The Dame of Percussion
In an exclusive interview – David Childs chats to the world’s leading percussion soloist and three-time Grammy Award-winner, Dame Evelyn Glennie, about her music, career, what motivates her and brass bands
Dame Evelyn Glennie needs no introduction to anyone within the world of music. Having toured 42 countries, commissioned over 200 works for solo percussion, featured on over 30 CD recordings, given ground-breaking performances at the Wigmore Hall, the BBC Proms and the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, not to mention a cameo playing dustbins with Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street, Evelyn Glennie has done more for percussion than anyone else. Now one of the world’s most renowned musicians, I was keen to find out how music came to be her life.
Born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1965, Evelyn grew up on a farm and took a particular interest in percussion when she reached secondary school - Ellon Academy. She recalled: “All the new pupils going into secondary school were introduced to the orchestra in assembly. I’d already been playing the piano and spent a year playing the clarinet, although I knew it wasn’t really for me, so I wanted something else to try alongside the piano. I was very much inspired by the percussion of the orchestra and, through a good pool of peripatetic teachers, I was given the opportunity to learn.”
During her school years, Evelyn’s classroom and percussion teachers had a great influence on the young teenager. “My classroom teacher made an effort to really grasp what each individual was interested in. He encouraged me to compose and orchestrate my music for the school orchestra to play in concerts. However, he would also insist that I conduct the performances, allowing me to experience the whole journey of my little creation coming to life. As a youngster, it was a huge confidence booster and taught me so much. My percussion teacher, Ron Forbes, was also a great inspiration. He felt that all his pupils were first and foremost sound creators, then musicians, and then percussion players, as opposed to percussion players, then musicians who happen to create sound. That psychology had a huge impact on me and has been extremely important, especially when dealing with new music.”
It was during those school years, at the age of 13, that Evelyn composed A Little Prayer, a simple chorale for solo marimba, which has endured as one of her most popular and celebrated compositions. With arrangements for solo euphonium and brass band, it is also a familiar work within most brass band libraries. “I wrote it when developing my four-mallet legato playing, but the musicality and wonderful velvetiness that brass bands can produce suits the music so well. Some just seem to know when to make it glow and that’s what’s so special - it’s the musicians that make that piece.”
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