Are you coming from the Heart?

Since I began learning and playing percussion and indeed piano and clarinet there has been a fascination about how I can possibly accomplish these things with a severe hearing loss impairment. In the early years it was inconceivable that I would be able to participate, let alone carve a new career as a solo percussionist. Over the years I have spent a lot of time breaking down barriers, shedding concerns and dispelling doubts about my own, and others, ability to enjoy and participate in music.

My quest was beautifully supported by a play written by Charles Way titled Playing from the Heart. A Washington DC film company, Imagination Stage took up the challenge and produced a film of the same name.

The title 'Playing from the Heart' has depth and meaning to me which is often reflected in others around me. I share patronage with many charities and I see people strive to provide the most basic of comforts; clean water, nourishment, and education are the simplest commodities of life that most of us take for granted. I feel passionately about trying to inspire the young and to encourage parents to allow exploration without prejudice. I receive many letters and emails from teachers who find themselves faced with a disabled student and they feel unqualified, to teach them in the traditional manner.You can take it from me 'normal is as normal does', in which I mean from birth we are learning whether or not we are born or become disabled. Our learning capacity may be hampered but what we sometimes need to think about is how to teach someone with a particular impairment. In other words we need to teach the same subjects, but differently.

In my case I had to learn to 'feel' music using all the senses in my body. I was not specifically aware I was doing this however that is what has happened. I see something very similar in the sensory development of the blind where some senses, such as hearing and feeling through the hands, become more sensitive thus enabling the mind to envisage objects or sounds around them.

 'Against all odds' is another term that evokes incredible emotion both negative and positive. Before I met Danny Boyle, the prospect of participating in the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games seemed an impossible dream. I soon realised people like Danny Boyle are amazing visionaries. He had a concept in his head of an opening ceremony like no other. He was able to share that vision with funders, creative teams, major organising bodies, artists and especially volunteers. He 'enabled' us all to believe the impossible could be accomplished. Each segment was discussed and put into practice in isolation. As one of the artists I just had to believe in his directive and do my job. The one thing I knew was I had to do it well - therefore I would say to all of you who are in doubt if you believe it can work even if it means adapting or exploring other ways of doing something then put your heart and soul into it and it will happen.

Image by Rachel Blackwell

Poor me!

At the beginning of the week I accidentally cut my first finger on my right hand on the sharp edge of a tin lid that I had foolishly left in the washing up bowl.

I have been amazed at how such a tiny cut has become so debilitating. So many things we take for granted are suddenly made much more difficult to do. Fastening buttons, typing, holding mallets, opening bottles and even doing up my bra have been extremely hard to accommodate with my bandaged finger. So poor me!

Frustrated by my limitations I found myself considering how it must feel to suffer much worse disabilities. I recently performed a double concerto for percussion and cello written by Olga Hans for Dominik Połoński and myself. Dominik was born in 1977 and for many years he was absolutely the number one young talent in Poland. He achieved almost everything for a Young musician - won several competitions, played concerts, recorded many CD's, received a scholarship at the legendary Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid, where he studied under Natalia Szachowska, and Mścisław Rostropowicz.

In 2004 he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He went through 4 operations and his left hand remains disabled. In 2006 Doctors told him 'this is it', and gave him 3 weeks to live. Dominik started working with therapists using only his mind. After a while the cancer was gone.

In January 2009 he returned to the stage and performed a piece by Olga Hans - first cello concerto for the right hand. 

During our recent performance in Lodz, Poland I was and remain deeply humbled by Dominik's tenacity and determination and performing with him will always be one of my proudest moments.

Here in the UK we are on the run up to Comic Relief and each time I see the work of the charities including Able Child Africa I can only imagine the overwhelming sense of futility for millions of children with disabilities in the poorest parts of the world. How would I feel if I had not had the support of a peripatetic teacher or my family and friends? What would my life have been like if I had been born deaf in Africa where the only hope must come from the kindness of others?

I am always heartened by the generosity of those who pledge millions each year for charities who are supported by Comic Relief and I am hoping to visit some of the projects in Kenya and Uganda to see for myself how our efforts are put to good use and how we are making a difference - so please dig deep in your hearts and pockets and know that every small donation really does help.

Talking Heads

Two snare drums having a chat in a sunny auditorium.

The little one said "I really like this room. It is nice and bright."

The big one said 'Might be OK now, but later on you'll get your head bashed!'

