Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A percussion virtuoso who, profoundly deaf from twelve, achieved international acclaim performing on hundreds of instruments.
On the island
Eight records
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:12How can it be an irrelevance, Evelyn? Surely music is written to be heard?
I think music is an experience, it's an emotional experience. Music is oral, it's visual, it's something that quite often we can't actually explain, we can't actually find the words to explain it. And for me, I find that I get great satisfaction in trying to work out a score, in actually becoming one with my instruments, actually finding out the voice of the instrument, if you like, or the spirit of the instrument. But you can pick up a score, can you, and read it like a book? Yes, I can pick up really any score. Of course, the more contemporary it is, you know, if it's really squeakygate-type music, then that can be quite hard. But basically, I can pick up a score and make sense of it, and that's absolutely vital. So, basically, my listening repertoire is very small, but I can quite quickly read a score and really make sense of that.
Presenter asks
6:17Your voice is very well modulated, which is unusual for someone who's hard of hearing. How do you explain that?
First of all, music is used a lot in schools for the deaf, and of course the earlier you can experience music, the better. Music really does help speech. And it's interesting that many of my friends who are deaf and who are musicians have very, very good speech, even if they've been born deaf. The remainder of my friends who are deaf but who are not musicians have fairly poor quality voices. And I think that we're so aware of vibration, so in tune with sound and what it means to us, that we're very aware of phrasing, of modulation, of accenting.
The keepsakes
The book
The Way of the Peaceful Warrior
Dan Millman
It's a book that was first introduced to me by another percussionist, and um since then I've read it about a hundred times. It's basically a self-awareness book, and I spent a while where I read nothing but self-improvement books, and I found that, you know, I I really got a lot of enjoyment out of that, and this was one of my favourite ones.
The luxury
I'm I'm addicted to chocolate and so I really, really would have to have just stacks and stacks of chocolate bars an endless supply of chocolate.
Presenter asks
7:47When you perform as a soloist with a pianist, how do you manage? Where are the clues that the pianist has to give you?
When I work with a pianist, I don't regard it as a solo accompaniment situation. It really is a duo that we have. And so it's essential for my pianist to see me and to see my instruments and sticks so that he has visual clues. And also, it's essential that I see his keyboard, his face, his feet, and inside the piano. Can you get into a position where you can see all of that? Oh, yes, oh yes, absolutely. We have it all worked out. This means that basically we have total communication. The pianist that I use for most of my concerts, we've worked together for so long, for so many years now, that we're in a position where we can actually take chances in performances. So sometimes my pianist will go off and do something totally different that we've never done in rehearsal before or something, and I think, uh-oh, here we go, and I would do something myself. ... No, it's that's the sort of thing that I love. It's that real kind of where you're sort of walking on a tightrope all the time. That I think is great. It keeps you on your toes. It's also showing off.
Presenter asks
13:19Do you remember the moment when it was finally diagnosed and you were told that you would be, or were about to be, profoundly deaf?
Yes, I think it was a pretty hard situation on my mother especially. She took it quite badly. Whereas for me nothing had really changed. I mean it wasn't well suddenly one day you could hear and the next day you couldn't. It was all very gradual, which is great. And of course when you're young, I mean you can adapt to anything. And of course the older you become, the harder it is really. So for an adult to suddenly be told, well, your daughter is profoundly deaf, then that's quite hard to take, especially when it's so bluntly told to you.
Presenter asks
18:20Just explain to me in a little bit more detail how you hear with your body, because I know you hear your timpani with your feet, don't you?
Basically I plow my whole body into the instrument. So low sounding instruments such as tympani or bass drum, even orchestral cymbals, you know, the clash cymbals really set your whole body off. And eventually you begin to recognise those sounds and recognise exactly where you're feeling them to such an extent that you can almost tell perhaps the interval of a third or a fourth or something, you know, so it's quite close. Depending whether it's in your big toe or your instep. Exactly. I mean, literally that. When I was a youngster, I would place my hands on the wall, and my teacher would play two drums, and I would say where I was feeling you know, through the wall, and coming through my hands, I'd say where I was actually feeling the notes that he was playing. And so he may have said, okay, which is the higher drum? And so I would say which one it was and why. So we would work like that until the intervals grew closer and closer together. And that was a great way of becoming so aware of another dimension, if you like, a sound.
Presenter asks
31:11If you could be granted one wish, surely it would be to have your hearing back?
I don't think so. I think if losing my hearing happened later in life, much, much later in life, it would have been perhaps much harder to cope with because, of course, you're set in your ways and it's very, very difficult to adapt, really, when you're older. So i in a way, you know, if you're going to lose anything, then the best time to lose it is is when you're a child, really, because you can always adapt. So I can't really say that having my hearing back would be the greatest wish on earth. I've developed a sense I've developed Evelyn, if you like, by being as I am. I mean, I'm a musician who in a way sees music from two different angles, and that for me is a gift, you know, and I don't want that to be taken away from me.
“I'm basically a musician. I'm not a deaf musician. I just happen to be a musician who's chosen this career and I happen to be deaf, just as I happen to have brown hair.”
“That's the sort of thing that I love. It's that real kind of where you're sort of walking on a tightrope all the time. That I think is great.”
“I don't have time to think about not being able to hear or whatever.”
“If you're going to lose anything, then the best time to lose it is is when you're a child, really, because you can always adapt.”