How to truly listen
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0:00 - 0:04I'm not quite sure whether I really want to see
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0:04 - 0:08a snare drum at nine o'clock or so in the morning.
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0:08 - 0:12But anyway, it's just great to see such a full theater,
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0:12 - 0:14and really I must thank Herbie Hancock
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0:14 - 0:18and his colleagues for such a great presentation. (Applause)
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0:18 - 0:22One of the interesting things,
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0:22 - 0:28of course, is the combination of that raw hand on the instrument
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0:28 - 0:35and technology, and of course what he said about listening to our young people.
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0:35 - 0:40Of course, my job is all about listening,
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0:40 - 0:46and my aim, really, is to teach the world to listen.
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0:46 - 0:50That's my only real aim in life.
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0:50 - 0:56And it sounds quite simple, but actually it's quite a big, big job.
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0:56 - 1:02Because you know, when you look at a piece of music -- for example,
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1:02 - 1:10if I just open my little motorbike bag -- we have here, hopefully,
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1:10 - 1:16a piece of music that is full of little black dots on the page.
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1:16 - 1:24And, you know, we open it up and I read the music.
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1:24 - 1:29So technically, I can actually read this.
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1:29 - 1:33I will follow the instructions, the tempo markings, the dynamics.
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1:33 - 1:38I will do exactly as I'm told.
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1:38 - 1:41And so therefore, because time is short,
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1:41 - 1:50if I just play you literally the first maybe two lines or so. It's very straightforward.
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1:50 - 1:51There's nothing too difficult about the piece.
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1:51 - 1:55But here I'm being told that the piece of music is very quick.
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1:55 - 1:59I'm being told where to play on the drum.
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1:59 - 2:04I'm being told which part of the stick to use.
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2:04 - 2:06And I'm being told the dynamic.
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2:06 - 2:11And I'm also being told that the drum is without snares.
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2:11 - 2:14Snares on, snares off.
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2:14 - 2:23So therefore, if I translate this piece of music, we have this idea. (Music)
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2:53 - 2:59And so on. My career would probably last about five years.
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2:59 - 3:07However, what I have to do as a musician is do everything that is not on the music.
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3:07 - 3:13Everything that there isn't time to learn from a teacher,
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3:13 - 3:16or to talk about, even, from a teacher.
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3:16 - 3:21But it's the things that you notice when you're not actually with your instrument
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3:21 - 3:26that in fact become so interesting, and that you want to explore
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3:26 - 3:30through this tiny, tiny surface of a drum.
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3:30 - 3:36So there, we experience the translation. Now we'll experience the interpretation. (Music) (Applause)
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4:25 - 4:33Now my career may last a little longer!
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4:33 - 4:38But in a way, you know, it's the same if I look at you and I see
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4:38 - 4:41a nice bright young lady with a pink top on.
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4:41 - 4:45I see that you're clutching a teddy bear, etc., etc.
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4:45 - 4:50So I get a basic idea as to what you might be about, what you might like,
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4:50 - 4:55what you might do as a profession, etc., etc.
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4:55 - 5:01However, that's just, you know, the initial idea I may have that we all get
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5:01 - 5:04when we actually look, and we try to interpret,
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5:04 - 5:06but actually it's so unbelievably shallow.
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5:06 - 5:09In the same way, I look at the music; I get a basic idea;
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5:09 - 5:14I wonder what technically might be hard, or, you know, what I want to do.
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5:14 - 5:16Just the basic feeling.
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5:16 - 5:18However, that is simply not enough.
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5:18 - 5:22And I think what Herbie said -- please listen, listen.
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5:22 - 5:26We have to listen to ourselves, first of all.
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5:26 - 5:36If I play, for example, holding the stick -- where literally I do not let go of the stick --
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5:36 - 5:40you'll experience quite a lot of shock coming up through the arm.
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5:40 - 5:42And you feel really quite -- believe it or not --
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5:42 - 5:45detached from the instrument and from the stick,
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5:45 - 5:51even though I'm actually holding the stick quite tightly.
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5:51 - 5:55By holding it tightly, I feel strangely more detached.
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5:55 - 6:02If I just simply let go and allow my hand, my arm, to be more of a support system,
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6:02 - 6:11suddenly I have more dynamic with less effort. Much more.
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6:11 - 6:16And I just feel, at last, one with the stick and one with the drum.
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6:16 - 6:18And I'm doing far, far less.
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6:18 - 6:21So in the same way that I need time with this instrument,
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6:21 - 6:27I need time with people in order to interpret them.
