WEBVTT

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I'm not quite sure whether
I really want to see a snare drum

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at nine o'clock or so in the morning.

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(Laughter)

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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 and his colleagues

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for such a great presentation.

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(Applause)

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One of the interesting things, of course,

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is the combination of that raw hand
on the instrument and technology,

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and 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 --

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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 ...

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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 played you, literally,
the first, maybe, two lines or so --

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It's very straightforward; 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,

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we have this idea.

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(Drum sounds)

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(Drum sounds end)

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And so on.

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My career would probably last
about five years.

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(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

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However, what I have to do as a musician

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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 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.

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Now we'll experience the interpretation.

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(Drum sounds)

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(Drum sounds end)

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(Applause)

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Now my career may last a little longer.

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(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

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

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and I see 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,

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

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However, that's just 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 --

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where literally I do not let go
of the stick --

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(Drum sound)

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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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(Drum sound)

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By holding it tightly,
I feel strangely more detached.

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If I just simply let go

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and allow my hand, my arm,
to be more of a support system,

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suddenly --

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(Drum sound)

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I have more dynamic with less effort.

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Much more --

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(Drum sound)

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and I just feel, at last,
one with the stick

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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 --

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(Marimba sounds)

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(Marimba sounds end)

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And so on, if I think of myself
as a musician --

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(Marimba sounds)

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(Marimba sounds end)

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And so on.

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There is a little bit of a difference
there that is worth just --

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(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 timpani
and percussion,

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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?

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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,

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my tummy, my chest, my legs and so on."

NOTE Paragraph

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And so we began our lessons
every single time

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tuning drums, in particular,
the kettle drums, or timpani

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

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(Marimba sounds)

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that of a difference.

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Then gradually:

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(Marimba sounds)

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And gradually:

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(Marimba sounds)

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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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(Marimba sounds)

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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

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on the wall of the music room,

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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 subject to all sorts of things.

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The room we happen to be in,
the amplification,

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the quality of the instrument,
the type of sticks --

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(Marimba sounds)

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(Marimba sounds end)

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Etc., etc., they're all different.

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(Marimba sounds)

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(Marimba sounds end)

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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 and characters

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and interests and things.

NOTE Paragraph

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And as I grew older, I then auditioned

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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

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and to understand and love
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,

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and having to audition twice,

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they accepted me.

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And not only that,

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what had happened was that it changed
the whole role of the music institutions

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throughout the United Kingdom.

NOTE Paragraph

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Under no circumstances were they to refuse

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any application whatsoever

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on the basis of 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,

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and then, based on the musical ability,

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then that person
could either enter or not.

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And so therefore, this in turn meant

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that there was an extremely
interesting bunch of students

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who arrived in these various
music institutions,

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and I have to say, many of them now
in the professional orchestras

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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 --

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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 some of the extraordinary
things I've experienced as a musician --

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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 --

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(Soft marimba sounds)

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(Soft marimba sounds end)

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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:

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(Marimba sounds)

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So he would have a fullness of sound

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that those of you in the front few rows
wouldn't experience,

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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

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I want to produce,
for example, this sound:

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(No 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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(Laughter)

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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 a 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,

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putting on someone else's
interpretation of it,

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buying all the CDs possible
of that particular piece of music,

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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,

00:15:54.933 --> 00:15:59.701
this dynamic may well work.

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(Soft marimba sounds)

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(Soft marimba sounds end)

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It may be that in other halls,

00:16:10.952 --> 00:16:14.187
they're simply not going
to experience that at all,

00:16:14.211 --> 00:16:18.419
and so therefore, my level of soft,
gentle playing may have to be --

00:16:18.443 --> 00:16:21.602
(Marimba sounds)

00:16:40.470 --> 00:16:42.471
(Marimba sounds end)

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Do you see what I mean?

00:16:43.861 --> 00:16:50.119
So, because of this explosion
in access to sound,

00:16:50.143 --> 00:16:52.654
especially through the Deaf community,

00:16:52.678 --> 00:16:57.105
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

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about the types of halls
they put together.

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There are so few halls in this world

00:17:20.838 --> 00:17:26.155
that actually have
very good acoustics, dare I say.

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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.

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There's always something:

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

00:17:43.322 --> 00:17:45.465
it may be great there,
but terrible up there;

00:17:45.489 --> 00:17:49.673
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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So therefore, acousticians
are actually in conversation

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with people who are hearing impaired,

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and who are participators of sound.

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And this is quite interesting.

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I cannot give you any detail

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as far as what is actually happening
with those halls,

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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? They're deaf."

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

00:18:39.078 --> 00:18:42.214
Or we go like that, and we imagine
that's what blindness is about.

