WEBVTT

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I'm not quite sure whether I really want to see

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a snare drum at nine o'clock or so in the morning.

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But anyway, it's just great to see such a full theater,

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and really I must thank Herbie Hancock

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and his colleagues for such a great presentation. (Applause)

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One of the interesting things,

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of course, is the combination of that raw hand on the instrument

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and technology, and of course what he said about listening to our young people.

NOTE Paragraph

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Of course, my job is all about listening,

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and my aim, really, is to teach the world to listen.

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That's my only real aim in life.

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And it sounds quite simple, but actually it's quite a big, big job.

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Because you know, when you look at a piece of music -- for example,

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if I just open my little motorbike bag -- we have here, hopefully,

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a piece of music that is full of little black dots on the page.

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And, you know, we open it up and I read the music.

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So technically, I can actually read this.

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I will follow the instructions, the tempo markings, the dynamics.

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I will do exactly as I'm told.

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And so therefore, because time is short,

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if I just play you literally the first maybe two lines or so. It's very straightforward.

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There's nothing too difficult about the piece.

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But here I'm being told that the piece of music is very quick.

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I'm being told where to play on the drum.

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I'm being told which part of the stick to use.

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And I'm being told the dynamic.

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And I'm also being told that the drum is without snares.

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Snares on, snares off.

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So therefore, if I translate this piece of music, we have this idea. (Music)

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And so on. My career would probably last about five years.

NOTE Paragraph

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However, what I have to do as a musician is do everything that is not on the music.

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Everything that there isn't time to learn from a teacher,

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or to talk about, even, from a teacher.

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But it's the things that you notice when you're not actually with your instrument

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that in fact become so interesting, and that you want to explore

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through this tiny, tiny surface of a drum.

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So there, we experience the translation. Now we'll experience the interpretation. (Music) (Applause)

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Now my career may last a little longer!

NOTE Paragraph

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But in a way, you know, it's the same if I look at you and I see

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a nice bright young lady with a pink top on.

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I see that you're clutching a teddy bear, etc., etc.

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So I get a basic idea as to what you might be about, what you might like,

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what you might do as a profession, etc., etc.

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However, that's just, you know, the initial idea I may have that we all get

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when we actually look, and we try to interpret,

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but actually it's so unbelievably shallow.

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In the same way, I look at the music; I get a basic idea;

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I wonder what technically might be hard, or, you know, what I want to do.

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Just the basic feeling.

NOTE Paragraph

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However, that is simply not enough.

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And I think what Herbie said -- please listen, listen.

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We have to listen to ourselves, first of all.

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If I play, for example, holding the stick -- where literally I do not let go of the stick --

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you'll experience quite a lot of shock coming up through the arm.

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And you feel really quite -- believe it or not --

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detached from the instrument and from the stick,

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even though I'm actually holding the stick quite tightly.

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By holding it tightly, I feel strangely more detached.

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If I just simply let go and allow my hand, my arm, to be more of a support system,

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suddenly I have more dynamic with less effort. Much more.

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And I just feel, at last, one with the stick and one with the drum.

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And I'm doing far, far less.

NOTE Paragraph

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So in the same way that I need time with this instrument,

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I need time with people in order to interpret them.

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Not just translate them, but interpret them.

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If, for example, I play just a few bars of a piece of music

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for which I think of myself as a technician --

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that is, someone who is basically a percussion player ... (Music)

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And so on. If I think of myself as a musician ... (Music)

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And so on. There is a little bit of a difference there that is worth just -- (Applause)

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-- thinking about.

NOTE Paragraph

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And I remember when I was 12 years old,

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and I started playing tympani and percussion, and my teacher said,

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"Well, how are we going to do this? You know, music is about listening."

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And I said, "Yes, I agree with that. So what's the problem?"

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And he said, "Well, how are you going to hear this? How are you going to hear that?"

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And I said, "Well, how do you hear it?"