6ft Baby filled with Percussion!

Perception - I find this word full of intrigue and mystery and I am aware it often leads to misunderstanding and in the case of the '6ft baby filled with percussion' - hilarity!

Like many people in our modern virtual world I like to use email to keep in touch and stay updated on matters especially regarding work.

However because I am often out and about I use a Blackberry mobile phone to connect with my family and team, those of you with sore thumbs will appreciate why I often abbreviate my messages or in some cases I just end up typing the least amount of characters I can get away with. And this occasionally creates havoc!

My involvement this week with a brilliant Sky Arts programme which I am shortly about to appear on has left my team in hysterics as they read my abbreviated text this morning "A baby will be too small to get percussion inside of the piano so the minimum would be a 6 ft." 

I had been discussing the release of my new CD Sound Spirits which I recorded last year at Real World Studios with the Guitarist Jon Hemmersam. The CD is pure improvisation and my input involved getting my head and some of my percussion instruments inside a piano to create pure sounds in an unusual way!

Their perception skills ran amok as they read my email and tried to work out what my message meant. As you can imagine I am not applying some kind of cruelty to oversized babies I was referring to a Baby Grand Piano! I will have to bear their giggles for sometime to come. 

I thought I would share this with you in the hope that you would have other anecdotes to tell me and that my team will see I am not alone!!

Help! my mail daemon is depressed!

Having had a very frustrating week due to a variety of technical problems trying to finalise my new e-commerce store. I finally fell about laughing when I saw the comments in a Mailer Daemon email today. The text below was in amongst a string of hypertext and as I sipped my coffee and reached for another biscuit I just could not help but imagine a sad, bedraggled, downtrodden Ethernet robot struggling in a virtual queue trying to deliver an email that just would not go!

From: Mailer Daemon:

Hi. This is the mail message programme.

“I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses. This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out. Greeting failed. Service refused, please try later.

I'm not going to try again; this message has been in the queue too long."

But please do try my store which is now finally open!!!

When Michael met Kai........

Last week  I met with Kai Steensgard and Michael Hansen. They are a dynamic duo who have created and built the Aluphone I used to perform the beautiful 'Caliban's Dream's' to accompany the lighting of the flame at the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony.

The instrument was conceived when Kai and Michael met at a trade fair. They got together following a friendly competitive exchange as they vied for each others customers!

Michael's business involves the use of the aluminium cones to cap wooden posts and Kai is a Musician and they were on opposite stalls. Their friendly exchange led to curiosity about the sound the post caps would make if struck by a mallet - and an instrument idea was born!

They came to me with the prototype, which is the actual instrument I used in the ceremony.

Since then we have shared ideas and concepts about this beautiful instrument and thus created several versions of the 'Glennie Aluphone', testament to the great working relationship between percussionists and instrument manufacturers to develop and improve our instruments.

When a new instrument is made I make it a priority to ensure composers are made aware about the prospect of creating compositions including the addition of exciting new sounds and this one is no exception! 

My studio is often described as an Aladdin's Cave! and I have shared many hours with composers exploring a huge range of sounds created on some of the many instruments I have in my collection.

You would be amazed how many different sounds can be created from just one instrument and I have always had a curiosity for wanting to try every surface even if it means turning the whole thing upside down! I still cannot resist the temptation to explore all avenues and have ended up in fits of giggles when composers join me for an afternoon of sound creation. 

The attached image was taken at my offices with Kai and Michael, as you can see the Aluphone is a very impressive instrument and I am proud of the place it holds in my collection.

Fusional Fragments and the Pied Piper!

When I first discussed the idea of Percussion and Dance I was not completely sure how this would work out. Me in a tutu! maybe not!

However my subsequent meetings with Marc Brew filled me with excitement about this brand new project. Marc's dancers have been extremely responsive to having me on stage and in amongst them with my instruments. My interaction has been compared to the Pied Piper enticing the dancers into an unknown world.

When percussion meets another medium there are a great deal of practical obstacles to overcome and in this production the team have proved extremely inventive with the strategic placement of my instruments on stage.

As the dancers perform the atmosphere changes and engulfs them into a surreal broken environment. This is where I use my percussive persuasion to entice them to break free of their fragmented worlds.

The next performances are at Tramway in Glasgow on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th October.

I hope you will be able to book your tickets to one of these exciting performances and please do let me know what you think, I welcome your feedback.