Quotes By Evelyn Glennie

A large part of my work has been collaborating with composers; I think we've commissioned about 140 pieces now, a lot of them percussion concertos.

The audience plays a huge part in how a piece will actually form. They really allow the performers to walk a tightrope in a way that never seems to happen in the privacy of your own four walls. I'm listening to the audience, and they're listening to me.

My hearing is out of the ordinary as others might see it, but not for me. I'm used to my hearing in the same way that I'm used to the size of my hands.

I associate going to an airport with work because I travel so much with my job. So when I have a few days free from work, I tend to stay at home.

If I just simply let go, and allow my hand, my arm, to be more of a support system, suddenly - I have more dynamic with less effort. Much more, and I just feel, at last, one with the stick, and one with the drum.

I think I can only help to expose percussion to all sorts of people. The balance between the lighter and more serious side is important.

Once you're in a particular country, and you're surrounded by musicians who are so adept at traditional music, you suddenly realize how much there is to explore and digest and learn and experience.

Your mallet or your stick goes through the instrument, the sound goes out and then wherever the sound goes nobody knows, you know.

Music really is our daily medicine.

Concerts have to be seen as a real event for which the aim is to try and feed everybody.

There's still a lot I need to do as a player, as a musician, as a sound creator. I have commissioned 170 pieces: that's still not enough, there are still lots and lots of composers I would like to approach. When I see a composer and I see a performer, I think to combine those forces.

The human body and mind are tremendous forces that are continually amazing scientists and society. Therefore, we have no choice but to keep an open mind as to what the human being can achieve.

Hearing is a form of touch. You feel it through your body, and sometimes it almost hits your face.

I want to be able to say on my deathbed that I reached a few people. That would be very nice, just to be able to say that.

When I was 12, I happened to see a schoolmate playing percussion, and it looked interesting. I asked for lessons, and it felt right.

Holidays are about experiences and people, and tuning into what you feel like doing at that moment. Enjoy not having to look at a watch.

My favorite instrument is the snare drum. In Scotland, the snare drum is very prominent in Highland bands. The Scottish style of playing is in my blood. It's a very powerful instrument, but it can also be soothing, like velvet. It's a real challenge for composers.

It's the things that you notice when you're not actually with your instrument that, in fact, become so interesting, and that you - you want to explore, through this tiny tiny surface of a drum.

Music is about communication... it isn't just something that maybe physically sounds good or orally sounds interesting; it's something far, far deeper than that.

Percussion is the most adaptable family of instruments. The biggest challenge is to project percussion in a lyrical way.

And as I grew older, I then auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music in London, and they said, well, no, we won't accept you, because we haven't a clue - you know - of the future of a so-called 'deaf' musician. And I just couldn't quite accept that.

I often play on the cello-bass side of the orchestra, because I prefer the deep sounds. I can't hear the violins well.

What I have to do as a musician is do everything that is not on the music.

The thing about playing percussion is that you can create all these emotions that can be sometimes beautiful, sometimes really ugly, or sometimes sweet, sometimes as big as King Kong and so on. And so there can be a real riot out there, or it can be so refined.

Anything you strike, anything you shake or rattle, or just anything that can be picked up, and you can create a sound.

Society cannot continue to disable themselves through their need to categorize people or make assumptions as to another individual's abilities.

I didn't decide to become a musician until the age of 15, which is quite late.

The body's like a huge ear. It's as simple as that.

As we live longer and healthier for longer, we need to keep ourselves busy... the diary is pretty full.

My first real foreign holiday was my honeymoon 20 years ago, and we went to Bali. It was particularly special for that reason, I enjoyed it very much - I had packed music scores and a practice drum pad, suspecting that I would be completely bored, but actually they remained in my case.