Musical Obsession

Today is my birthday, so I’ll tell you a little about something close to my heart. I was going through our new bin this morning at the library and came across an interesting book called “A Romance on Three Legs : Glenn Gould’s Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano” by Katie Hafner and it struck a note with me, so to speak.

Before I started working at the library, I was actually a musician. I suppose I will always be one, although I must admit that as of late, I haven’t even touched an instrument, so I’m a rusty musician. My whole life revolved around music from the time I was a little girl. My mother is a singer, so as children, we sang in the car everywhere we went, there was always music playing in the house and my sister and I just naturally gravitated towards doing musical things. (My sister would argue with you and say that she isn’t musical, but ask her about learning to play the piano in three weeks for a Christmas concert when she was about 12 and you’d have a hard time believing she’d never played before.)

I owned a tiny plastic keyboard when I was young that had coloured keys and made a loud hissing sound every time you turned it on, but that’s where I learned to play songs by ear, eventually plunking out so many that my parents decided to send me to a piano teacher. We didn’t even own a piano for the first year or so of my lessons. I’d play on the one at school and wherever I could find one, and my piano teacher allowed me to visit his house and practice once a week before each lesson. My small world at the age of twelve was all about the piano and music.

Eventually, we got an organ, which helped immensely, but I still needed to learn the touch of a real piano, so when I was about 14, a family friend gave me hers, as she had stopped playing altogether. I’m sure my family grew tired of my endless playing, but to me, the piano was my little slice of heaven and an object that I understood better than anything else. It was my place of solace, frustration, bliss and excitement and I grew to know every little squeak of the pedals and every funny “twing” of the strings inside.

My practice and love of music allowed me to pursue my passion, and I went off to university to study music. There, I learned the meaning of real practice, spending upwards of 6 hours a day at the piano, just working and re-working pieces until I could see each mark on the music even when I closed my eyes. I earned my music degree and came back to Carleton Place and taught music for 10 years before needing a bit of a change. You can take the girl out of the music etc., etc……..

Glenn Gould was one of Canada’s most gifted musicians that ever lived, and probably one of the most interesting musicians due to his crazy habits both on and off the stage. If you’ve ever listened to one of his recordings or watched him play on television, you’ll have no doubt heard him humming along while he played, although in some secret musical language understood only by himself, as you could never quite figure out just exactly what part of the music he was humming. The great one often do this sort of thing, though, hearing some inside melody or harmony that guides them along.

The whole premise of this book is his search for the perfect piano. Every piano has its own touch, its own pedal stiffness and its own sound. The wood, strings and craftsmanship put into each instrument makes it unique, similar to all instruments which are made by hand. You only need to play on a “bad” piano to know the difference. Gould searched for years to find the perfect instrument that suited his needs and finally found a Steinway CD 318 grand piano. You can watch Glenn Gould playing here:

Author Katie Hafner delves into the search for the prized piano, as well as the maintenance and construction of the instrument. You can find more on her website here.

I am going to take this book home tonight and spend a few hours just lost in music again. What a nice little find today!