Humming

[Sean Malone <spm29386@oregon.uoregon.edu>]

Dear List,

Gould's humming has been of particular interest to me for some time, in fact
I've devoted several papers on the subject. I believe part of my research
will be published in the upcoming issue of Glenn Gould Magazine.

Gould's humming, apart from being an annoyance to some, is actually very
telling evidence of certain cognitive activity. I've transcribed a great
deal of the humming, which is often an original, independent, contrapuntal
part.

For those of you in the Eugene / Portland area, I'll be presenting a paper
titled "Glenn Gould's Imaginary Orchestra" at the West Coast Conference of
Music Theory and Analysis, held this weekend at the University of Oregon.
The keynote speaker will be Carl Schachter, the most noted Schenkerian
Theorist in the country. Also in attendance will be Douglas Hofstadter,
author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal
Golden Braid".

The paper being presented this weekend deals with two aspects of Gould's
musical imagery that is manifested in his vocalizations and his conducting.
Below is the abstract for the paper.

I'll be presenting similar work at the Society for Music Theory
MegaConference this November in Toronto.


Sean Malone

============================

    Canadian pianist Glenn Gould had a habit of humming while performing,
often a different melody from any of the composed parts. Gould was not only
aware of the surface material, that is, the notes themselves, but was also
aware of a larger framework of background structure evidenced in the
independent lines of his humming. In order to perform and simultaneously
compose an independent part, Gould could have visualized a large-scale,
amodal image of the composition¹s structure ­ an abstract conception of
themes, climaxes, and form etc., rather than paying attention to the tactile
or physical requirements of performance. I have transcribed portions of
Gould¹s humming from several of his Bach recordings to illustrate my thesis.
    In addition to vocalizations, Gould often conducted as he performed ­
though he was the only performer. Gould himself commented on this, saying he
was at times attempting to "encourage a reluctant cellist" to play more
expressively. The evidence of his conducting, combined with Gould¹s own
statement, pose the likelihood that an image of musical structure and/or of
an "orchestra" was a necessary component of his performances. The humming is
a manifestation of an internalized structural image, while the conducting is
the projection of an externalized image; an embodied connection between the
real and the imaginary.