Dame Evelyn Glennie is one of the world’s best-known solo percussionists in contemporary classical music, and for that, she certainly didn’t do the fact that the Scottish-born girl has been more or less deaf since she was nine. But the fact has had an impact on the way Glennie listens and that is precisely why she promoted her professional development as a musician with a firm will and very individually. The approach, which she had to train as soon as her ears became weak, is passed on in this small, deliberately easy-to-read, but incredibly enlightening – book with many consequences. In general, Glennie asks whether listening (listening) is not much more than just recording noise (hearing). It is an active, conscious and, above all, whole-body process, in which sound recording with the ears is only one component among many others. Deafness is rarely the complete absence of sound. Once you have said goodbye to the traditional understanding of the concept of listening, it has completely new consequences that lead to new insights and listening experiences and can be used right up to working with people with dementia. The power of sound should never be underestimated if you give it the time to develop and be processed holistically. Listening in this way opens doors in countless ways that were never known to exist. Evelyn Glennie shows the way there, and she does so in a non-instructive, but always curious way, which is fed by her own experience and from which everyone – whether musician or not – can and should benefit. The questions that Glennie and us ask are as obvious as their answers are far-reaching. Music and making music start by listening – an urgent reading recommendation

This is a rough translation from German.