What’s it like to volunteer on The Evelyn Glennie Collection?

Volunteers change the world in so many different and positive ways. They can be the shakers of the world. I have been blessed with a truly amazing group of volunteers from different walks of life who have dedicated themselves towards the formation of The Evelyn Glennie Collection. 

Evelyn Glennie

As we explain elsewhere, developing The Collection into a unique, primary source repository of artefacts fit to use in our work hasn’t happened overnight. Indeed, it’s still very much a work in progress.

In this article we reproduce extracts from the historic blog posts of some of our incredible volunteers – many of whom have been working on different aspects of The Collection’s sorting, cataloguing and archiving for several years.

We think it provides a wonderful way to learn more about their efforts and how these contribute to our mission.

Lead Curator and Trustee Caroline Thompson, on the unique value of The Collection

The Collection is primarily about Evelyn and her career, but it is so much more than that. It is about her quite extraordinary and vast collection of musical instruments, but it is also a valuable social history of the time in which she has lived, be it in the changing fashions apparent in her performance costumes or progress of communications from tele messages and letters through to e-mail.

The Collection documents the history of the organisations and events with which Evelyn has been involved, such as the BBC and the London 2012 Olympics to name but two. It reflects the histories of the people with whom she has collaborated, such as Sir James MacMillan. It is reflective of the changing face of popular culture, from Val Doonican to Björk.

In 2016 when I started my brief was just that – brief! Evelyn and her staff had taken advice from local museums, all of whom made it clear that each item needed its own unique reference number and entry on a spreadsheet. There was a draft set of headings but too many to be manageable and meaningful. What worked for awards did not work for publications, and what worked for recordings did not work for correspondence and so on.

After a year or so we had a series of files of concert programmes in chronological order, with a spreadsheet to match. On a day to day basis, we were beginning to map out the details of Evelyn’s performances and events.

Volunteer Stories

Programmes

‘I suggested that we start by looking at the concert programmes. After all, Evelyn could only be in one place at a time and only play one set of pieces at a time, so the concert programmes would tell us where she was, on what day, playing which repertoire and who the other artists were.

‘Naturally it proved to be not quite simple. Firstly, the programmes were in masses of boxes mixed up with newspaper cuttings, admin documents, photos and even some awards, including more than 20 honorary degree certificates.

‘Secondly, it soon became obvious that the concert programmes were not the most reliable source of information. It is amazing how often a programme does not say what the venue is, or where it is with sufficient detail. I remember spending ages wondering how she could be doing concerts in two different continents on consecutive days before realising that the one in Perth was not in Scotland, it was in Australia, then like pieces of a jigsaw slotting into place it all made sense.’

Media and honours 

‘Volunteering for The Collection is certainly varied and curating it is a mammoth task. I got a taste of this on my first day when my first job was to catalogue the material arising from Evelyn’s performance on the final night of the Children in Need in 2021. Evelyn joined Owain Wyn Evans and a host of other drummers in a rousing performance of the BBC News theme. Apart from the documentation I also catalogued Evelyn’s Pudsey ears.

‘It has been a particular pleasure to work on the honours section. The late Stig Anderson, former manager of Abba, started his own foundation and created the Polar Music Prize, named after his record label. The prize has been awarded since 1992 and is presented by the King of Sweden. Evelyn’s fellow alumni include Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell and Ennio Morricone. It is recognised as one of the most prestigious music awards in the world. 

‘At the opposite end of the spectrum, I also catalogued the certificates and examiner’s comments relating to Evelyn’s very first music exams as a primary age child in Scotland – it was fascinating to see the wheel of musical achievement come full circle.’

Newspapers

‘The room was completely full – to the right, to the left, up above, around the corner, in the filing cabinet and in that box, tucked under that shelf. Some were whole newspapers (giving you the day’s football results, latest murder trials, how the cricket is going, local gossip and what’s on TV), some simply extracts as small as a postage stamp, some cuttings, some photocopies and some in a wide variety of languages. They all had one thing in common – Evelyn Glennie! 

‘Percussionniste’, ‘Schlagzuegerin’, ‘Perkusjonist’, ‘Slagtojsspiller’, ‘Percusionista’, all words for Percussionist in various European languages which are, of course, the start of articles, previews and reviews. Time to get Google Translate up and working and deciphering the resultant and sometimes mangled English. However, other languages such as Japanese or Chinese await translation by experts. Many a ‘happy hour’ has been spent struggling with these!’

Images 

‘All the photos told a story, from school performances, student years through to beginning the career as the first full-time solo percussionist to finding somewhere to practice! There were many photos of rehearsals/performances, charitable and educational appearances, as well as hundreds of promotional photos taken throughout Evelyn’s career.

Magazines

‘Starting work on the magazines was helped by the fact I was now able to compare images from the publications with photos I had already seen. I was able to recognize outfits and hairstyles, cross-referencing them on the spreadsheets and confirming details. Also, as I had access to years’ worth of diaries, dates and time periods began to fall into place.

‘I spent many days reading through all the magazines and leaflets Evelyn had collected. Many of the interviews were asking similar questions about her background and career, with some stand out quotes giving an early insight into how she envisaged her future as a solo percussionist.’

The archive as a story

‘Above all, the archive is a story – the story of a young deaf girl playing in local orchestras to a student struggling to overcome disability and prejudice; 

‘to a musical phenomenon fuelled by her own determined ambition, musical virtuosity, indomitable spirit and belief, charm, charisma and a personality to entrance and bedazzle audiences around the world; 

‘to a commissioner of new compositions greatly enhancing and extending the percussion repertoire to the point of establishing it as an exciting solo set of instruments; 

‘And to a campaigner for disability rights, musical education and a new way of listening; from Grade 1 piano to prize-winning student, to Scotswoman of the Year, to OBE, to Damehood and an illustrious Companion of Honour.’

What volunteers gain

‘I can honestly say that I learn something new every time I volunteer and always find something to pique my interest. Within a month of me joining up I very much enjoyed going to the Horniman Museum with Evelyn and the team to speak with their experts about conservation and curating techniques. I have become well acquainted with the value of the 2B pencil, acid free sleeves and the occasional use of clear nail varnish! 

‘It has been and continues to be a privilege to be involved in The Collection and to play a part in its future. It has also been fascinating to see Evelyn’s journey from so many angles through the timeline and to know it will be accessible for all to access for generations to come.’

With gratitude to the following volunteers for their contributions to this article: 

Sylvia Cundell MBE, Peter Horley, Amanda Roberts and Caroline Thompson, written between March 2022 – October 2023. If you’d like to read more, further volunteer blogs are posted on our News page.