Special events / a report on our trip / volunteering opportunities
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Upcoming events will be Silent Bowling in Cranston, and a Coffee hour (well, actually 2 hours) in Pawtucket. We will have a picnic this summer and possibly a “field trip”. We are checking into mini-golf also. Stay tuned.
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Our second event will be………..stay tuned for an update.
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RIAD - RI Association of the Deaf is looking for some volunteers to help plan a fundraising effort. You do not have to be a member of RIAD. If interested, let me know and I will get you in contact with the right person.
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A report on the first field trip by Roger Williams University students to see Evelyn Glennie: In October, students saw the performance of Evelyn Glennie, world-know percussionist from Scotland. Evelyn is totally deaf. It is of no consequence in her mind. She simply “hears” the music differently - through her eyes and body and experiences music in a way that hearing people cannot.Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Ma. doesn’t have a single bad seat, but knowing the set up of the hall, I chose the balcony seats that are right above the stage. We were just several feet away from many of the musicians. The orchestra was from Brazil. The stage was packed with instruments and musicians. There are several elevated smaller “stages” toward the back which creates a rich blend of sounds. The elevated section of stage left had a string and percussion section. The elevated part of stage right had percussion. In the middle were some huge chimes. At the front of the stage were set up Evelyn’s myriad instruments - drums of various kinds, some “wood blocks” that looked like they were actually plastic, a large and medium gong, a marimba, triangle, delicate thin chimes and more. Everywhere you looked there was another interesting instrument.
The orchestra played a lengthy piece without Evelyn. Soon after they were done, an almost ghostly form appeared on the stage, moving noiselessly forward. In her long dress that disguised her steps, she seemed to glide to her place. Immediately, the audience could feel her commanding presence. She exudes confidence. She set herself, cat-like, with a slight tilt of the head, getting herself in synch with the vibrations and movements that would guide her through her performance. The audience below could not see what we did - Evelyn’s bare feet - necessary to feel the music. For a musician in the string or brass section, a minor mistake might not be noticed. For THE percussionist, the slightest error would be magnified.
As the piece began, Evelyn was transfixed on every movement of the orchestra and conductor. The audience was transfixed on her. and then….it began. This astounding woman turning metal and wood and plastic into beauty that permeated every space of that marvelous hall. Powerful, stirring. The instruments were part of her. She used them to put in her emotion and mesmerize those listening and watching. She moved ghost-like across the stage to the gong, back to the drums, over to the marimba, holding all four mallets with the skill of a master. The sounds - soft, flowing, resonant, slow, fast, exciting - she manipulated the audience. The instruments were an extension of herself and she touched each person before her with them, conveying every nuance of feeling. I felt the goose-bumps on my arms as I became more and more amazed at what I was witnessing. The piece continued for 20 minutes and she had played a dazzling array of instruments. The end of the piece was coming…..the music softened…..Evelyn made her way to the back, to the center, and climbed to the chimes and waited. She began to play, at first with power, then softening, softening, until the audience could feel the hairs on their heads and arms tingle and it was done. As a person who loves music, it was a night well-spent. But to know that I heard what she cannot, that I experienced what she cannot and she experienced what I cannot because she is deaf.
What I thought of was the courage it takes to put on performances like that. Then I realized it was not courage really, not doing something in spite of fear, but absolute fearlessness. She was the master of the stage, the equipment, the audience. An unforgettable experience for me. After seeing what we did, I turned to my students and asked them “So, what is there that you cannot do?”
Manny