Before the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie wasn’t a name I had really heard of, and the fact she was a drummer who was profoundly deaf was incredibly interesting but didn’t make me want to research her further. As a person studying ‘sound’ this is shocking. It wasn’t until recently when I rewatched the ceremony that I began to think about this. In fact it was only when she started playing that I thought, well surely she would feel the vibrations from the whole place, not just from her drums. Well of course I immediately realised that she was standing on a separate platform, therefore she could only physically feel the vibrations from her drums and the other drummers. But it is a truly fascinating area and I would love to educate myself more on the use of vibration in music. I can only assume that it is to do with the building itself and how it has been constructed. The construction helps the vibrations to travel in much the same way as sound travels, creating the vibrations into musical notes. I will research the subject further and there will be a post with my findings in a few weeks’ time. But for now here is some of Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie’s music.
Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie
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