User Reviews

"Touch the Sound" is beautiful in the same way the wind-drifting plastic bag of "American Beauty" is beautiful. It is simple and profound, and even though it is right in front of us, we somehow cannot manage to see it. This movie is an experience, not in the sense of a journey, but rather, something you must feel in order to connect with. Movies like this keep us in touch.

Everything has sound, and thus for Evelyn, everything is an instrument. No exceptions. Cans, bottles, rope, sections of aluminum, a snare drum, the sidewalk…everything. Maybe the only thing more impressive than her actual musical abilities is the open-mindedness of the people who watch her play these obscure instruments. The film takes us from Japan to New York to England to Santa Cruz, where we find a diverse group of cultures united by music. Or maybe it is something deeper than that.

"We need to eat, we need to sleep, and we need music." This is Evelyn's philosophy, one which she most certainly lives by. Evelyn is a woman who plays her percussion instruments barefooted in order to feel the vibrations they cast, so it is no stretch to say she quiet literally has a feel for what she is doing. She is a wonderful musician, who makes such a connection with her music that it is as if the music is not being heard through her ear, but rather resounding throughout her body.

The most engaging moments in the film are found through the improvisations performed by Evelyn and fellow musician Fred Firth, who she has never met before. They create the soundtrack of the film through their willingness to experiment and explore with any and every combination of variances on traditional guitars and percussion instruments.

Although I very much enjoyed the film, I did find that there were a few too many visual "sounds" where as a viewer I found the underlying message to be too apparent. Nevertheless, "Touch the Sound" is worth a watch, even if you are not a musician; its is simple, enjoyable and leaves us with a sense of inner harmony.

In this sensual meditation on the perception of sounds, the masterful compositions of Director Thomas Riedelsheimer frames the exquisite subtleties of subject Evelyn Glennie's percussion based improvisations, which at times produces a transcendent immersion into the essence of sound stimuli and the creative process no musical film has ever captured as well. Alas, the film works best when capturing Glennie's spiritual exaltations to noise- through the immersed directing we can raise our own perceptions of sight and sound simply by reflecting and relating to the character's rapturous posture as the rhythm she spontaneously concocts becomes more and more intense. It is in these sublime moments that Glennie's philosophy, which advocates silencing one's own chattering mind in order to hear the chorus of sounds we all play with together, comes to the fore. Unfortunately these notions are constantly watered down by the excessive use of environmental shots interspersed to show us how this woman perceives everyday sounds around her. I felt that the lack of narrative forced the filmmaker to put too much stock in capturing the surroundings, which definitely was appreciated at first, but ultimately much of the beautiful, amazingly detailed imagery did feel superficial and ended up making the film feel a little too light. As far as taking this piece as some sort of alternative concert video however, this is an experience not to be missed by anyone who even dabbles in instrumentation, as well as anyone who simply wants to feel...more...

I saw the North American premiere of Thomas Riedelsheimer's "Touch The Sound – A Sound Journey with Evelyn Glennie" on September 10, 2004 at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film had previously World premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and UK premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival, both in August 2004.

This film should meet with the same success as the director's previous 'Rivers and Tides – Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time' as it again masterfully portrays an artist, perhaps not well known in the mainstream (although within the modern classical music world, Glennie is the foremost exponent of solo percussion performance and of percussion concerti with orchestras), in such a striking and all encompassing manner that it endears them to virtually anyone seeing it.

For the first 10-15 minutes or so, I wondered whether the issue of Glennie's deafness was even going to be mentioned (she is famously reluctant to allow it to be used in her music bios, feeling that it detracts from the message of the actual music itself) or whether they would leave it as a surprise revelation for the end. As it happened, it came out quite casually in an interview excerpt. There was a smattering of interview bits throughout the film but for the most part the music and sound experience was left to explain itself. The best (and funniest) thing that Glennie said was something along the lines of... why should she have to explain to anybody how she manages to 'hear', since when she asks other people how they hear and they answer 'with the ear' and when she then asks them to explain how that works, they are at a total loss, so why should she be any different?