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6:27 - 6:29Not just translate them, but interpret them.
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6:29 - 6:37If, for example, I play just a few bars of a piece of music
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6:37 - 6:42for which I think of myself as a technician --
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6:42 - 6:47that is, someone who is basically a percussion player ... (Music)
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6:59 - 7:03And so on. If I think of myself as a musician ... (Music)
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7:25 - 7:32And so on. There is a little bit of a difference there that is worth just -- (Applause)
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7:32 - 7:34-- thinking about.
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7:34 - 7:37And I remember when I was 12 years old,
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7:37 - 7:43and I started playing tympani and percussion, and my teacher said,
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7:43 - 7:49"Well, how are we going to do this? You know, music is about listening."
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7:49 - 7:53And I said, "Yes, I agree with that. So what's the problem?"
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7:53 - 7:58And he said, "Well, how are you going to hear this? How are you going to hear that?"
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7:58 - 8:00And I said, "Well, how do you hear it?"
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8:00 - 8:04He said, "Well, I think I hear it through here."
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8:04 - 8:09And I said, "Well, I think I do too -- but I also hear it through my hands,
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8:09 - 8:16through my arms, cheekbones, my scalp, my tummy, my chest, my legs and so on."
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8:16 - 8:22And so we began our lessons every single time tuning drums --
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8:22 - 8:25in particular, the kettle drums, or tympani --
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8:25 - 8:34to such a narrow pitch interval, so something like ...
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8:34 - 8:41that of a difference. Then gradually ... and gradually ...
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8:41 - 8:46and it's amazing that when you do open your body up,
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8:46 - 8:50and open your hand up to allow the vibration to come through,
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8:50 - 8:54that in fact the tiny, tiny difference ...
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8:54 - 9:00can be felt with just the tiniest part of your finger, there.
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9:00 - 9:04And so what we would do is that I would put my hands on the wall
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9:04 - 9:11of the music room, and together we would "listen" to the sounds of the instruments,
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9:11 - 9:14and really try to connect with those sounds
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9:14 - 9:19far, far more broadly than simply depending on the ear.
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9:19 - 9:23Because of course, the ear is, I mean, subject to all sorts of things.
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9:23 - 9:28The room we happen to be in, the amplification, the quality of the instrument,
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9:28 - 9:38the type of sticks ... etc., etc.
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9:38 - 9:46They're all different.
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9:46 - 9:51Same amount of weight, but different sound colors.
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9:51 - 9:53And that's basically what we are. We're just human beings,
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9:53 - 9:56but we all have our own little sound colors, as it were,
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9:56 - 9:59that make up these extraordinary personalities
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9:59 - 10:02and characters and interests and things.
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10:02 - 10:08And as I grew older, I then auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music in London,
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10:08 - 10:12and they said, "Well, no, we won't accept you, because we haven't a clue,
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10:12 - 10:17you know, of the future of a so-called 'deaf' musician."
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10:17 - 10:21And I just couldn't quite accept that.
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10:21 - 10:28And so therefore, I said to them, "Well, look, if you refuse --
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10:28 - 10:31if you refuse me through those reasons,
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10:31 - 10:40as opposed to the ability to perform and to understand and love
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10:40 - 10:43the art of creating sound --
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10:43 - 10:49then we have to think very, very hard about the people you do actually accept."
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10:49 - 10:55And as a result -- once we got over a little hurdle, and having to audition twice --
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10:55 - 10:59they accepted me. And not only that --
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10:59 - 11:03what had happened was that it changed the whole role
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11:03 - 11:07of the music institutions throughout the United Kingdom.
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11:07 - 11:16Under no circumstances were they to refuse any application whatsoever on the basis of
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11:16 - 11:18whether someone had no arms, no legs --
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11:18 - 11:22they could still perhaps play a wind instrument if it was supported on a stand.
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11:22 - 11:29No circumstances at all were used to refuse any entry.
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11:29 - 11:34And every single entry had to be listened to, experienced and then
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11:34 - 11:42based on the musical ability -- then that person could either enter or not.
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11:42 - 11:48So therefore, this in turn meant that there was an extremely interesting
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11:48 - 11:52bunch of students who arrived in these various music institutions.
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11:52 - 11:55And I have to say, many of them now
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11:55 - 11:59in the professional orchestras throughout the world.
