Evelyn Glennie - percussionist, talks about "how to listen"

2023年06月14日

打楽器奏者で作曲家のデイム・エブリン・グレニーは、12 歳までにほぼすべての聴力を失いました。彼女は逆境を乗り越えました。それは彼女を孤立させるのではなく、彼女に自分の音楽との独特のつながりを与えました。(English) Percussionist and composer Dame Evelyn Glennie lost nearly all her hearing by age 12. She overcame adversity. Rather than isolating her, it has given her a unique connection to her music.

Evelyn Glennie - percussionist, talks about "how to listen."

I'm unsure whether I want to see a snare drum at nine or so in the morning.

But anyway, it's just great to see such a packed theatre, and really, I must thank Herbie Hancock and his colleagues for such an excellent presentation.

Of course, one of the exciting things is the combination of that bare hand on the instrument and technology and what he said about listening to our young people.

Of course, my job is all about listening. And I aim to teach the world to hear. That's my only real aim in life. And it sounds pretty simple, but actually, it's quite a big, big job.

Because you know, when you look at a piece of music, for example, if I open my little motorbike bag -- we have here, hopefully, a part of music that is full of little black dots on the page. And, you know, we open it up. And I read the piece.

So technically, I can read this. I will follow the instructions, the tempo markings, and the dynamics. I will do exactly as I'm told. And so, because time is short, if I just played you, literally, the first, maybe, two lines or so -- It's very straightforward; there's nothing too tricky about the piece.

But here, I'm being told that the amount of music is rapid. I'm being told where to play the drum. I'm being told which part of the stick to use. And I'm being told the dynamic. And I'm also being told that the drum is without snares. Snares on pitfalls off. So, therefore, if I translate this piece of music, we have this idea.

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

However, what I have to do as a musician is do everything that is not on the music, everything that there isn't time to learn from a teacher, or to talk about, even from a teacher.

But the things you notice when not with your instrument become so interesting that you want to explore through this tiny drum surface. So there, we experience the translation. Now we'll share the interpretation.

Now my career may last a little longer.

But in a way, it's the same if I look at you and see a lovely, bright young lady with a pink top. I know that you're clutching a teddy bear, etc., etc. So I get a basic idea of what you might be about, what you might like, what you might do as a profession, etc.

However, that's the initial idea I may have that we all get when we look and try to interpret. But actually, it's so unbelievably shallow. In the same way, I look at the music; I get a basic idea; I wonder what technically might be hard, or, you know, what I want to do—just the primary feeling.

However, that is not enough. And I think what Herbie said: please listen, listen. We have to listen to ourselves first of all. If I play, for example, holding the stick -- where I do not let go of the post -- you'll experience a lot of shock coming up through the arm. And you feel real quite- believe it or not- detached from the instrument and the stick, even though I'm holding it quite tightly.

By holding it tightly, I feel strangely more detached. If I just let go and allow my hand, my arm, to be more of a support system, suddenly -- I have more dynamic with less effort. Much more -- and I feel, at last, one with the stick and one with the drum. And I'm doing far, far less.

So, in the same way, that I need time with this instrument, I need time with people to interpret them. Not just translate them but solve them. If, for example, I play just a few bars of a piece of music for which I think of myself as a technician -- that is, someone who is a percussion player -- And so on, if I think of myself as a musician -- And so on. There is a little bit of a difference there that is worth just --

And I remember when I was 12 years old, and I started playing timpani and percussion, and my teacher said, "Well, how are we going to do this? You know, music is about listening." And I said, "Yes, I agree with that, so what's the problem?" And he said, "Well, how will you hear this? How are you going to hear that?" And I said, "Well, how do you hear it?" He said, "Well, I hear it through here." And I said, "Well, I think I do too, but I also hear it through my hands, arms, cheekbones, scalp, tummy, chest, legs and so on."

And so we began our lessons every single time tuning drums, in particular, the kettle drums, or timpani to such a narrow pitch interval, so something like --And it's amazing that when you do open your body up, and open your hand up to allow the vibration to come through, that the tiny, tiny difference -- can be felt with just the smallest part of your finger, there.