The film captures about a year of travels in Evelyn Glennie's life but fore goes the above mentioned 'classical' world to instead show her in either solo or group improvisation situations around the planet. The main performance involves her and guitarist/multi-instrumentalist/composer Fred Frith (he did the soundtrack for Rivers and Tides) recording an improvised CD in the wonderful sound space of a deserted factory in Germany. Other stops along the way are a NYC street jam with tap dancer/choreographer Roxanne Butterfly, a NYC rooftop jam on full kits with drummer Horatio 'El Negro' Hernandez, a Japanese rehearsal/workshop with the formidable Taiko drummers 'Za Ondekoza', a Japanese café/bar performance with the violin/piano duo 'This = Misa & Saikou' and a cliff side exploration with fog horns (courtesy of Jason the Fogmaster). Various solo bits as well are interspersed such as a snare drum solo in NYC's Grand Central Station, a meditation in a Japanese zen garden, a visit to her brother and the old family homestead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, a teaching session with hearing challenged kids (Glennie's teaching methods involve getting the kids to 'listen' through the sensation of touch), and a solo using only the bits and scraps of cans, plates, utensils and glasses rounded up in the café/bar seconds before the performance itself. No matter what the circumstances you will be amazed at what Glennie can make music with and how intriguing even the most commonplace sounds can be if you really, really listen to them.

There is a total joy and excitement in life and music making that is on display in this film and its message is conveyed in a very down to earth manner that is not at all esoteric or high/art culture but rather communicative and people oriented. There is real emotion as well, as my eyes teared up hearing the young girl who was participating in the music training class say as she removed her hearing aids that she could 'hear' the music quite well without them.

Highly recommended. 10/10

After Thomas Riedelsheimer turned the film going public on it's ear with his portrait of Andy Goldsworthy in 'Rivers & Tides:Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time',he next turned his camera lens on Evelyn Glennie, a classically trained pianist,who lost something like 80% of her hearing at an early age. This would have swayed most "would be" musicians away from music,but not Glennie. She managed to switch from piano studies to percussion,as percussion instruments are louder than the piano. As a result,Evelyn Glennie has become one of the most respected (and busy) musicians around. There is a bounty of footage of her rehearsing for various performances,as well as film footage of her recording a CD with Fred Frith (who also contributed original music for 'Rivers & Tides'). The end results is a well crafted documentary that like Rivers & Tides is breath taking to look at,as well as to listen to. This film opened to both praise,as well as scorn (mostly from the hearing impaired community,who's main complaint was that the film had no subtitles to translate the spoken text). Still,a film to seek out. I eagerly await any & all future offerings by Thomas Riedelsheimer (and would also love to see any of his older films,as well). As is with 'Rivers & Tides',no MPAA rating,but nothing to offend anybody (unless one is adverse to new & experimental musics)

Thomas Redelsheimer's beautifully crafted documentary is patient, precise, and exquisitely tuned into the subject matter. It's so refreshing to see a masterfully shot and thoughtfully edited documentary, especially after sitting through such overrated, uninspiring, and clumsily shot and edited mediocrities like Control Room and Born into Brothels. Redelsheimer is, like Errol Morris, one of the few documentary filmmakers today who seem to truly care about the art of non-fiction cinema. He also believes an audience can make intuitive leaps, guided by sound and images, that bring them so much closer to the soul of his subject. In this case, Evelyn Glennie, a deaf master percussionist, invites the director and his crew into her meditative world that allows her to literally "hear" with her body. Redelsheimer captures some unbelievably beautiful natural moments of picture and sound, and juxtaposes them with his own soulful artistic skill. A must-see for lovers of documentaries who appreciate the potential of the genre.

Boy, did I get suckered into watching this disappointing DVD. I should have remembered that when you see a ton of complimentary comments by critics all over the DVD cover, you can be almost guaranteed the film is a stinker. "A feast for senses" - New York Daily News, was the one that got me. Being someone who is in love with cinematography and has a decent surround system to enjoy good audio, this documentary intrigued me. "Filled with gorgeous music." - The Chicago Tribune.

People - do not pay attention to these morons. Yes, there is some nice visuals in here but none of the music is beautiful unless you a huge fan of percussion (drums, mainly.) Yet, rarely do you think of someone beating on a snare drum as "gorgeous music."

This is a story of a Scottish woman, Evelyn Glennie, who is almost deaf but has a tremendous appreciation for sounds, almost any kind of sound. She also is an outstanding percussionist. Since she has a major hearing problem, she has learned to "hear" through vibrations and hears more, as they would say, than we unimpaired people. Evelyn is definitely talented and unique. I wasn't impressed with the DVD but I was with her, and who wouldn't be?? She's an extraordinary human being. She loves to converse on the subject. Sometimes she's interesting, other times she goes on too long on a subject.

The same applies to most of the "chapters" on this DVD. Some are good but most get tedious after the first half dozen. It's simply too repetitive and boring. If you doubt this, ask yourself: would I watch someone pounding a stick on some object for several minutes? That's what you have in many, many scenes here. Oh, the instruments and the sounds are all different, but it is anything but a "thrilling audio and visual experience." To sit through this for 100 minutes - now THAT is a challenge!

