Re: GG: Glenn Gould and Marshall McLuhan

[junichi miyazawa <jmjmj@attglobal.net>]

Hello to all,

I hope all you are well, how bitter the time may be.

Now I post the attached English summary from
my newest GG paper in Japanese carried in:
 _The Annual Review of Canadian Studies_
(_Kanada  Kenkyu Nenpo_, The Japanese Associatin for
Canadian Studies) no.21 (September 2001): 61-78:


"Glenn Gould and the Media: The Influence of Marshall McLuhan"

                                                        Junichi Miyazawa

     In 1964, the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould (1932-1982)
retired from the concert stage to devote himself exclusively
to studio recording as both a performer and producer in radio
and television.  After his retirement Gould spoke frequently
in articles and interviews (e.g. "Prospects of Recording" in
1966 and "Concert Dropout" in 1968) of the superiority of
electronic media (records, radio and television) over live
performance.  He even declared "The concert is dead."
In fact Gould's decision to stop concertizing was not sudden.
It was the realization of a long-held desire from the beginning
of his professional career. His views on the superiority of
electronic media can therefore be interpreted as a
theoretical expedient to justify his personal decision.
However, there is no doubt that Gould believed in the
potential of the electronic media and regarded himself
as a pioneer in a new era.

     Gould's analysis of the media would probably have
been much less developed had it not been for the works
of communication theorist Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980).
McLuhan classified the history of human beings from the
perspective of human experience in accordance with the
transition of media.  He attempted a corresponding
interpretation of modern society in the electronic age.
McLuhan was a friend and colleague of Gould's, who in
turn held McLuhan's works in high regard.  One of them,
_Understanding Media_, was published in May 1964, one
month after Gould's "concert dropout".  The following
month, on June 1, 1964, Gould was awarded a Doctor of
Laws _honoris causa_ by the University of Toronto and
gave a convocation address entitled "An Argument for
Music in the Electric Age." This was his first full-scale
discussion of the media. It contained an analysis of musical
society, which seemed almost analogous to McLuhan's
description of human history.  Corresponding to McLuhan's
three stages of history (the preliterate or tribal era, the
Gutenberg age, and the electronic age of "retribalized"
man), musical history according to Gould could be divided
into three time periods:

   1. the pre-renaissance age (where everyone is a
performer-composer);
   2. the age of concert media (the composers, the
performers, and the listeners are divided into a hierarchy;
music as public spectacle);
   3. the electronic age (the end of concert; the domination
of recording;  the collapse of the musical hierarchy; music
as environment; the appearance of high-participant listeners,
the anonymity of art).

     Gould's prophetic ideas on musical society and media had
much in common with McLuhan's theory of media and mankind.
Gould appears to have formulated them well into the 1960's,
after the publication of _Understanding Media_ and McLuhan's
preceding major work _The Gutenberg Galaxy_(1962).

     In the 1970's, Glenn Gould left behind the McLuhanesque
prospects of electronic media and musical society.  Instead, he
criticized people's attachment to the concert scene and
championed the studio recording/editing process for
music-making.  Contrary to his predictions, however,
concerts did not die out and the "new" listener did not
materialize.  Gould, now seen as a studio hermit, must have
been disappointed by this, to the point where he felt obliged
to defend the authenticity of his creative endeavour with the
electronic media by dismissing the ideas of the media guru
who influenced him in the first place.

     This is one of a series of reports on "Glenn Gould and his
cultural background in Canada" made possible by a grant from
the Canada-Japan Peace and Friendship Exchange Program 1999.
                                 (Hosei University/Keio University, Tokyo)

=

Comments and questions are welcome.

Thank you.

Regards,

Junichi

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Junichi Miyazawa, Tokyo
jmjmj@attglobal.net (main)
http://www.walkingtune.com
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