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He said, "Well, I think I hear it through here."

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And I said, "Well, I think I do too -- but I also hear it through my hands,

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through my arms, cheekbones, my scalp, my tummy, my chest, my legs and so on."

NOTE Paragraph

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And so we began our lessons every single time tuning drums --

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in particular, the kettle drums, or tympani --

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to such a narrow pitch interval, so something like ...

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that of a difference. Then gradually ... and gradually ...

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and it's amazing that when you do open your body up,

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and open your hand up to allow the vibration to come through,

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that in fact the tiny, tiny difference ...

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can be felt with just the tiniest part of your finger, there.

NOTE Paragraph

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And so what we would do is that I would put my hands on the wall

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of the music room, and together we would "listen" to the sounds of the instruments,

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and really try to connect with those sounds

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far, far more broadly than simply depending on the ear.

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Because of course, the ear is, I mean, subject to all sorts of things.

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The room we happen to be in, the amplification, the quality of the instrument,

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the type of sticks ... etc., etc.

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They're all different.

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Same amount of weight, but different sound colors.

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And that's basically what we are. We're just human beings,

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but we all have our own little sound colors, as it were,

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that make up these extraordinary personalities

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and characters and interests and things.

NOTE Paragraph

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And as I grew older, I then auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music in London,

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and they said, "Well, no, we won't accept you, because we haven't a clue,

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you know, of the future of a so-called 'deaf' musician."

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And I just couldn't quite accept that.

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And so therefore, I said to them, "Well, look, if you refuse --

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if you refuse me through those reasons,

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as opposed to the ability to perform and to understand and love

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the art of creating sound --

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then we have to think very, very hard about the people you do actually accept."

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And as a result -- once we got over a little hurdle, and having to audition twice --

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they accepted me. And not only that --

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what had happened was that it changed the whole role

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of the music institutions throughout the United Kingdom.

NOTE Paragraph

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Under no circumstances were they to refuse any application whatsoever on the basis of

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whether someone had no arms, no legs --

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they could still perhaps play a wind instrument if it was supported on a stand.

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No circumstances at all were used to refuse any entry.

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And every single entry had to be listened to, experienced and then

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based on the musical ability -- then that person could either enter or not.

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So therefore, this in turn meant that there was an extremely interesting

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bunch of students who arrived in these various music institutions.

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And I have to say, many of them now

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in the professional orchestras throughout the world.

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The interesting thing about this as well, though --

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(Applause) --

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is quite simply that not only were people connected with sound --

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which is basically all of us, and we well know that music really is our daily medicine.

NOTE Paragraph

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I say "music," but actually I mean "sound."

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Because you know, some of the extraordinary things I've experienced

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as a musician, when you may have a 15-year-old lad

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who has got the most incredible challenges,

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who may not be able to control his movements,

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who may be deaf, who may be blind, etc., etc. --

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suddenly, if that young lad sits close to this instrument,

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and perhaps even lies underneath the marimba,

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and you play something that's so incredibly organ-like, almost --

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I don't really have the right sticks, perhaps --

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but something like this. Let me change. (Music)

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Something that's so unbelievably simple --

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but he would be experiencing something that I wouldn't be,

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because I'm on top of the sound.

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I have the sound coming this way.

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He would have the sound coming through the resonators.

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If there were no resonators on here, we would have ... (Music)

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So he would have a fullness of sound that those of you in the front few rows

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wouldn't experience, those of you in the back few rows wouldn't experience either.

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Every single one of us, depending on where we're sitting,

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will experience this sound quite, quite differently.

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And of course, being the participator of the sound,

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and that is starting from the idea of what type of sound I want to produce --

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for example, this sound.

NOTE Paragraph

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Can you hear anything?

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Exactly. Because I'm not even touching it.

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But yet, we get the sensation of something happening.

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In the same way that when I see tree moves,

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then I imagine that tree making a rustling sound.

