Touch the Sound

Tuesday I received my copy of the DVD Touch the Sound - A Sound Journey With Evelyn Glennie.

I have been looking forward to getting this since I ordered it!

After bell choir rehearsal on Tuesday night, I popped it into the DVD player & sat back to let it wash over me.

I was NOT disappointed.

The visuals were simply stunning - the things the director chose to film and how he wove those into the music.... I intend to use some of these ideas when it comes time to film my own DVD (I only wish I had the same budget!!).

One of the highlights of the film was the filming of Evelyn Glennie and Fred Frith recording a completely improvised CD in a sugar factory in Germany. Yes, a completely improvised CD! It's also called Touch the Sound.

Now before I go on, if you didn't click on the links for Evelyn & Fred above, go do it now. They are both incredible musicians and you need to know their work.

OK, did you look? I'll go on now...

Not only was the footage and the music from the session incredible, but another reason why it was so cool is that Fred Frith teaches at Mills College in Oakland. Why is that a big deal?

Because my friend Pam Grove just completed a degree in Handbell Performance there. That's a noteworthy achievement in its own right, because there are only 2 colleges in the US where you can major in handbells. Pam was the first one at Mills and basically created her degree as she went.

Another cool thing is this: Fred Frith played guitar on her senior recital!! Here is this world-class musician, well-known and respected in the world of new music, playing on the senior recital of the first person to major in handbells at Mills!!

AND, a personal bit of coolness -- I shared the stage with Fred! :-)

While I mostly took a supporting role in the recital (read: I was a roadie), I got to play afuche on Peter Gabriel's Shaking the Tree which closed the recital. Fred played guitar. I stood right next to him!!

OK, thanks for letting me be a bit star-struck there, but it really was cool!

Here's a YouTube video of an excerpt from the DVD. This is Evelyn on marimba & Fred on guitar playing A Little Prayer. Look at the incredible camera work! This is the sort of thing I'd like to do for my own video.




(Note in the interest of full disclosure: if you click on the link for the DVD or CD and then buy it, I receive a 4% commission.)