Touch the Sound

At Pizza and a Movie last night High 5 screened a documentary about Evelyn Glennie, a very famous and profoundly DEAF percussionist.

How can that be, you ask?

In her words: "Hearing is basically a specialized form of touch. Sound is simply vibrating air which the ear picks up and converts to electrical signals, which are then interpreted by the brain. The sense of hearing is not the only sense that can do this, touch can do this too. If you are standing by the road and a large truck goes by, do you hear or feel the vibration? The answer is both. With very low frequency vibration the ear starts becoming inefficient and the rest of the body's sense of touch starts to take over. For some reason we tend to make a distinction between hearing a sound and feeling a vibration, in reality they are the same thing. It is interesting to note that in the Italian language this distinction does not exist. The verb 'sentire' means to hear and the same verb in the reflexive form 'sentirsi' means to feel. Deafness does not mean that you can't hear, only that there is something wrong with the ears. Even someone who is totally deaf can still hear/feel sounds."

TOUCH THE SOUND, directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer, explores the relationship of our senses, both visually and sonically.

In this clip (not from the movie) you can watch Evelyn discuss her ideas about sound and how that informs her as a musician. See also plays a beautiful piece on the xylophone at 27:22 so you can just skip ahead if you like. Enjoy!