Dame Evelyn Glennie

Award-winning percussionist, public speaker and author

This musician’s remarkable career has placed the power of listening front and centre

After beginning to lose her hearing at the age of eight, Evelyn, with the help of her percussion teacher, honed her awareness of sound to the extent that she now describes her body as a “resonating chamber”. Evelyn was the first solo percussionist and first hearing-impaired student to be accepted in the Royal Academy of Music, and played the first percussion concerto in the history of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in 1992. She has since become the first person to create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist, recognised when she led 1,000 drummers in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Today she performs worldwide with the greatest orchestras, conductors and artist, with two GRAMMYs and more than 100 international awards to her name. Evelyn’s mission is ‘To teach the world to listen’, inspire creativity, and improve access to the arts for all children.

A key question

Michael: “Let’s start with: ‘Really pay attention – that’s what listening is all about’. Do explain that to us.”

Evelyn: “Listening is the thing that glues us all together and I do feel that listening has to start from within. It’s nothing mysterious or zenlike, it’s not attached to religion or anything like that – it’s simply a function that we are all able to do. We all have access to it, and the opportunity. I feel in order to slow our bodies down a bit, we have to pay attention. That’s what listening is. When I glue one note to another note, when I play music, that’s what listening is.”

Evelyn on...

Carving a unique path: “I wanted to be a solo percussionist; this did not exist on a full-time basis. So that was completely about listening to my gut instinct… How do I imagine the repertoire that doesn’t even exist yet in order to sustain this career?”

Rejection: “If [the Royal Academy of Music] refuses me for [my deafness] 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 actually accept.”

Career longevity: “It takes time, discovery and curiosity; it takes all the ups and downs to give you that experience and resilience. With listening you’re always trying to engage with a story – we all have a story to tell.”

The importance of detail: “When I began to lose my hearing, I found myself really paying attention to minute detail that didn’t necessarily create sound; someone’s face, how their eyes moved, what the mouth was doing, the hand gestures and so on.”

Evelyn’s Lockdown List

What are you watching? Past videos of the great Jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette.

Who is your biggest inspiration? My dad, because it was what he didn’t say that was important.

Best tip for life? Listen to yourself.

Listen now: https://changemakers.works/podcasts/dame-evelyn-glennie-on-what-it-means-to-truly-listen/