# Does Glenn Gould's humming bother you? - Poll.



## BenG (Aug 28, 2018)

I know there are people who find Gould's humming ruins his recordings, but I've never really minded. Anyway yes or no?


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## Skakner (Oct 8, 2020)

*Absolutely not!*
I find it fascinating! I think it shows Gould's very deep connection to the Music he was playing. Dare to say that his humming adds to the pleasure I get.

Another famous (jazz) pianist's humming doesn't bother me at all.
*Keith Jarrett*. One of my favorites!


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

I'd put it this way: I see humming as the presence of another instrument. Would you like to hear Bach played with an electric guitar in the background? Would you like to eat a dish from a great famous chef if when he arrives he has his fingers inside what you're supposed to eat? I don't.

I find all musicians who hum very annoying (Keith Jarrett being the worst of them all, it's like having something between a mosquito and a goblin or something like that near your ears, not exactly a pleasant impression), unless it's meant to be part of the music (like for Joseph Spence I guess).


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## Skakner (Oct 8, 2020)

Glenn himself recognized that humming was a bad habit and a negative sonic addition to the recording but he just couldn't help it. He thought that without humming his playing was not so good and I think he was absolutely right. Humming (and making conducting gestures) along with his playing (either in practicing or recording), shows the ecstatic state in which he was into.
Just the Music and Himself in the whole Universe...
Magnificent...


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I like Jarrett's usually (in fact I'd argue that Jarrett at least sometimes arranges his humming as part of the music), but Gould's usually not.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

It's not Gould's humming which bothers me, it's his playing.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

premont said:


> It's not Gould's humming which bothers me, it's his playing.


Even though I disagree with your comment, you made me laugh. :lol:


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Gould's 'backing vocals' like are everyday sounds to me such as the washing machine or the thrum of traffic on a distant street - one gets desensitized to it. I find it no worse than John Barbirolli's Hippopotamine grunts.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

Skakner said:


> Glenn himself recognized that humming was a bad habit and a negative sonic addition to the recording but he just couldn't help it. He thought that without humming his playing was not so good and I think he was absolutely right. Humming (and making conducting gestures) along with his playing (either in practicing or recording), shows the ecstatic state in which he was into.
> Just the Music and Himself in the whole Universe...
> Magnificent...


Yeah, he hits the right notes and there's clarity but there isn't much sensitivity there. It's robotic and the allegro section is played as if its marked presto. I don't see any point in doing that just to show that you can. And too many other pianists after him do the same thing with this piece, including Schiff unfortunately.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I don't like Gould's humming. In fact, I have the Zenph Rerecording of his Goldbergs so I don't have to hear the humming. 

I had a friend who was trying to get his girlfriend to like classical music. Once he was in the car in the evening with her and had to drop something off, so he left her in the car with Gould's Goldbergs playing. When he returned, she was panic-stricken. She said, "After you left, I heard some creep making noises around the car." 

So that was her impression of Gould: some creep making noises around the car.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Gould's humming would likely bother me if he didn't accompany it with such glorious "incidental" music from his piano.


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

It does, but it also shows me how much he loves the music too. It adds a sort of tender, human charm to the recording.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

No worse than the hum of a concert hall's ventilating system -- and certainly better than a woman trying to quietly unwrap a cough lozenge in her pocketbook.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Skakner said:


> Humming (and making conducting gestures) along with his playing (either in practicing or recording), shows the ecstatic state in which he was into.
> Just the Music and Himself in the whole Universe...
> Magnificent...


G.G. & L.L.
I don't see any difference


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

consuono said:


> It's robotic and the allegro section is played as if its marked presto. I don't see any point in doing that just to show that you can.


G.G. & W.W.
Who disregards the composers' intentions more?


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

hammeredklavier said:


> G.G. & L.L.
> I don't see any difference


I wake up to this video every morning for the past 10 years.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

premont said:


> It's not Gould's humming which bothers me, it's his playing.


His playing is not as bad as it sounds


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Yes, but not as much as his playing.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

HenryPenfold said:


> His playing is not as bad as it sounds


Is this a sound argument?


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

premont said:


> Is this a sound argument?


Is this an answer?


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## musichal (Oct 17, 2020)

As long as Jarrett refrains from humming on Gould's recordings - and vice versa - I'm good. Wouldn't want to hear them do a humming duet, either.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

HenryPenfold said:


> Is this an answer?


That's the question.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

It used to but not any longer.

If you listen to some Horzowski and Jeno Jando via headphones you will hear some noises from them also. 

Interesting to me that Gould can jerk and weave around and make noises all he wants but let that little popular Asian pianist do similar things and some people wet themselves. Oh well, I guess the Asians can't get immersed in music and lose themselves like Canadians can.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Oldhoosierdude said:


> Oh well, I guess the Asians can't get immersed in music and lose themselves like Canadians can.


