: Touch the sound :

I had a little flurry of activity today, and saw a very inspiring movie called Touch the Sound, a documentary about Grammy-winning percussionist Evelyn Glennie, who is deaf. It explores her philosophy of making music through improvised sound, as well as improvised playing with many different people and with different kinds of instruments. Some of the things she uses to make her sounds are soda cans, chopsticks, rolls of writing paper, cups, dishes, and of course all manner of conventional percussion instruments (drums, cymbals, gongs, marimbas, etc.)

I had a passing interest in this type of improvised music when I was a child because my uncle used to experiment with sound in the same manner. At the time, I just thought he was making noise because he didn't know how to play. He was always very eccentric and had all kinds of funny ideas. But now that I'm older and I've had a bit more experience in seeing musicians like Glennie, Keith Jarrett and Gabriela Montero, I recognize the incredible amount of skill and talent it takes to master soundmaking to such a degree that music becomes completely intuitive. As for my uncle, he was still just a no-talent ass clown - but fortunately there are people close to me now who are much better practitioners of the art.

I went to the drugstore today to print a photo to include with my application for SRS with Brassard and mailed that off. While I was there I got my passport photos taken for when my SRS letter comes back. I also finished the first part of my freelance writing assignment and turned it in. Hopefully I can wrap that up in another week or so. I'm still waiting on the formal offer letter from the PR firm so I can secure a new apartment. I thought it was going to come today, but I guess I will have to wait until tomorrow.