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11:59 - 12:01The interesting thing about this as well, though --
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12:01 - 12:06(Applause) --
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12:06 - 12:12is quite simply that not only were people connected with sound --
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12:12 - 12:19which is basically all of us, and we well know that music really is our daily medicine.
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12:19 - 12:22I say "music," but actually I mean "sound."
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12:22 - 12:25Because you know, some of the extraordinary things I've experienced
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12:25 - 12:30as a musician, when you may have a 15-year-old lad
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12:30 - 12:35who has got the most incredible challenges,
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12:35 - 12:38who may not be able to control his movements,
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12:38 - 12:41who may be deaf, who may be blind, etc., etc. --
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12:41 - 12:47suddenly, if that young lad sits close to this instrument,
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12:47 - 12:50and perhaps even lies underneath the marimba,
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12:50 - 12:56and you play something that's so incredibly organ-like, almost --
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12:56 - 12:59I don't really have the right sticks, perhaps --
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12:59 - 13:03but something like this. Let me change. (Music)
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13:53 - 13:54Something that's so unbelievably simple --
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13:54 - 14:00but he would be experiencing something that I wouldn't be,
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14:00 - 14:02because I'm on top of the sound.
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14:02 - 14:05I have the sound coming this way.
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14:05 - 14:08He would have the sound coming through the resonators.
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14:08 - 14:18If there were no resonators on here, we would have ... (Music)
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14:18 - 14:22So he would have a fullness of sound that those of you in the front few rows
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14:22 - 14:26wouldn't experience, those of you in the back few rows wouldn't experience either.
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14:26 - 14:29Every single one of us, depending on where we're sitting,
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14:29 - 14:33will experience this sound quite, quite differently.
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14:33 - 14:36And of course, being the participator of the sound,
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14:36 - 14:42and that is starting from the idea of what type of sound I want to produce --
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14:42 - 14:45for example, this sound.
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14:51 - 14:54Can you hear anything?
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14:54 - 14:57Exactly. Because I'm not even touching it.
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14:57 - 15:03But yet, we get the sensation of something happening.
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15:03 - 15:05In the same way that when I see tree moves,
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15:05 - 15:09then I imagine that tree making a rustling sound.
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15:09 - 15:11Do you see what I mean?
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15:11 - 15:15Whatever the eye sees, then there's always sound happening.
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15:15 - 15:19So there's always, always that huge --
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15:19 - 15:24I mean, just this kaleidoscope of things to draw from.
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15:24 - 15:30So all of my performances are based on entirely what I experience,
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15:30 - 15:34and not by learning a piece of music, putting on someone else's interpretation of it,
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15:34 - 15:39buying all the CDs possible of that particular piece of music, and so on and so forth.
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15:39 - 15:45Because that isn't giving me enough of something that is so raw and so basic,
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15:45 - 15:51and something that I can fully experience the journey of.
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15:51 - 16:00So it may be that, in certain halls, this dynamic may well work. (Music)
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16:09 - 16:13It may be that in other halls, they're simply not going to experience that
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16:13 - 16:16at all and so therefore, my level of soft,
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16:16 - 16:18gentle playing may have to be ... (Music)
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16:43 - 16:50Do you see what I mean? So, because of this explosion in access to sound,
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16:50 - 16:52especially through the deaf community,
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16:52 - 16:57this has not only affected how music institutions,
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16:57 - 17:03how schools for the deaf treat sound -- and not just as a means of therapy --
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17:03 - 17:06although of course, being a participator of music,
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17:06 - 17:09that definitely is the case as well.
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17:09 - 17:16But it's meant that acousticians have had to really think about the types of halls
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17:16 - 17:21they put together. There are so few halls in this world
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17:21 - 17:25that actually have very good acoustics,
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17:25 - 17:31dare I say. But by that I mean where you can absolutely do anything you imagine.
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17:31 - 17:36The tiniest, softest, softest sound to something that is so broad,
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17:36 - 17:41so huge, so incredible! There's always something --
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17:41 - 17:43it may sound good up there, may not be so good there.
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17:43 - 17:45May be great there, but terrible up there.
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17:45 - 17:49Maybe terrible over there, but not too bad there, etc., etc.
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17:49 - 17:54So to find an actual hall is incredible
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17:54 - 17:58-- for which you can play exactly what you imagine,
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17:58 - 18:01without it being cosmetically enhanced.
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18:01 - 18:08And so therefore, acousticians are actually in conversation with people who are
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18:08 - 18:14hearing impaired, and who are participators of sound.
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18:14 - 18:16And this is quite interesting.
