so on my thoughts trundled like an old cart on cobblestones!

Out of the corner of my eye I could see, and immediately wanted to wipe, the dust from a window sill close by me and I mentally logged a note to myself to get a duster when the shoot was over! Crazy stuff that fills and inhabits the brain when required to stand still!

In order to capture movement wind machines are used to blow air over the model to give the effect of movement but the difference between being out in a strong wind and having air blowing at the face is quite surreal – outside in a strong wind one can shake the head, turn or shelter unlike the intensity of a photographic studio where the idea is to remain statuesque as others control the movements. It is near impossible and now my nose itches!

Don’t misunderstand me, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the team were absolutely fantastic. I would like to say a huge thank you to Bäerbel Recktenwald, fashion editor for Brigitte. She really knows her stuff and is great to work with. Seeing how she works adds to the ‘nursery rhyme’ concept of creating a completely different world that floats within and around reality. Her team were like the cogs in a mechanical clock, working to and fro always synchronised, always in the right spot at the right time. And as the creator of Alice in wonderland would or should have said ‘We were done and dusted in time for tea’.

I recognise the process of being a model for the day or two is succumbing to vanity big time but I loved every minute of it and hope you enjoy the results!

Cosmos.....

2011-10-07T01:49:00.000-07:00

My favourite book is a dictionary; I always have one to hand. I dip in and out of it like a box of chocolates eager to read the description of a new word or even an old favourite. As you know the new piece I am currently working on is titled Cosmos and as I interpret the composer's notes I wondered what my dictionary had to say about the title.

The 'New Collins Concise English Dictionary' description is "1. the universe considered as an ordered system" 2. any ordered system". It occurs to me that my interpretation is to create an ordered system from an ordered system. I am creating a flow, a journey - something to savour and enjoy.

I want to take the audience on a voyage into another space. Into an area where they may not have thought of going. A place where their normal everyday lives would not reach without the intervention of another being.

As I move amongst my instruments I am always looking for that other place, that new sound that I have not discovered before. I hope my natural curiosity is shared by the audience when the time comes. In the meantime I would be very interested to hear from those of you who are excited by the idea of interpreting the Cosmos and whatever form that may take.

And another first for me...

2011-10-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

I am dipping my toe into this enormous cavern of words, which most of you know well. However for me it is something very new, exciting and just a little bit scary.

I want to be good at blogging in the same way that I strive to be good at music and sound creation. My normal tools are a wonderful array of percussion instruments. I am comfortable around them and they are my family.

Following a few successful column articles I have written previously for the female drummer magazine TomTom in the USA I thought I might try writing my own blog and I hope it creates an appeal.

This afternoon I am finding my way round a new composition written for me by the composer Jean-Luc Darbellay. The piece is called Cosmos and the instruments Jean-Luc has chosen to use are bulging at the seams in my studio in Cambridgeshire. I will be giving the world premiere of this piece on the 31^st October 2011 at Salle Metropole, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Working with composers is a large part of my career and I enter each project with excitement and trepidation. Sometimes a composer will provide tantalising single pages faxed one at a time and then others send a whole score beautifully written. Over the years and now in excess of 170 commissions I have collected them all and hope that one day I will be in a position whereby I can make them available to the public including notes, emails and comment exchanges with the composer. Each one is a work of art and I treasure them all.

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