Yes, you read correctly, the topic for today is about the deaf Scottish Percussionist.
I first heard of this lady many years ago. Her name is Evelyn Glennie and she wasn’t born deaf – she started going deaf at the age of 8 and gradually lost her hearing until the age of 12 when she lost her hearing entirely. Despite her deafness, she has become a world class percussionist, performing all over the world and has even had music written especially for her. She is quite a prolific composer and her list of awards and accomplishments is very long and very impressive.
I find it mind blowing that someone who is so profoundly deaf can become such an incredible musician because music is something that we mostly hear and sometimes physically feel the vibrations. Apparently she has written about her deafness and says that it wasn’t that difficult for her to learn music because she learned to hear differently, that is, she learned to listen to music by paying attention to the various vibrations.
I figure that if someone with a huge disadvantage like deafness can somehow figure out how to successfully make music at such a high standard, then surely the rest of us can overcome some of our own hurdles.
So the question I put before you is: are your obstacles real or are they self imposed? Another way of putting it is: do you have genuine obstacles that with some creativity can be worked around so that you can learn to play the piano or are you already telling yourself that you can’t learn before you have ever tried? I know that some people have genuine obstacles, such as arthritis, that need creative solutions, but many people convince themselves that they can’t learn before they have ever even had a go at learning.
There have been many, many people that have tried to tell me that they couldn’t learn because they can’t learn to read music or because they don’t think that they have enough talent or because they don’t have enough patience. When people have told me this, I am polite but I often think that they have no right to say any of these things unless they have genuinely tried. I think too many people are prepared to give up before they ever begin because they have a fear of failure and if they never tried then they can’t fail but sadly, they can’t succeed either.
Clearly Evelyn Glennie is an extraordinary person as well as being an extraordinary musician. She found a way around her significant obstacle of being deaf, so what can you do to find a work around your obstacles and finally start learning to play the piano?