00:18:42.238 --> 00:18:46.060
If we see someone in a wheelchair,
we assume they cannot walk.

00:18:46.084 --> 00:18:49.608
It may be that they can walk
three, four, five steps.

00:18:49.632 --> 00:18:52.483
That, to them, means they can walk.

00:18:53.594 --> 00:18:56.633
In a year's time,
it could be two extra steps.

00:18:57.299 --> 00:19:00.052
In another year's time, three extra steps.

NOTE Paragraph

00:19:00.076 --> 00:19:04.779
Those are hugely important
aspects to think about.

00:19:04.803 --> 00:19:08.976
So when we do listen to each other,

00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:12.689
it's unbelievably important for us

00:19:12.713 --> 00:19:17.331
to really test our listening skills,

00:19:17.355 --> 00:19:20.827
to really use our bodies
as a resonating chamber,

00:19:20.851 --> 00:19:22.500
to stop the judgment.

00:19:22.524 --> 00:19:26.395
For me, as a musician who deals
with 99 percent of new music,

00:19:26.419 --> 00:19:28.343
it's very easy for me to say,

00:19:28.367 --> 00:19:31.968
"Oh yes, I like that piece.
No, I don't like that piece," and so on.

00:19:31.992 --> 00:19:37.121
And I just find that I have to give
those pieces of music real time.

00:19:37.145 --> 00:19:40.418
It may be that the chemistry
isn't quite right between myself

00:19:40.442 --> 00:19:42.219
and that particular piece of music,

00:19:42.243 --> 00:19:46.725
but that doesn't mean I have the right
to say it's a bad piece of music.

00:19:47.077 --> 00:19:52.177
And you know, one of the great things
about being a musician

00:19:52.201 --> 00:19:55.757
is that it is so unbelievably fluid.

00:19:55.781 --> 00:20:00.185
So there are no rules, no right,
no wrong, this way, that way.

NOTE Paragraph

00:20:00.209 --> 00:20:05.037
If I asked you to clap --
maybe I can do this.

00:20:05.061 --> 00:20:11.435
If I can just say, "Please clap
and create the sound of thunder."

00:20:11.459 --> 00:20:14.758
I'm assuming we've all
experienced thunder.

00:20:14.782 --> 00:20:16.364
Now, I don't mean just the sound;

00:20:16.388 --> 00:20:21.305
I mean really listen
to that thunder within yourselves.

00:20:21.329 --> 00:20:23.787
And please try to create that
through your clapping.

00:20:23.811 --> 00:20:25.760
Try, just -- please try.

00:20:25.784 --> 00:20:29.053
(Loud clapping sounds)

00:20:33.561 --> 00:20:34.711
(Clapping ends)

00:20:35.103 --> 00:20:36.461
Snow.

00:20:36.485 --> 00:20:38.621
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:20:38.645 --> 00:20:39.813
Snow.

00:20:39.837 --> 00:20:42.073
(Soft clapping sounds)

00:20:42.097 --> 00:20:43.642
Have you ever heard snow?

NOTE Paragraph

00:20:43.666 --> 00:20:44.817
Audience: No.

NOTE Paragraph

00:20:44.841 --> 00:20:46.999
Evelyn Glennie: Well, then, stop clapping.

00:20:47.023 --> 00:20:48.422
(Laughter)

00:20:48.446 --> 00:20:51.651
Try again. Try again: snow.

00:20:52.016 --> 00:20:55.060
(No sound)

NOTE Paragraph

00:20:55.822 --> 00:20:57.426
See, you're awake.

NOTE Paragraph

00:20:58.095 --> 00:20:59.342
Rain.

00:20:59.714 --> 00:21:01.403
(Light clapping sounds)

00:21:01.887 --> 00:21:03.340
EG: (Laughs)

00:21:04.354 --> 00:21:07.084
Not bad. Not bad.

NOTE Paragraph

00:21:07.108 --> 00:21:11.864
The interesting thing here, though,
is that I asked a group of kids

00:21:11.888 --> 00:21:13.591
not so long ago

00:21:13.615 --> 00:21:15.780
exactly the same question.

00:21:15.804 --> 00:21:19.183
Now -- great imagination,
thank you very much.

00:21:19.207 --> 00:21:22.029
However, not one of you got out
of your seats to think,

00:21:22.053 --> 00:21:23.720
"Right! How can I clap?

00:21:23.744 --> 00:21:24.966
OK, maybe:

00:21:24.990 --> 00:21:27.499
(Clapping sounds)

00:21:27.523 --> 00:21:30.355
Maybe I can use my jewelry
to create extra sounds.