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Do you see what I mean?

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Whatever the eye sees, then there's always sound happening.

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So there's always, always that huge --

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I mean, just this kaleidoscope of things to draw from.

NOTE Paragraph

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So all of my performances are based on entirely what I experience,

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and not by learning a piece of music, putting on someone else's interpretation of it,

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buying all the CDs possible of that particular piece of music, and so on and so forth.

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Because that isn't giving me enough of something that is so raw and so basic,

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and something that I can fully experience the journey of.

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So it may be that, in certain halls, this dynamic may well work. (Music)

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It may be that in other halls, they're simply not going to experience that

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at all and so therefore, my level of soft,

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gentle playing may have to be ... (Music)

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Do you see what I mean? So, because of this explosion in access to sound,

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especially through the deaf community,

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this has not only affected how music institutions,

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how schools for the deaf treat sound -- and not just as a means of therapy --

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although of course, being a participator of music,

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that definitely is the case as well.

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But it's meant that acousticians have had to really think about the types of halls

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they put together. There are so few halls in this world

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that actually have very good acoustics,

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dare I say. But by that I mean where you can absolutely do anything you imagine.

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The tiniest, softest, softest sound to something that is so broad,

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so huge, so incredible! There's always something --

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it may sound good up there, may not be so good there.

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May be great there, but terrible up there.

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Maybe terrible over there, but not too bad there, etc., etc.

NOTE Paragraph

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So to find an actual hall is incredible

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-- for which you can play exactly what you imagine,

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without it being cosmetically enhanced.

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And so therefore, acousticians are actually in conversation with people who are

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hearing impaired, and who are participators of sound.

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And this is quite interesting.

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I cannot, you know, give you any detail as far as what is actually happening

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with those halls, but it's just the fact that they are going to a group of people

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for whom so many years we've been saying,

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"Well, how on Earth can they experience music? You know, they're deaf."

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We just -- we go like that, and we imagine that that's what deafness is about.

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Or we go like that, and we imagine that's what blindness is about.

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If we see someone in a wheelchair, we assume they cannot walk.

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It may be that they can walk three, four, five steps. That, to them, means they can walk.

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In a year's time, it could be two extra steps.

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In another year's time, three extra steps.

NOTE Paragraph

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Those are hugely important aspects to think about.

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So when we do listen to each other,

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it's unbelievably important for us to really test our listening skills,

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to really use our bodies as a resonating chamber, to stop the judgment.

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For me, as a musician who deals with 99 percent of new music,

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it's very easy for me to say, "Oh yes, I like that piece.

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Oh no, I don't like that piece." And so on.

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And you know, I just find that I have to give those pieces of music real time.

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It may be that the chemistry isn't quite right between myself and that particular piece of music,

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but that doesn't mean I have the right to say it's a bad piece of music.

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And you know, it's just one of the great things about being a musician,

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is that it is so unbelievably fluid.

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So there are no rules, no right, no wrong, this way, that way.

NOTE Paragraph

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If I asked you to clap -- maybe I can do this.

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If I can just say, "Please clap and create the sound of thunder."

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I'm assuming we've all experienced thunder.

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Now, I don't mean just the sound;

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I mean really listen to that thunder within yourselves.

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And please try to create that through your clapping. Try. Just -- please try.

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(Applause)

NOTE Paragraph

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Very good! Snow. Snow. Have you ever heard snow?

NOTE Paragraph

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Audience: No.

NOTE Paragraph

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Evelyn Glennie: Well then, stop clapping. (Laughter) Try again.

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Try again. Snow.

NOTE Paragraph

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See, you're awake.

NOTE Paragraph

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Rain. Not bad. Not bad.

NOTE Paragraph

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You know, the interesting thing here, though, is that I asked a group of kids

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not so long ago exactly the same question.

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Now -- great imagination, thank you very much.

