THE SOUND OF MUSIC

BY: Deborah Cowley I

PART-I

DETAILED SUMMARY

 This chapter tells about the life story of a Scottish girl named Evelyn Glennie. When she was eight years old, it was noticed for the first time that she had lost her hearing capacity to some extent. She managed to conceal it from her friends and teachers in the school. But when she was of eleven, the case of her deals got confirmed. She had lost her hearing capacity totally. It happened as a result of gradual nerve damage. Everything had turned black for her.
 But she did not give up to it. She was determined to lead a normal life. She learnt music. A famous percussionist Ron Forbes helped her a lot in the learning of music. He encouraged her. Ile told her not to hear music through her ears but through some other way. She practised hard and got success in listening to music through other organs of her body. She had learnt to open her mind and body to sounds and vibrations
She never looked behind from that point onwards. She toured the United Kingdom with a youth orchestra. At the age of sixteen, she decided to make music her life. She gave an audition for the Royal Academy of music. She scored one of the highest marks in the history of the academy. She had got a mastery of some 1000 instruments of music.

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 She could listen and understand even the minutes’ point. It seems impossible that a deaf person like her can respond to the things so fluently. She spoke flawlessly with a Scottish lilt. She says that music pours in through every part of her body. It tingles in the skin, her cheekbones and even her hair. When she plays the xylophone, she can listen to its music through the finger tops. By leaning against the drums, she can listen to the echoes in her heart. She performs barefooted on a wooden platform so that music may reach to her heart through her feet and legs.
 In 1991 she was presented with the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious Soloist of the Year Award. She calls her a workaholic. Apart from the regular concerts, she gives free performances in prisons and in hospitals. She also gives high priority to classes for young musicians. She is a shining inspiration for deaf children.

Summary(2):

 This biographical feature is a brief account of how Evelyn Glennie, a Scottish musician, was able to achieve the greatest heights in the field of music despite the hearing impairment she suffered at a young age of eight years. Instead of yielding to the handicap, Evelyn pursued her dream and eventually made her way to the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Evelyn’s mother came to know about her daughter’s deafness when at the age of eight