00:21:30.379 --> 00:21:34.415
Maybe I can use the other parts
of my body to create extra sounds."

00:21:34.439 --> 00:21:39.832
Not a single one of you thought
about clapping in a slightly different way

00:21:39.856 --> 00:21:42.974
other than sitting in your seats
there and using two hands.

00:21:42.998 --> 00:21:45.143
In the same way, when we listen to music,

00:21:45.167 --> 00:21:49.108
we assume that it's all being
fed through here.

00:21:49.132 --> 00:21:51.676
This is how we experience music.

00:21:51.700 --> 00:21:53.371
Of course, it's not.

NOTE Paragraph

00:21:53.395 --> 00:21:56.218
We experience thunder, thunder, thunder.

00:21:56.242 --> 00:21:57.439
Think, think, think.

00:21:57.463 --> 00:21:59.353
Listen, listen, listen.

00:21:59.852 --> 00:22:03.599
Now, what can we do with thunder?

00:22:04.266 --> 00:22:09.660
I remember my teacher, when I first
started, my very first lesson,

00:22:09.684 --> 00:22:13.069
I was all prepared
with sticks, ready to go.

00:22:13.093 --> 00:22:17.889
And instead of him saying,
"OK, Evelyn, please, feet slightly apart,

00:22:17.913 --> 00:22:23.753
arms at a more or less 90-degree angle,
sticks in a more or less V shape,

00:22:23.777 --> 00:22:26.821
keep this amount of space here, etc.

00:22:26.845 --> 00:22:29.399
Please keep your back straight,
etc., etc., etc." --

00:22:29.423 --> 00:22:33.587
where I was just probably going to end up
absolutely rigid, frozen,

00:22:33.611 --> 00:22:35.620
and I would not be able to strike the drum

00:22:35.644 --> 00:22:37.864
because I was thinking
of so many other things,

00:22:37.888 --> 00:22:40.451
he said, "Evelyn, take this drum
away for seven days,

00:22:40.475 --> 00:22:42.260
and I'll see you next week."

NOTE Paragraph

00:22:42.284 --> 00:22:44.689
So -- heavens! What was I to do?

00:22:44.713 --> 00:22:47.191
I no longer required the sticks.

00:22:47.215 --> 00:22:49.363
I wasn't allowed to have these sticks.

00:22:49.387 --> 00:22:53.024
I had to basically look
at this particular drum,

00:22:53.048 --> 00:22:54.721
see how it was made,

00:22:54.745 --> 00:22:57.761
what these little lugs did,
what the snares did.

00:22:57.785 --> 00:23:00.737
Turned it upside down,
experimented with the shell.

00:23:00.761 --> 00:23:02.474
(Drum sounds)

00:23:02.498 --> 00:23:03.844
Experimented with the head.

00:23:03.868 --> 00:23:05.330
(Drum sounds)

00:23:05.354 --> 00:23:07.134
Experimented with my body.

00:23:07.158 --> 00:23:08.952
(Drum sounds)

00:23:08.976 --> 00:23:10.800
Experimented with jewelry.

00:23:10.824 --> 00:23:12.912
Experimented with all sorts of things.

00:23:12.936 --> 00:23:16.315
(Drum sounds)

00:23:19.356 --> 00:23:21.832
(Drum sounds end)

00:23:23.182 --> 00:23:26.382
And of course, I returned
with all sorts of bruises.

00:23:26.406 --> 00:23:27.657
(Laughter)

00:23:27.681 --> 00:23:31.041
But nevertheless, it was such
an unbelievable experience,

00:23:31.065 --> 00:23:35.767
because where on earth are you going
to experience that in a piece of music?

00:23:35.791 --> 00:23:39.777
Where on earth are you going
to experience that in a study book?

00:23:39.801 --> 00:23:43.506
So we never, ever dealt
with actual study books.

00:23:43.530 --> 00:23:46.186
So for example,
one of the things that we learn

00:23:46.210 --> 00:23:50.894
when we are dealing
with being a percussion player

00:23:50.918 --> 00:23:52.277
as opposed to a musician,

00:23:52.301 --> 00:23:55.906
is basically, straightforward
single-stroke rolls.

00:23:55.930 --> 00:23:59.554
(Drum sounds)

NOTE Paragraph

00:23:59.578 --> 00:24:01.688
Like that, and then
we get a little faster --

00:24:01.712 --> 00:24:02.880
(Drum sounds)

00:24:02.904 --> 00:24:04.100
and a little faster --

00:24:04.124 --> 00:24:05.302
(Drum sounds)

00:24:05.326 --> 00:24:07.808
and a little faster,
and so on and so forth.