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However, not one of you got out of your seats to think,

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"Right! How can I clap? OK, maybe ... (Claps)

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Maybe I can use my jewelry to create extra sounds.

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Maybe I can use the other parts of my body to create extra sounds."

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Not a single one of you thought about clapping in a slightly different way

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other than sitting in your seats there and using two hands.

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In the same way that when we listen to music,

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we assume that it's all being fed through here.

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This is how we experience music. Of course it's not.

NOTE Paragraph

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We experience thunder -- thunder, thunder. Think, think, think.

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Listen, listen, listen. Now -- what can we do with thunder?

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I remember my teacher. When I first started, my very first lesson,

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I was all prepared with sticks, ready to go.

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And instead of him saying, "OK, Evelyn, please, feet slightly apart,

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arms at a more-or-less 90 degree angle, sticks in a more-or-less V shape,

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keep this amount of space here, etc.

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Please keep your back straight, etc., etc., etc." --

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where I was probably just going to end up absolutely rigid, frozen,

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and I would not be able to strike the drum,

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because I was thinking of so many other things -- he said,

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"Evelyn, take this drum away for seven days, and I'll see you next week."

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So, heavens! What was I to do? I no longer required the sticks;

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I wasn't allowed to have these sticks.

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I had to basically look at this particular drum,

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see how it was made, what these little lugs did, what the snares did.

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Turned it upside down, experimented with the shell, experimented with the head.

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Experimented with my body, experimented with jewelry,

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experimented with all sorts of things.

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And of course, I returned with all sorts of bruises and things like that --

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but nevertheless, it was such an unbelievable experience,

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because then, where on Earth are you going to experience that in a piece of music?

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Where on Earth are you going to experience that in a study book?

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So we never, ever dealt with actual study books.

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So for example, one of the things that we learn

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when we are dealing with being a percussion player, as opposed to a musician,

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is basically straightforward single stroke rolls.

NOTE Paragraph

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Like that. And then we get a little faster and a little faster and a little faster.

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And so on and so forth. What does this piece require?

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Single stroke rolls. So why can't I then do that whilst learning a piece of music?

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And that's exactly what he did.

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And interestingly, the older I became, and when I became a full-time student

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at a so called "music institution," all of that went out of the window.

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We had to study from study books.

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And constantly, the question, "Well, why? Why? What is this relating to?

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I need to play a piece of music." "Oh, well, this will help your control!"

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"Well, how? Why do I need to learn that? I need to relate it to a piece of music.

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You know. I need to say something.

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"Why am I practicing paradiddles?

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Is it just literally for control, for hand-stick control? Why am I doing that?

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I need to have the reason,

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and the reason has to be by saying something through the music."

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And by saying something through music, which basically is sound,

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we then can reach all sorts of things to all sorts of people.

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But I don't want to take responsibility of your emotional baggage.

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That's up to you, when you walk through a hall.

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Because that then determines what and how we listen to certain things.

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I may feel sorrowful, or happy, or exhilarated, or angry when I play

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certain pieces of music, but I'm not necessarily

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wanting you to feel exactly the same thing.

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So please, the next time you go to a concert,

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just allow your body to open up, allow your body to be this resonating chamber.

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Be aware that you're not going to experience the same thing as the performer is.

NOTE Paragraph

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The performer is in the worst possible position for the actual sound,

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because they're hearing the contact of the stick on the drum,

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or the mallet on the bit of wood, or the bow on the string, etc.,

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or the breath that's creating the sound from wind and brass.

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They're experiencing that rawness there.

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But yet they're experiencing something so unbelievably pure,

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which is before the sound is actually happening.

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Please take note of the life of the sound after the actual initial strike,

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or breath, is being pulled. Just experience the whole journey of that sound

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in the same way that I wished I'd experienced the whole journey

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of this particular conference, rather than just arriving last night.

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But I hope maybe we can share one or two things as the day progresses.

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But thank you very much for having me!

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(Applause)