Re: Your Favorite Hummming (yes, this is a trivial post)

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

From: Megan, Anne and Ken <smithqa@nexicom.net>
>
> >What is your favorite humming in a Glenn Gould recording?
>
> For me, the humming is just part of the Glenn Gould experience.  I don't
> think that I listen to it separately.

I never know how my brain will work. Usually, the humming becomes a part of
the whole piece. But sometimes, I find myself regarding it as two works
going on at the same time.

> I always love the look on a student's face the first time I play a Gould
> recording for him or her.  There is always a curious or stunned look when
> he/she hears the humming for the first time.  Yes, I have been told that
> there is something wrong with my stereo.

I spent several minutes trying to convince my cousin that he really was
humming on a recording. We went around in circles. I said, "Listen, you can
hear him humming here." She kept saying, "No, somebody made a mistake in
the recording." And I kept saying, "No, really, take my word for it, he's
humming." She kept insisting it must be a mistake in the recording
process -- as if I had made up the humming stuff out of thin air. Luckily,
my insistence was so, well, insistent that she realized I must know what I
was talking (and talking and talking) about.

I read (in F-Minor, I think) a story about a woman who bought one of his
records, then brought it back to the record store a couple of times because
of "background noises" on the record. When a salesperson in the record
store finally told her that was GG's humming, she asked for her money back
because she couldn't believe that Columbia would release a recording with
*humming* on it. Years later, she decided to listen to him again and
realized she loved him, humming and all. And she regretted all the Gouldian
years she'd missed in between.

Corny Joke of the Day
(For true Gouldian effect, the comedian should say it in a bad German
accent, and the straight man should reply in a bad Scottish accent.)

Q: Why did Glenn Gould hum?

A: Because he didn't know the words.

(ducking and running)