Introduction and Background

• I Am Remarkable global movement: 400,000 people attended workshops across 170 countries, 1000+ companies
• International Day of Persons with Disabilities celebration (December 3rd)
• Host: Vince Cerf, VP/Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, hearing impaired since age 13, wears two hearing aids
• Guest: Dame Evelyn Glennie, world's premier solo percussionist

Dame Evelyn Glennie's Achievements

• Double Grammy Award winner, BAFTA nominee
• Composed for film, theater, television
• Started Evelyn Glennie podcast in 2020
• Awarded OBE 1993, Order of British Empire
• Polar Music Prize, Companion Honor, 100+ international awards
• Curator of Evelyn Glennie Collection
• Created iconic film "Touch the Sound," TED Talk, book "Listen World"
• Recent: 2023 Sontag Music Prize recipient
• Profoundly deaf, mission to "Teach the World to Listen"

Early Musical Journey and Education

• Started percussion at age 12-13
• Schools believed "every child has a story to tell"
• Education emphasized finding links between subjects
• First percussion lesson: given drum for one week, no sticks/stands
  • Discovered different surfaces created different resonances
  • Kitchen table vs garden lawn vs concrete produced varying sounds
  • Dynamics became "full of color" rather than just loud/soft
• Second lesson: teacher asked to create "feel of a tractor"
  • Developed vocabulary of sound textures and environments
  • Stationary vs moving, old vs new, different acoustic contexts

Career Development and Solo Percussion

• Needed to commission many pieces to sustain solo percussionist career
• No existing recordings to reference - had to depend on personal musicianship
• Brought pieces to the body, manipulated body based on feeling
• Every performance like "world premiere" - different audience, acoustic, hall, clothes, day
• Curiosity about peeling layers from each situation

Listening with the Body

• Hearing aids at school (age 12-13) boosted sound but didn't provide clarity
• "Wall of sound" was confusing, affected balance and touch sensitivity
• Teacher experiment: hands on wall to feel drum resonance
• Discovered sound resonance through small parts of body
• Different pitches felt in different body parts depending on room position/instrument
• Began performing without hearing aids - "heard less but actually heard more through the body"
• Could link sounds through physical presence even when audience heard silence
• Acoustic environment affected rhythm and interpretation choices

Haptic Technology Experience

• Wore haptic vest with music fed through it
• Couldn't recognize piece of music (her own solo snare drum recording played million times)
• Sound coming from different direction (back vs face) created completely different experience
• Haptics good for steady sounds, need development for emotional content

Mission: Teach the World to Listen

• Realized being a musician meant being a "listener"
• Master classes became about asking questions rather than giving answers
• Students became teachers through exploration
• Internet/YouTube changed listening - visual without bodily/physical experience
• "High end, cosmetic sounds" feeding upper body only
• Key message: getting to depth of sound experience
• Listening includes presence of sound, silence, audience, acoustics
• Communication with people with dementia - presence and dedication remain 100% regardless of verbal ability

Soundscape vs Music in Care

• Proposed bringing person's work soundscape into their environment
• Carpenter, teacher, medical person, politician - what sounds were they immersed in?
• Explore within their current space rather than always bringing musicians
• Difference between music and sound in this context

Imposter Syndrome and Performance Challenges

• Balance between confidence (being asked for a reason) and staying grounded
• World premieres with unfamiliar orchestras, conductors, halls
• 2-3 hours rehearsal time only
• Must be open to chemistry, musical body language
• Zoom out vs zoom in approach depending on situation
• Composition work often for media - visual stimulus (elephant in Thailand) with musical emotion
• Healthy to sometimes think "I have no idea what I'm doing"
• Music profession about stress and release cycles

Advice for Building Confidence

• Inner listening and chat with ourselves crucial
• Support system and vocabulary used by surrounding people important
• Reflection absolutely key - need time alone with situations
• Everyone moves and learns differently, at different speeds
• Know when to push yourself vs when to step back
• Early career: turned down major record contract at 19-20 because not ready
• Few years later accepted different contract when ready
• Taking control of situation as much as possible

Celebration and Recognition

• No specific celebration rituals after performances/compositions
• Sense of relief after premieres
• Real learning curve happens after premiere
• Priority: ensuring pieces have independent life, not dependent on one person
• Recognition provides moment to reflect, then motivates next steps
• Not "massively celebratory person" but appreciative