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18:16 - 18:22I cannot, you know, give you any detail as far as what is actually happening
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18:22 - 18:28with those halls, but it's just the fact that they are going to a group of people
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18:28 - 18:32for whom so many years we've been saying,
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18:32 - 18:35"Well, how on Earth can they experience music? You know, they're deaf."
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18:35 - 18:39We just -- we go like that, and we imagine that that's what deafness is about.
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18:39 - 18:41Or we go like that, and we imagine that's what blindness is about.
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18:41 - 18:46If we see someone in a wheelchair, we assume they cannot walk.
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18:46 - 18:53It may be that they can walk three, four, five steps. That, to them, means they can walk.
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18:53 - 18:57In a year's time, it could be two extra steps.
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18:57 - 19:00In another year's time, three extra steps.
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19:00 - 19:05Those are hugely important aspects to think about.
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19:05 - 19:09So when we do listen to each other,
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19:09 - 19:17it's unbelievably important for us to really test our listening skills,
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19:17 - 19:22to really use our bodies as a resonating chamber, to stop the judgment.
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19:22 - 19:26For me, as a musician who deals with 99 percent of new music,
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19:26 - 19:29it's very easy for me to say, "Oh yes, I like that piece.
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19:29 - 19:31Oh no, I don't like that piece." And so on.
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19:31 - 19:37And you know, I just find that I have to give those pieces of music real time.
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19:37 - 19:42It may be that the chemistry isn't quite right between myself and that particular piece of music,
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19:42 - 19:47but that doesn't mean I have the right to say it's a bad piece of music.
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19:47 - 19:52And you know, it's just one of the great things about being a musician,
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19:52 - 19:56is that it is so unbelievably fluid.
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19:56 - 20:00So there are no rules, no right, no wrong, this way, that way.
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20:00 - 20:05If I asked you to clap -- maybe I can do this.
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20:05 - 20:11If I can just say, "Please clap and create the sound of thunder."
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20:11 - 20:14I'm assuming we've all experienced thunder.
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20:14 - 20:16Now, I don't mean just the sound;
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20:16 - 20:21I mean really listen to that thunder within yourselves.
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20:21 - 20:26And please try to create that through your clapping. Try. Just -- please try.
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20:26 - 20:33(Applause)
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20:33 - 20:43Very good! Snow. Snow. Have you ever heard snow?
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20:43 - 20:44Audience: No.
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20:44 - 20:50Evelyn Glennie: Well then, stop clapping. (Laughter) Try again.
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20:50 - 20:56Try again. Snow.
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20:56 - 20:58See, you're awake.
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20:58 - 21:07Rain. Not bad. Not bad.
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21:07 - 21:11You know, the interesting thing here, though, is that I asked a group of kids
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21:11 - 21:15not so long ago exactly the same question.
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21:15 - 21:19Now -- great imagination, thank you very much.
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21:19 - 21:22However, not one of you got out of your seats to think,
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21:22 - 21:24"Right! How can I clap? OK, maybe ... (Claps)
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21:27 - 21:30Maybe I can use my jewelry to create extra sounds.
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21:30 - 21:34Maybe I can use the other parts of my body to create extra sounds."
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21:34 - 21:39Not a single one of you thought about clapping in a slightly different way
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21:39 - 21:43other than sitting in your seats there and using two hands.
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21:43 - 21:45In the same way that when we listen to music,
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21:45 - 21:49we assume that it's all being fed through here.
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21:49 - 21:53This is how we experience music. Of course it's not.
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21:53 - 21:57We experience thunder -- thunder, thunder. Think, think, think.
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21:57 - 22:04Listen, listen, listen. Now -- what can we do with thunder?
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22:04 - 22:09I remember my teacher. When I first started, my very first lesson,
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22:09 - 22:13I was all prepared with sticks, ready to go.
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22:13 - 22:18And instead of him saying, "OK, Evelyn, please, feet slightly apart,
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22:18 - 22:24arms at a more-or-less 90 degree angle, sticks in a more-or-less V shape,
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22:24 - 22:27keep this amount of space here, etc.
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22:27 - 22:29Please keep your back straight, etc., etc., etc." --
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22:29 - 22:33where I was probably just going to end up absolutely rigid, frozen,
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22:33 - 22:35and I would not be able to strike the drum,
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22:35 - 22:37because I was thinking of so many other things -- he said,
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22:37 - 22:42"Evelyn, take this drum away for seven days, and I'll see you next week."
