Poke the Music with a Stick

Class on Monday began with some discussion and debate over the guilt felt in leaving the room in disarray the previous week. It's very interesting to see how most of the class seemed pretty gung-ho about the idea last week, but this week are feeling a little uncomfortable with the idea. I'm in that boat, too - sort of. I don't REGRET anything, but I do realize it was pretty dickish. I try to not be a jerk, so I did feel a bit of moral dissonance afterwards. But hey...what's past is past.

As a segue into the next portion of class, we were instructed to don plastic bags over our eyes and listen to a bit by Evelyn Glennie. My initial reaction to the piece was just a "meh". It seemed unfocused, and had no discernible ending point. Lots of fake outs. As an added point against the enjoyment of the piece, paranoia began to creep in as I sat there. My mind was absolutely SURE that everybody else had since removed their bags and were staring at me. Weird maybe...but I couldn't shake the feeling.

It wasn't until we actually saw the documentary on Glennie that I was able to take in some of her work that I could truly appreciate. Her collaborations with Frith were just so RAW - she's definitely gained the ability to (despite her hearing loss, or maybe more accurately BECAUSE of her hearing loss) tap into the very essence of sound. She perceives sound in such a completely different manner and can still translate that into an enjoyable experience. Her pieces within the documentary seemed much more focused than the piece we heard beforehand.

What I took away from the film is that there's a lot going on around us that we just gloss over. Glennie's sensitivity to the FEELING of sound makes her more aware of it. In fact, I tried to absorb more of the ambient sound as I walked to my car after class. It's a jarring experience - and a satisfying one. I'd recommend to anybody to take a few minutes, find a location, sit, and just listen. Listen to everything. You know how you can widen your field of vision and not focus on anything...just take it all in? Do that with your ears. Maybe I'm alone, but for someone who's not used to taking it all in like this - it may just blow your mind.