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And so what we would do is that I would put my hands on the wall of the music room, and together, we would "listen" to the sounds of the instruments and try to connect with those sounds far, far more broadly than simply depending on the ear. Because, of course, the ear is subject to all sorts of things. The room we happen to be in, the amplification, the quality of the instrument, the type of sticks --

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They have the same amount of weight but different sound colours. And that's basically what we are; we're just human beings, but we all have our little proper colours, as it were, that make up these extraordinary personalities and characters and interests and things.

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And as I grew older, I then auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music in London, and they said, "Well, no, we won't accept you because we haven't a clue, you know, of the future of a so-called 'deaf musician.'" And I couldn't entirely accept that.

And so, therefore, I said to them, "Well, look, if you refuse -- if you refuse me through those reasons, as opposed to the ability to perform and to understand and love the art of creating sound -- then we have to think very, very hard about the people you do accept." And as a result, once we got over a little hurdle and had to audition twice, they accepted me.

And not only that, but what happened was that it changed the fundamental role of music institutions throughout the United Kingdom.

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Under no circumstances were they to refuse any application whatsoever on whether someone had no arms or legs -- they could still perhaps play a wind instrument if it was supported on a stand.

No circumstances at all were used to refuse any entry. And every single entry had to be listened to, experienced, and then, based on musical ability, that person could either enter or not.

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And so therefore, this, in turn, meant that there was an exciting bunch of students who arrived at these various music institutions, and I have to say, many of them are now in professional orchestras worldwide.

The exciting thing about this, though, is that not only were people connected with sound -- which is all of us -- we know that music is our daily medicine.

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I say "music," but actually, I mean "sound." Because some of the extraordinary things I've experienced as a musician -- when you may have a 15-year-old lad who has got the most incredible challenges, who may not be able to control his movements, which may be deaf, who may be blind, etc., etc. -- suddenly, if that young lad sits close to this instrument, and perhaps even lies underneath the marimba, and you play something that's so incredibly organ-like, almost -- I don't have the right sticks, maybe -- but something like this -- let me change

Something that's so unbelievably simple -- but he would be experiencing something I wouldn't be because I'm on top of the sound. I have the sound coming this way. He would have the sound coming through the resonators. If there were no resonators on here, we would have:

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So he would have a fullness of sound that those of you in the front few rows wouldn't experience, and those of you in the back few rows wouldn't share, either.

Everyone, depending on where we're sitting, will experience this sound quite differently.

And, of course, being the participator of the sound, and that is, starting from the idea of what type of sound I want to produce, for example, this sound:

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Can you hear anything? Exactly -- because I'm not even touching it.

But yet, we get the sensation of something happening. In the same way that when I see a tree move, then I imagine that tree is making a rustling sound. Do you know what I mean? Whatever the eye sees, then there's always sound happening. So there's always that vast- just this kaleidoscope of things to draw from.

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So all of my performances are based entirely on what I experience, and not by learning a piece of music, putting on someone else's interpretation of it, buying all the CDs possible of that particular piece of music, and so on, because that isn't giving me enough of something so raw and so essential, and something that I can fully experience the journey of. So it may be that, in specific halls, this dynamic may well work.

It may be that in other halls, they're simply not going to experience that at all, and so therefore, my level of soft, gentle playing may have to be --

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Do you see what I mean? So, because of this explosion in access to sound, primarily through the Deaf community, this has not only affected how music institutions and schools for the deaf treat sound, and not just as a means of therapy -- although, of course, being a participator of music, that is the case as well -- but it's meant that acousticians have had to think about the types of halls they put together.

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There are so few halls in this world that have excellent acoustics. But by that, I mean where you can make anything you imagine—the tiniest, softest, softest sound to something so broad, massive, and incredible. There's always something: it may sound good up there, may not be so good there; it may be great there, but terrible up there; maybe awful over there, but not too wrong there, etc., etc.

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So to find an actual hall is incredible -- for which you can play exactly what you imagine, without it being cosmetically enhanced. So, therefore, acousticians are actually in conversation with people who are hearing impaired and participators of sound.

And this is quite interesting. I cannot give you any detail regarding what is happening with those halls, but it's just that they are going to a group of people for whom so many years, we've been saying, "Well, how on earth can they experience music? They're deaf."

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We go like that and imagine that's what deafness is about. Or we go like that and imagine that's what blindness is about. If we see someone in a wheelchair, we assume they cannot walk. It may be that they can walk three, four, or five steps. That, to them, means they can walk. In a year, it could be two extra steps. In another year's time, three different stages.