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22:42 - 22:47So, heavens! What was I to do? I no longer required the sticks;
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22:47 - 22:49I wasn't allowed to have these sticks.
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22:49 - 22:53I had to basically look at this particular drum,
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22:53 - 22:58see how it was made, what these little lugs did, what the snares did.
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22:58 - 23:05Turned it upside down, experimented with the shell, experimented with the head.
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23:05 - 23:11Experimented with my body, experimented with jewelry,
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23:11 - 23:13experimented with all sorts of things.
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23:23 - 23:26And of course, I returned with all sorts of bruises and things like that --
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23:26 - 23:31but nevertheless, it was such an unbelievable experience,
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23:31 - 23:36because then, where on Earth are you going to experience that in a piece of music?
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23:36 - 23:40Where on Earth are you going to experience that in a study book?
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23:40 - 23:43So we never, ever dealt with actual study books.
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23:43 - 23:46So for example, one of the things that we learn
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23:46 - 23:52when we are dealing with being a percussion player, as opposed to a musician,
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23:52 - 23:56is basically straightforward single stroke rolls.
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23:59 - 24:06Like that. And then we get a little faster and a little faster and a little faster.
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24:06 - 24:09And so on and so forth. What does this piece require?
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24:09 - 24:17Single stroke rolls. So why can't I then do that whilst learning a piece of music?
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24:17 - 24:20And that's exactly what he did.
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24:20 - 24:25And interestingly, the older I became, and when I became a full-time student
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24:25 - 24:31at a so called "music institution," all of that went out of the window.
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24:31 - 24:33We had to study from study books.
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24:33 - 24:37And constantly, the question, "Well, why? Why? What is this relating to?
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24:37 - 24:41I need to play a piece of music." "Oh, well, this will help your control!"
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24:41 - 24:46"Well, how? Why do I need to learn that? I need to relate it to a piece of music.
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24:46 - 24:49You know. I need to say something.
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24:49 - 24:51"Why am I practicing paradiddles?
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24:55 - 25:00Is it just literally for control, for hand-stick control? Why am I doing that?
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25:00 - 25:03I need to have the reason,
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25:03 - 25:08and the reason has to be by saying something through the music."
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25:08 - 25:13And by saying something through music, which basically is sound,
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25:13 - 25:18we then can reach all sorts of things to all sorts of people.
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25:18 - 25:21But I don't want to take responsibility of your emotional baggage.
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25:21 - 25:23That's up to you, when you walk through a hall.
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25:23 - 25:29Because that then determines what and how we listen to certain things.
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25:29 - 25:35I may feel sorrowful, or happy, or exhilarated, or angry when I play
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25:35 - 25:37certain pieces of music, but I'm not necessarily
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25:37 - 25:41wanting you to feel exactly the same thing.
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25:41 - 25:44So please, the next time you go to a concert,
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25:44 - 25:51just allow your body to open up, allow your body to be this resonating chamber.
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25:51 - 25:56Be aware that you're not going to experience the same thing as the performer is.
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25:56 - 26:00The performer is in the worst possible position for the actual sound,
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26:00 - 26:06because they're hearing the contact of the stick on the drum,
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26:06 - 26:10or the mallet on the bit of wood, or the bow on the string, etc.,
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26:10 - 26:14or the breath that's creating the sound from wind and brass.
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26:14 - 26:16They're experiencing that rawness there.
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26:16 - 26:20But yet they're experiencing something so unbelievably pure,
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26:20 - 26:24which is before the sound is actually happening.
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26:24 - 26:30Please take note of the life of the sound after the actual initial strike,
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26:30 - 26:37or breath, is being pulled. Just experience the whole journey of that sound
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26:37 - 26:41in the same way that I wished I'd experienced the whole journey
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26:41 - 26:46of this particular conference, rather than just arriving last night.
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26:46 - 26:50But I hope maybe we can share one or two things as the day progresses.
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26:50 - 26:53But thank you very much for having me!
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26:53 - 27:03(Applause)
- Title:
- How to truly listen
- Speaker:
- Evelyn Glennie
- Description:
-
In this soaring demonstration, deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie illustrates how listening to music involves much more than simply letting sound waves hit your eardrums.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 31:51
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for How to truly listen | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for How to truly listen | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for How to truly listen | ||
TED edited English subtitles for How to truly listen | ||
TED added a translation |
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 5/19/2017. Multiple instances of sound representation were made more detailed throughout (e.g. "(Music)" was changed to "(Drum sounds)," etc.).