THENEWYORKER,SEPTEMBER21, 2020 59
POP MUSIC
THE MUSICAL MONK
Rediscovering Beverly Glenn-Copeland ’s inward-looking sounds.
BY HUA HSU
PHOTOGRAPH BY ELIZAVETA PORODINA
I
n the early nineteen-eighties, Beverly
Glenn-Copeland was living in a quiet
part of Ontario famous for its scenic hills
and lakes. He heard about the advent of
the personal computer and, owing to a
fascination with “Star Trek” and science-
fiction futurism, became instantly in-
trigued. He bought one, even though he
had no idea how to use it. Initially, he
just walked around with his computer
cradled in his arms, hoping that its se-
crets would reveal themselves.
THE CRITICS
For the next few years, Glenn-Cope-
land’s free time was spent shovelling snow,
feeding his family, and teaching himself
how to use his computer to make music.
He later recalled that his creative com-
munity consisted of trees, bears, and rab-
bits—“the natural world, that was my
companion.” He slept only a few hours
a night, kept awake by the conviction that
his computer could help him produce
sounds that had never been heard before.
Glenn-Copeland, who is a transgen-
der man, was born Beverly in Philadel-
phia in 1944. (He goes by Glenn, but he
retained his birth name after his transi-
tion.) His family was middle class and
Quaker, and many of the struggles faced
by African-Americans seemed abstract to
him as a child. His father would sit at the
piano for hours a day playing Bach, Cho-
pin, and Mozart, and Glenn-Copeland
began learning the German lieder style of
singing. He briefly studied with the opera
singer Eleanor Steber. Occasionally, his