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Those are hugely important aspects to think about. So when we listen to each other, we must test our listening skills, use our bodies as a resonating chamber, and stop judgment. As a musician who deals with 99 per cent of new music, it's straightforward for me to say, "Oh yes, I like that piece. No, I don't like that piece," and so on. And I find I have to give those pieces of music in real-time.

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It may be that the chemistry isn't quite right between myself and that particular piece of music, but that doesn't mean I have the right to say it's nasty. And you know, one of the great things about being a musician is that it is so unbelievably fluid. So there are no rules, right, wrong, this way, that way.

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If I asked you to clap -- maybe I can do this. If I can say, "Please clap and create the sound of thunder." I'm assuming we've all experienced thunder. Now, I don't mean just the sound; I mean listen to that thunder within yourselves. And please try to create that through your clapping. Try, -- please try.

Snow.

Have you ever heard of snow?

Audience: No.

Evelyn Glennie: Well, then, stop clapping.

Try again. Try again: snow.

See, you're awake.

Rain.

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Not bad. Not bad. The exciting thing is that I recently asked a group of kids the same question. Now -- great imagination, thank you very much. However, none of you left your seat to think, "Right! How can I clap? OK, maybe:

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

Not a single one of you thought about clapping in a slightly different way other than sitting in your seats there and using two hands. In the same way, when we listen to music, we assume that it's all being fed through here. This is how we experience music. Of course, it's not.

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We experience thunder, thunder, thunder. Think, think, think. Listen, listen, listen. Now, what can we do with thunder?

I remember my teacher; when I first started my first lesson, I was all prepared with sticks, ready to go.

And instead of him saying, "OK, Evelyn, please, feet slightly apart, arms at a more or less 90-degree angle, sticks in a more or less V shape, keep this amount of space here, etc.

Please keep your back straight, etc., etc., etc." -- where I was just probably going to end up rigid, frozen, and I would not be able to strike the drum because I was thinking of so many other things, he said, "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. I wasn't allowed to have these sticks. I had to look at this particular drum, see how it was made, what these little lugs did, and what the snares did. I turned it upside down and experimented with the shell.

I experimented with the head.

I experimented with my body.

I experimented with jewellery. I tested with all sorts of things.

And, of course, I returned with all sorts of bruises.

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Nevertheless, it was such an unbelievable experience because where on earth will you experience that in a piece of music?

Where on earth are you going to experience that in a study book? So we never, ever dealt with actual study books.

So, for example, one of the things that we learn when dealing with being a percussion player instead of a musician is short single-stroke rolls.

Like that, and then we get a little faster --

and a little faster --

and a little faster, and so on. What does this piece require? Single-stroke rolls.

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So why can't I do that while learning a piece of music? And that's precisely what he did. And interestingly, the older I became, and when I became a full-time student at a so-called "music institution," all of that went out of the window.

We had to study from study books. And constantly, the question, "Well, why? Why? What is this relating to? I need to play a piece of music." "Well, this will help your control." "Well, how? Why do I need to learn that? I need to relate it to a piece of music. You know, I need to say something.

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Why am I practising paradiddles?

Is it just literally for control, for hand-stick control? Why am I doing that? I need to have the reason, which must be by saying something through the music."

And by saying something through music, which is sound, we can then reach all sorts of things to all kinds of people. But I don't want to take responsibility for your emotional baggage.

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That's up to you when you walk through a hall because that determines what and how we listen to certain things. I may feel sorrowful, happy, exhilarated, or angry when I play specific pieces of music, but I'm not necessarily wanting you to feel the same thing.

So please, the next time you go to a concert, allow your body to open up and this resonating chamber. Be aware that you won't experience the same thing as the performer.

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The performer is in the worst possible position for the actual sound because they hear the contact of the stick -- on the drum, or the mallet on the bit of wood, or the bow on the string, etc., or the breath that's creating the sound from wind and brass.

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They're experiencing that rawness there. But yet, they're experiencing something so unbelievably pure before the sound is happening. Please note the sound's life after the initial strike, or breath, is pulled.

Just experience the whole journey of that sound in the same way I wished I'd experienced the entire journey of this particular conference rather than just arriving last night.

But I hope we can share one or two things as the day progresses. But thank you very much for having me!