Five years ago, I saw the documentary film "Touch the Sound", which featured the Scottish percussion artist Evelyn Glennie. Shortly afterward, I attended a concert she gave at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. She inspired me to create a series of clay percussion pieces, using wire for plucking or bowing, glass for chiming, and wooden tuning forks. The clay inself can be struck for resonance. I loved the idea of producing these varied, unusual sounds.
In Wednesday's Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper, there was a front page feature article and photo of Evelyn in the GlobeArts section. Last night, at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, she performed "The Shaman", a new percussion concerto by Winnipeg-based composer Vincent Ho, to open the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's New Creations Festival. How I would have enjoyed being there!
These are some photos of a few of the pieces from that clay series - The Soundscape Sculptures. The wires stretch across the vessels. Their tones can be altered using the wooden tuning forks at the rims. Such fun!
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