Greatest Achievement and Future Perspective

• Greater perspective comes with age - can look back, be present, look forward
• Keep listening to yourself and what feels right now
• Don't try to fit 20-year-old feelings to current situation
• Don't be dictated by fads
• Reality: body won't always physically manipulate instruments
• Many things musicians can do beyond physical performance
• Can always be part of profession doing something meaningful

Advice for People with Disabilities

• Confidence built through inclusive environment - normal comprehensive school
• Mixed with hearing impaired, sight impaired, wheelchair users
• Inclusiveness always important
• Works with kids "in all shapes and sizes" not specifically deaf kids
• Shared languages can be extended depending on situations
• Music found everywhere - spoken word can be barrier
• Sound connection through instrument/voice/physical expression is connecting point
• Think about entry points - not obvious or "boxed up" ones
• Everyone might have different entry point, doesn't exclude participation

The Sounds of Science Project

• Created with historian and composer
• Rolling out to UK schools
• Explores oral aspect of history vs traditional museum/book/lecture approach
• 10,000 years of human-developed sounds (~90 sounds chosen)
• Stone tool making → spark generation → fire discovery → cooking/warmth
• Progression through helium, steamboat, first telephone message, computer, silent movies, bicycle bell, typewriter
• Entry point for non-musicians, non-historians, non-composers
• Global timeline perspective - what happened in Far East during steamboat invention, etc.
• Impact on understanding where we are and why we're here

International Day of Persons with Disabilities Message

• We're isolating a demographic - what is disability?
• Something seen or talked about vs everyone having something to attend to
• Disabilities in communication in current age
• Communication is key thread running through people
• Creates "blanket of color, texture, warmth, connectivity"
• Opens conversation - example of wheelchair interaction
• Ask respectful, direct questions: "would you prefer if I sit down?"
• Make situations as normal as possible
• Most important: ask "how can I be more helpful/communicate better?"

Evelyn Glennie Foundation (In Registration)

• Listening at core of all activities
• How listening impacts all lives: inner chatter, connecting with others, supporting each other
• Surroundings affect listening and productivity
• Examples: noisy restaurant affecting food enjoyment
• Architecture: curved vs angular corners (helpful for deaf people - not spooked by people jumping from corners)
• School canteens: metal surfaces, scraping chairs, kids' voice frequencies
• Home acoustics consideration in building/design
• Sound "spring cleaning" - unnecessary/harmful sounds
• Multiple TVs, computers, phones in house
• Listening to body as musician - this is all I have to manipulate instruments

Audience Q&A Highlights

Self-Advocacy Evolution

• Uncomfortable promoting self early in career
• Wanted recognition as musician, not "deaf musician"
• Media wanted simple explanation - refused initially
• Through master classes and listening journey, became more comfortable discussing hearing/listening
• Process wasn't straightforward - required inner listening

Home Practice Without Drum Kit

• Anything can be drum kit with imagination
• Example: drummer on social media using sofa cushions
• Feel and belief more important than actual sound
• Less is more - single snare drum with towel, imagine full kit layout
• Let imagination go free

Olympics 1000 Drummers Synchronization

• Many technical people involved (deserved gold medals)
• Different UK groups auditioned with enthusiasm
• Led by experienced percussion students/professionals
• Worked on rhythm together, came together for dress rehearsals
• Recorded drumming part at Abbey Road Studios
• Engineers made it sound like many drummers
• Visual: actual 1000 drummers synchronized with earpieces
• Instructions given for beat, pattern repetitions based on arena timing
• Huge team effort

Silence and Deafness

• Very aware of silence but doesn't really exist
• Body functions continue: veins, pulse, heartbeat, inner chatter
• Mood creates "din" - nervous feeling before performance creates noise
• Only true silence is death
• John Cage's 4'33" - discovered silence doesn't exist
• When performing piece: split movements for listening to self, space, others
• Audiences never report "silent movement"
• Peripheral senses always engaged

What Makes Her Remarkable

• Enjoys connecting with own feelings
• Enjoys chatting with herself and giving it time to resonate
• Curiosity about peeling next layer of listening
• Needs both self-reflection and people
• Hope that space exploration includes listening beyond what's fed through ears