OK, a couple of things you need to know about The 1% Club Podcast straight off the bat.
We’re not just chatting to people who were born in Aberdeenshire.
We’re not just speaking to people with disabilities.
I say that because following on from Episode 1 with Neil Fachie, Episode 2 welcomes our first guest proper, Dame Evelyn Glennie.
Someone, who, as I mention in our introduction has done everything from Ted Talks….
…..to appearing on Sesame Street!
Few, if any of the people we meet in Season 1 have been as game changing as Evelyn has in her own field of music.
I say that in the full and certain knowledge that before Evelyn became a solo percussionist, there weren’t any.
She literally created the idea of it in her mind and then gave it form, knowing if it existed in her head it could be made real.
You’ll hear how growing up on a farm near Methlick in a loving family with a stoic attitude, (which knew the meaning and value of hard work through every member), helped shape the person she’s become.
One of the things that’s so interesting about Evelyn is that as she was learning the nuts and bolts of what was going to become her life’s work, she was doing so as her hearing deteriorated and then eventually disappeared.
So when she went to secondary school, and wanted to advance along a musical path, she was met by barriers on a couple of levels. Firstly, that the academic system at that time was of the belief if you were deaf you were filtered off to a school for the deaf which did things in a certain way.
Second, after fighting for the right to be mainstream educated, Evelyn would have to learn to interpret sound on an entirely new level – something akin to understanding and then communicating fluently in a totally different language.
The fact she discusses these things almost matter-of factly is down to that stoic upbringing and because for Evelyn, it’s one of the things which ‘just is’.
You’ll hear about how she left school, and ultimately home at the age of 16, to study full time in London, where the only communication at the time (which was useful to her on any level) was good old-fashioned snail mail. Mobile phones and email were still to be invented. Love came in the occasional form of a warm letter and a rowie to-be-warmed slightly later.
Evelyn shares a fascinating story, speaking candidly about critics, explains her drive and purpose, as well as what’s in her toolbox for success.
Something else to note from this episode is that it was very early on in our series and we hadn’t yet decided on some of the finer points like what we would use for a musical theme, or should we even have one?
So of course we asked Evelyn, and ultimately a few minutes after recording decided upon a track called Emanate, written and performed by….who else but Dame Evelyn Glennie.
We thought it was very fitting.
The other thing to listen out for is towards the end of this episode. We thought it would be a nice little idea for that episode’s guest to leave a question for the following episode’s guest to answer, passing it on like a baton.
So in this episode, Evelyn answers a question posed by Neil in the previous show.
To me, it’s a must-listen moment. I hope you feel the same way.
Remember, you can hear all our shows here.
You can also watch Evelyn here
Please listen and follow our show, and maybe rate and review us?
We’d love to know what you think.
If you like the show, please feel free to share it with friends.
We really appreciate all of that, so thank you, and enjoy listening from Monday, August 23rd, (in the week Neil races for Paralympic Gold on the cycling track in Tokyo) our chats with both him and Dame Evelyn Glennie.
The 1% Club Podcast 