Re: GG "Glenn Gould plays Bach"

["Anne M. Marble" <amarble@sff.net>]

From: Megan Ken and Anne <smithqa@NEXICOM.NET>


>Here is the part that bothers me. There is a keyboard below the score with
>all the names of the keys written in.  As the music plays,  the keys are
highlighted
>with finger numbers  -- blue for the LH  and red for the RH.  A person who
doesn't
>know the names of the piano keys is going to learn the Goldberg Variations
by
>following the blue and red finger numbers bouncing along?  I don't think
so!!

The concept of learning music by color-coded keys reminds me of a Robert
Klein joke about his high school's band. I'll have to paraphrase here:
He said, "Our school band was so bad they used colors instead of reading
the music." And then, he sang, "Blue, purple, orange, orange, purple" or
something like that. (The band was so awful that when they played the
national anthem, people from every nation stood up!)

When I was young, my mother bought one of those little electric organs. It
didn't take long before she gave it to her sister. Sure, you can follow the
numbers -- but you can't make it sound like music. Not without an
understanding of tempi and the structure of the music. If you can figure
that out, you might as well learn to read music. <g>

>There is a help section.  I've haven't explored it.

If it's anything like the help section in most computer programs....
(cough, cough) I shouldn't complain. In my previous job, I wrote computer
courses. If the help sections were better, I wouldn't have had a job!

>On the positive side  -- all the ornaments are written out.  Of course you
can get this from
>W.F. Bach's list, but it is handy to have GG's ornamentation on paper.  GG
often played
>the ornaments a bit differently than W.F. wanted and they go so fast that
it is hard for the
>ear to pick out exactly what he was playing.  If 'i Song' makes a second
program I might
>buy it just for this feature.

<sob> Something like that makes me wish I knew how to read music because I
know it would be great to examine it. I do seem to have a slightly better
idea of what the notes on the page mean ever since I started to listen to
classical music (especially GG). So maybe there's hope for me yet.
(Remedial music reading classes?)

> Also, it is fun to play along. The music is recorded at concert pitch.
Believe it
> or not I have two " Music Minus One"  recordings that are not at concert
pitch.

<sigh> I'll have to stick to humming along while I drive.

>Thanks to Anne Marble for finding this.

<blush> I have a knack for finding interesting sites (Glenn Gould sites and
otherwise) on the Web. It sure keeps me busy. :->

One of my favorites is still this site, which lists the (selected) contents
of GG's library and has a Sherlock Holmes meets Glenn Gould story. (The
Case of the Missing Slouch Hat)
http://users.erols.com/petalpages/gg/index.htm

Anne M. Marble