Dame Evelyn Glennie: UK Disability History Month
Hello, I’m Nicola and to mark UK Disability History Month 16th November - 16th December 2022 (UKDHM), I’m going to be writing a series of mini introductory blogs on notable disabled and/or chronically ill musicians.
Why the series?
I am often frustrated with some of the more reductive narratives surrounding disabled creatives in the media and quite how intrusive interviewers’ questions can be when it comes to disability. UKDHM provides an opportunity to challenge some of the more harmful historiography surrounding disabled artists. That may be false-inspirational and objectifying notions of ‘overcoming disability’ or lives erroneously painted in the monotone wash of a single characteristic. For this reason, I have tried to include wherever possible the artist’s own words on topics such as their craft, personal philosophy and views on access within the arts
This Things Musicians Don’t Talk About series aims to celebrate the artistry of each musician, provide a springboard to listening to their music and see where it takes you…
Evelyn Glennie (b. 1965)
“Deafness does not mean that you can’t hear, only that there is something wrong with the ears”
Copyright Kaupo Kikkas
Dame Evelyn Glennie is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist and composer from rural Aberdeenshire. Her groundbreaking career has been characterised by firsts: she is the first percussionist to forge a full-time career as a concert soloist, she gave the first performance of a percussion concerto in the history of the Proms and is the first female president of Help Musicians UK. Throughout her career, she has strived to take solo percussion to the forefront of the musical world and, as the commissioner of over 200 new works, has expanded the repertoire exponentially. Her archive, The Evelyn Glennie Collection, comprises over 3500 instruments she has collected, as well as artefacts documenting her unique career. As the world’s premier solo percussionist, Glennie has been honoured with multiple awards including two GRAMMYs, a BAFTA nomination and in 2017, she was made Companion of Honour in the New Year’s Honours list.
“My career and my life have been about listening in the deepest possible sense. Losing my hearing meant learning how to listen differently, to discover features of sound I hadn’t realised existed. Losing my hearing made me a better listener.”
Glennie is deaf and has written and given talks on the aesthetics of deafness, musicianship and what it is to truly listen. In her Hearing Essay, she articulates beautifully how hearing is, in essence, “a specialised form of touch” and where and how we feel resonance within our bodies.
Listen to Evelyn Glennie…
Got 5 minutes?
A Little Prayer (Evelyn Glennie)
An enduring early composition of Glennie’s, A Little Prayer inhabits a pure, chorale-like texture on the marimba in a moment of meditation.
Got half an hour?
Veni, Veni Emmanuel (James MacMillan, Evelyn Glennie)
Written for Glennie, James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni Emmanuel made history with its world premier in 1992 as the first percussion concerto ever to be performed at the Proms. Based around the advent hymn of the same name, the piece launches percussion to centrestage, holding its own in both equilibrium with, and opposition to, the orchestra.
My personal choice
My Spine (Björk, Evelyn Glennie)
There is something absolutely hypnotic about the rawness of Björk’s voice against the driving, skeletal sounds of Glennie playing tuned car exhaust pipes of her own design. Stylistically, it’s a melting pot of a track and I love the unique result of two such distinct artists coming together in collaboration.
Dame Evelyn Glennie in her own words:
Evelyn Glennie: How to truly listen (TED Talk)
Hearing Essay by Evelyn Glennie
‘In this essay I have tried to explain something which I find very difficult to explain. Even so, no one really understands how I do what I do. Please enjoy the music and forget the rest.’
(Image copyright C Payne)
The Evelyn Glennie Podcast
Each episode, Evelyn invites special guests to discuss their idea of listening and interpretation of sound.
About Nicola Warner
I am a cellist and conductor from Hertfordshire on an interruption of postgraduate conservatoire studies due to poor physical health. Living with a chronic illness has irrevocably shaped my perception of accessibility within the arts and the aesthetics of what is to be both disabled and a musician. I would like to thank and acknowledge the charities who have supported me during this abeyance including: The National Youth Arts Trust, Hitchin Youth Trust and The Benslow Musical Instrument Loan Scheme.
In the spirit of Hattie and Rebecca's bios, I am also: an espresso drinker, recovering over-thinker, disciple of the holy church of hoop earrings, cat-less cat person, strawberry Carmex addict, advocate for Chicken Run (2000) being a feminist classic that 100% passes the Bechdel test and Dymo label maker evangelist (get one, it will change your life).
Read Nicola’s blog- The Tortoise and the Hare
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