I found this movie completing inspiring. The director did a magnificent job of blending visual metaphors for sound throughout.

This is a documentary about the only woman percussionist who happens to have a 90 percent hearing loss. She uses her body to sense the slightest movement in sound waves and creates amazing rhythms, sounds and melodies.

Don't expect a quick start, but hang in there, this is rich, rich film, full of wisdom about the senses, sound, music and life. Definitely not for someone interested in the usual musical documentary or superficial treatment of a topic.

This is one of the best documentary I have ever seen. I loved it from very first scene till the last. Beautiful sounds, Amazing cinematography. You have to feel the sound to enjoy the movie. My best part of the movie was when she was explaining about Silence...Once of the heaviest sounds we have...and its kinda scary...and its beautiful in a way. I think only a true artist can understand this movie better. I liked the way she was exploring the possibilities wherever, whenever sound could be produced...it was more a like a child like curiosity...trying to understand what is this sound and how it touches me...vibrates me...inside out. And it was amazing she could find a rhythm in everything she touched.

It's to me, almost the best music and musician-related documentary ever.

If you love music or making sound and love to feel the vibration of the sounds around you, this documentary is just made for you.

I absolute love and have a passion for making different noises and sounds from everything and this is the first time I'm seeing someone with that much passion as me.

For numerous reasons I cried a few times during this, especially the second watch... mainly because of, seeing her success and her approach to make everything happen but I failed mostly, as a hearing person...

It can be extremely inspirational to everyone, especially people with difficulty hearing or deaf people.

Evelyn Glennie is a great musician and she always surprises me of her talent and imagination.

Everything is excellent in this fabulous documentary. From production to cinematography, directing, sound editing, sound mixing, editing...

8.5/10.

This film is a wonderful "experience", sort of like a very extended music video, or something you'd get from a VJ (Video Jockey, remember that term?). In spirit it reminded me of Fantasia. It also reminded me of those 60's "happenings", except there's no need to drop acid here.

The images are all "realistic" things you might see with your own eyes (no microscopic nor aerial nor computer-generated nor artificial images). At the same time, they're arresting images: things you've never seen before, or a different way of looking at something, or deep meditations on an everyday event. The camera relentlessly moves back and forth between indoors and outdoors, guided by continuity of themes, people, and sound. Match cuts abound. Just a couple examples: We watch a feather falling through the air, then at the moment of impact the image changes to ripples spreading over the surface of a pond. We watch traffic crossing a bridge as the bridge towers that look like columns are emphasized, then the image changes to different columns that hold up the roof of a large building.

The audio is mostly either percussion performances or "found sound" (much of the rest is philosophizing), sometimes synced with the images and sometimes independent. Some of the performances are fairly conventional (except on a higher plane than usual), others are improvisational and highly experimental. Several are so far off the beaten track they seem to call up the context of "modern art".

Often a theme jumps back and forth from audio to video to audio to video to audio. And sometimes images get pretty imaginative: for example heat waves making buildings in the distance shimmer is reminiscent of water, so next we see a fisherman casting, then we see buildings with greatly exaggerated shimmering as though looking through actual water. Rather imaginative, since the last time we could get our bearings we were in the middle of a grid of streets. It's obvious there was extensive editing and not everything is presented in chronological order: Evelyn's hair may be blond, then red in the next scene, then blond again in the scene after that, and so on.

In one sense deafness is the foundation. But in another sense deafness is largely irrelevant. If I remember right, there's one long scene, another short scene, some scattered images, and some scattered bits of dialog that refer to deafness, or only make sense with deafness as a background, Maybe it totals something like 3% of the screen time. But that's it. It seems possible that a sufficiently obtuse viewer could watch the whole thing and never realize Evelyn Glennie is deaf. If you're looking for an uplifting moralistic tale about surmounting handicaps, this film is beyond that - it just assumes that as given without ever talking about it.

At first when I read "one of the best percussionists in the world", I thought "yeah right, why have I never heard of this person?" But after listening all the way through the film, my dubiousness vanished. Not everything good is in the U.S. Even if you usually find percussion to be just "background noise" or "accompaniment", the musicality here is undeniable. It's obvious the percussionists listen intently and watch each other and adjust, reminiscent of improvisational jazz.

I suspect if seen with enough understanding, this documentary explores a whole philosophy in a coherent way. (I don't really know if that's what the filmmaker intended or not.) What I do know is I didn't see it that way ...and I don't care (and maybe it isn't that way anyway:-). If you're waiting for "something to happen" or "some profound insight", you quite likely will find the film unbearably tedious and slow. It doesn't seem to me to welcome being approached that way.