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| Dame Evelyn Glennie at the City Lit Percussion Orchestra's workshop (Photo: Frances Marshall) |
Solo percussionist and alumna of the Royal Academy of Music, Dame Evelyn Glennie has become Patron of the City Lit Percussion Orchestra (CLPO). The Percussion Orchestra is part of City Lit’s Centre for Learning Disability Education, in partnership with the Royal Academy of Music. Students with an ear for instruments can learn to play percussion and compose music as a group.
To mark the occasion, Dame Evelyn visited a workshop at City Lit, where she is also a Fellow. She collaborated with the Percussion Orchestra, performing and improvising alongside the participants and passing on her expert insights. Current Academy percussion student Zach Mitchell, who has worked with the CLPO for over a year, took part in this session along with Academy harpist Bonnie Scott and Adam Collins, a recent graduate and tuba player, who is a long-standing volunteer musician with the orchestra.
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| The City Lit Percussion Orchestra's workshop (Photo: Frances Marshall) |
The session began with the group's regular social circle where they discussed the nature of the class and meanings of interpretation. Together they performed a rendition of Terry Riley's In C, a work that Dame Evelyn had not played before. The students were then treated to a masterclass from Dame Evelyn, where she stressed the importance of 'finding your own sound story.' She also led an introduction to new percussion techniques and tools, demonstrating unique instruments, some of which she had made herself. These included homemade superball mallets and a set of Korean metal chopsticks. The session ended with a group improvisation led by Dame Evelyn and Zach Mitchell, and solo improvisations from Bonnie Scott and Adam Collins on harp and tuba which gradually opened to the group and led to a jam with all participants, encouraged by Dame Evelyn.
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| The City Lit Percussion Orchestra's workshop (Photo: Frances Marshall) |
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