The lizard brain of piano players

The Goldberg variations are a famous set of compositions by Bach played most famously by a pianist named Glen Gould. Gould broke into the world of professional piano playing by debuting his skills in his first album of the Goldberg variations. It was a controversial choice of music as it was seen as ‘simplistic’ and a student’s piece but he played it so well that he gained much notoriety and fame. 26 years after his first record was released and less than a year before his death, Gould released another recording of the same piece. The two records depict an artist at the beginning of their career and at the sunset of their career. If you ever wanted a study of how artists mature, just listen to those albums back to back. One of the most fascinating things about those albums is the fact that you can hear Gould humming along with the music. Maybe just as fascinating as the choice to record in a way that includes your humming is the fact that he hums off key and seemingly without rhythm. One of the greatest piano players of the 20th century, and a world class musician by any measure, seems to be just terrible at following his own song using, of all things, his own voice. I think this is because the Glen Gould with a voice isn’t the Glen Gould that is playing the piano. I think the conscious part of his brain is enjoying the music, immersed in it as a spectator; because the part of his brain that is playing the music is so very much deeper. The part of his mind that plays Bach like honey hasn’t ever come close enough to the surface to gain control of his vocal chords and speak even a single word. He’s probably never met that part of his mind and only hears what it has to say when he loses track of his fingers on the keyboard. Listening to Gould play the piano is fantastic, but listening to him sloppily try to hum along is just another level of enjoyment because it tells me that the music being made is from a genuinely deep place within himself. If he could keep the melody with his own playing, I would think he was just very well practiced. Instead, he seems very well inspired. I for one prefer a virtuoso who can’t hum along worth a damn, it makes the music just a bit more real.