00:24:07.832 --> 00:24:09.271
What does this piece require?

00:24:09.295 --> 00:24:10.670
Single-stroke rolls.

00:24:10.694 --> 00:24:13.893
(Drum sound)

00:24:13.917 --> 00:24:17.379
So why can't I then do that
whilst learning a piece of music?

00:24:17.403 --> 00:24:20.221
And that's exactly what he did.

00:24:20.245 --> 00:24:25.595
And interestingly, the older I became,
and when I became a full-time student

00:24:25.619 --> 00:24:30.877
at a so-called "music institution,"
all of that went out of the window.

00:24:30.901 --> 00:24:33.642
We had to study from study books.

00:24:33.666 --> 00:24:37.767
And constantly, the question, "Well, why?
Why? What is this relating to?

00:24:37.791 --> 00:24:39.391
I need to play a piece of music."

00:24:39.415 --> 00:24:41.172
"Well, this will help your control."

00:24:41.196 --> 00:24:43.755
"Well, how? Why do I need to learn that?

00:24:43.779 --> 00:24:46.284
I need to relate it to a piece of music.

00:24:46.308 --> 00:24:48.870
You know, I need to say something.

NOTE Paragraph

00:24:48.894 --> 00:24:51.000
Why am I practicing paradiddles?

00:24:51.024 --> 00:24:55.006
(Drum sounds)

00:24:55.030 --> 00:24:58.897
Is it just literally for control,
for hand-stick control?

00:24:58.921 --> 00:25:00.305
Why am I doing that?

00:25:00.329 --> 00:25:02.729
I need to have the reason,

00:25:02.753 --> 00:25:08.334
and the reason has to be by saying
something through the music."

00:25:08.358 --> 00:25:12.851
And by saying something through music,
which basically is sound,

00:25:12.875 --> 00:25:17.247
we then can reach all sorts
of things to all sorts of people.

00:25:17.271 --> 00:25:21.520
But I don't want to take responsibility
of your emotional baggage.

00:25:21.544 --> 00:25:23.768
That's up to you,
when you walk through a hall,

00:25:23.792 --> 00:25:29.126
because that then determines
what and how we listen to certain things.

00:25:29.150 --> 00:25:34.431
I may feel sorrowful, or happy,
or exhilarated, or angry

00:25:34.455 --> 00:25:36.243
when I play certain pieces of music,

00:25:36.267 --> 00:25:41.144
but I'm not necessarily wanting you
to feel exactly the same thing.

00:25:41.168 --> 00:25:44.272
So please, the next time
you go to a concert,

00:25:44.296 --> 00:25:47.941
just allow your body to open up,

00:25:47.965 --> 00:25:51.047
allow your body to be
this resonating chamber.

00:25:51.071 --> 00:25:54.348
Be aware that you're not going
to experience the same thing

00:25:54.372 --> 00:25:56.078
as the performer is.

NOTE Paragraph

00:25:56.102 --> 00:25:59.842
The performer is in the worst possible
position for the actual sound,

00:25:59.866 --> 00:26:03.422
because they're hearing
the contact of the stick --

00:26:03.446 --> 00:26:04.958
(Drum sound)

00:26:04.982 --> 00:26:07.851
on the drum, or the mallet
on the bit of wood,

00:26:07.875 --> 00:26:10.062
or the bow on the string, etc.,

00:26:10.086 --> 00:26:14.224
or the breath that's creating
the sound from wind and brass.

00:26:14.248 --> 00:26:16.769
They're experiencing that rawness there.

00:26:16.793 --> 00:26:20.641
But yet they're experiencing
something so unbelievably pure,

00:26:20.665 --> 00:26:24.495
which is before the sound
is actually happening.

00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:31.075
Please take note of the life of the sound
after the actual initial strike,

00:26:31.099 --> 00:26:33.504
or breath, is being pulled.

00:26:33.528 --> 00:26:37.776
Just experience the whole
journey of that sound

00:26:37.800 --> 00:26:41.398
in the same way that I wished
I'd experienced the whole journey

00:26:41.422 --> 00:26:45.851
of this particular conference,
rather than just arriving last night.

00:26:45.875 --> 00:26:50.532
But I hope maybe we can share
one or two things as the day progresses.

00:26:50.556 --> 00:26:53.295
But thank you very much for having me!

00:26:53.319 --> 00:26:56.553
(Applause)

00:26:59.262 --> 00:27:00.960
(Applause ends)

00:27:12.957 --> 00:27:15.979
(Music)

00:31:37.631 --> 00:31:39.901
(Music ends)

00:31:43.244 --> 00:31:50.244
(Applause)