Klarinet Archive - Posting 000226.txt from 1998/11

From: "Mark Charette" <charette@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] re:Glenn Gould- background noise
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 20:37:02 -0500

>Don wrote:
>This reminds me of a story about the great Canadian pianist, Glenn
Gould.
>This is all paraphrased, as I can't locate my source.
>Gould apparently did no teaching. When asked questions about technique,
he
>was unwilling to discuss fingerings etc.
>He used to refer to these matters as "centipedal issues". The centipede
>managed his legs very well until asked in what order he moved them.
Once
>he tried to think about it, he could no longer do it effortlessly.
>Gould learned music by memorizing the scores and then simply sat down
at
>the piano and played them. Technique was not an issue. On occasion,
when
>he had problems playing a certain passage, he would turn on a radio
with
>loud pop music and perhaps run the vacuum cleaner as well, so that he
could
>not hear his own playing. Then he would more or less let the fingers
>figure out for themselves how to play the passage. He didn't want to
think
>about it lest it become a "centipedal issue"!
>Don Yungkurth (clarinet@-----.net)

>-------
>Dave responded:
>With all of the self chattering going on while Gould played, I wonder
why
>he would need to turn on the radio? ;)
>David Blumberg

Or over the noise of the double-tripping hammer on his favorite Steinway
(even the Steinway people couldn't fix it after Gould mucked about in
the guts of the Steinway. If you ever get to sit and play that piano
you'll know what "light action" really means. Feels like a harpsichord
but sounds like a Steinway ... I tried it out at the Glenn Gould Studio
at CBC HQ in Toronto before they dragged me away :)
----
Mark Charette@-----.org
Webmaster, http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet
All-around good guy and devil-may-care flying fool.
"There can be no freedom without discipline." - Nadia Boulanger

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