FW: Much Ado About Humming - Glenn Gould's Imaginary Orchestra

[Kate Clunies-Ross <goldbergs@TALK21.COM>]

 Good afternoon, all

 I've just been reading Sean's post and I find it fascinating.

 I didnt realise that  the humming is so clear  that it
 can be transcribed it and analysed it in this way.

 Mind you, I did realise that Gould did not always hum exactly what he was
 playing. I have always thought however that his singing and gestures
 demonstrate such a deep and total absorption in the music
 that the existance of an audience becomes an irrelevance, and even the
 mundane reality of the world around him pales into insignificance; the true
 world he creates and lives in being quite simply , music.Maybe this is part
 of the reason he objected to public performance: it's an intense and
 personal world, a private world, but  yet... it is one that he allows us to
 experience too, via his chosen channel of recordings, when he felt in
 control.

 So, although of course we all have our own opinions, I personally never
 really inderstand why some people find his manner of playing irritating or
 even embarrassing to watch, or regard his vocalisation andgesturing as a
 laughable oddity, of no consequence.

 But one question does intrigue me: If his movements and humming were so
 structured, was he consciously aware of the patterns
 and relationship to the music of his actions, or were they completely
 instinctive, born of  his  total awarness and comprehension of the piece he
 was playing? Sean's description makes it sound as though , for example,
each  type of gesture was deliberate,  a calculated way of  expressing a
different
 aspect of his interaction with the music. (Maybe this is not what Sean
 implied, and if so, I am sorry for my misinterpretation)

 My impression is that however intricate his relationship with the music
was,
 Gould did not make any conscious decisions concerning the 'meaning' of his
 actions.  He might not have been aware of the patterns and rationale
 underlying his mannerisms.This I think is backed up by the letter which I
 have quoted elsewhere, written in reply to a fan who queried the reasons
for  his 'conducting' as he played; he said he really could not explain why
he did what he did. He appeared to suggest he  _would_  explain it, if only
he knew the answer! Surely this suggests that what he did was not exactly a
 conscious process.
 I think Gould would have been puzzled by the interest that his manner of
 playing has generated in his listeners. But perhaps he felt that if he
tried
 to analyse his behaviour too deeply, he  would lose something, maybe the
 imtimate relationship to the music itself. This would be akin to his
 response when invited to investigate why his music
 was therapeutic to some people;  although he found this idea very
 complimentary, he refused the onvitation, evidently worrying that if he
 became too introspective and analytical, he might lose the ability to
create this effect with his playing.

 I love music, but as is no doubt apparent, I am no musician myself. I am
 always astonished by how, if you try to imagine seeing the world through
 Gould's eyes (difficult!) how much musicality surrounds us.

 It is the sheer intensity of Gould that always astonishes me. There is one
 gesture in particular that to me always expresses this; he holds his hand
 up, palm inturned towards him, and the whole hand appears to shudder. (I
 think this is what Sean is describing in  his "third category " of
 gestures). But I never considered before that this movement could have such
 a particular meaning.

 Incidently, am I right in thinking that the physical movements changed as
he became older? (Not the humming ..somebody once wrote to me that his
 "young hums" sounded much the same as his "middle aged hums" !) but, as an
 example, it seems to me from the videotapes I have managed to get hold of,
 that the rhythmical circular rotation of his upper body was something he
did more as a young man. Is this so, and if so, why?

 Thank you, Sean, for such an interesting post. The email certainly wasnt
 "too long" as you suggested. I hope this one isnt, either.

 Kate
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