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## Skakner (Oct 8, 2020)

hammeredklavier said:


> G.G. & L.L.
> I don't see any difference


To paraphrase a known cliche, If we all had the same opinion, this forum would be very boring.

IMHO, Gould was nothing less than authentic. Lang Lang seems fake, like he's acting...


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

hammeredklavier said:


> G.G. & W.W.
> Who disregards the composers' intentions more?


I dunno...both?


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## Eclectic Al (Apr 23, 2020)

Pianists are required to control their bodies in such a way that they can perform the music. That requires exceptional skills.
Players of wind instruments are also required to do this, including control of their breathing.

It seems to me not unreasonable as a minimum requirement to be considered a good (or even adequate) pianist that you can control your breathing at least well enough not to intrude on the performance. That's not a lot to ask.

We wouldn't excuse a pianist who simply can't co-ordinate their hands sufficiently well to play a chord, so why would we tolerate a pianist who can't control their breathing sufficiently well not to grunt and sing-along?

Unless the piece contains instructions such as "sing along here in a fairly random fashion" then a half-way decent pianist should be able to control their breathing well enough not to give us the sing-along.

Saying that one can grow to tolerate it is just like saying that one can grow to tolerate a pianist who can't keep their two hands synchronised. Well you might be able to, but that just amounts to tolerating a poor performance. Other pianists can perform without the grunting (just as pianists can co-ordinate their two hands), so their performances are simply better as a result.


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## vincula (Jun 23, 2020)

Skakner said:


> To paraphrase a known cliche, If we all had the same opinion, this forum would be very boring.
> 
> Lang Lang seems fake, like he's acting...


I think it's a jewel, so I disagree here. To me he seems authentic, precisely because he IS PLAYING, and that's exactly the spirit of the music, isn't it? Prokofiev would have been delighted. Few humans have any energy or ressources left to "play" with this extremely demanding music. Once they're able to play the music, they have invested so much in it, that they start taking _themselves_ seriously. A gifted musician as Lang Lang does not. He takes music so seriously that he's able to play with it!

Regards,

Vincula


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

BenG said:


> I know there are people who find Gould's humming ruins his recordings, but I've never really minded. Anyway yes or no?


Does not bother me at all neither did the asthmatic breathing of Peter Cropper.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

So in some of these last few comments people seem to intuitively or magically know the little Asian like pianist's motivations and intentions. His attitudes and emotions. Huh, maybe they have met the guy, I don't know.

Some bro or sis up above there even knows the intentions of composers! Neat trick since so many of them are long deceased. But hey, a good seance can reveal a lot. 

Huh, I've noticed talk like this about Yo-Yo Ma and that conductor cat Ozawa. Wonder what's going on with that!


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

Oldhoosierdude said:


> Some bro or sis up above there even knows the intentions of composers! Neat trick since so many of them are long deceased. But hey, a good seance can reveal a lot.
> ...


So can things like notes and tempo indications.


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## ELbowe (Aug 23, 2020)

Gould and Monk both hum and it doesn't bother me....but Keith Jarrett is another matter. For years I tried to ignore his dreadful "moaning" and while I didn't play his LPs and CDs often when I acquired "Live in Tokyo" it was the straw. I listened to it twice and then packaged all of his music in my collection and gave them away.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

ELbowe said:


> Gould and Monk both hum and it doesn't bother me....but Keith Jarrett is another matter. For years I tried to ignore his dreadful "moaning" and while I didn't play his LPs and CDs often when I acquired "Live in Tokyo" it was the straw. I listened to it twice and then packaged all of his music in my collection and gave them away.


I've seen many times people extracting/isolating in some way the guitar part or the vocals from a song. It would be interesting to isolate Jarrett's humming. I guess that it could even be used as a sort of torture.


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

There was a group of chamber musicians whose summer concerts we attended for years in a vacation area of New England. They had a pianist whose breathing was audible when he played. He made sounds like Darth Vader. That's even worse than humming. But I can still overlook it.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

consuono said:


> So can things like notes and tempo indications.


Seems to be a lot of controversy with all you experts on some of them there markings. You all caint hardly agree , like with that Beethoven guy symphonies.

So, stick with the seance, more reliable.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

Oldhoosierdude said:


> Seems to be a lot of controversy with all you experts on some of them there markings. You all caint hardly agree , like with that Beethoven guy symphonies.
> 
> So, stick with the seance, more reliable.


I don't claim to be an expert, but you don't have to be one to know there's supposed to be a difference between allegro and presto.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

consuono said:


> I don't claim to be an expert, but you don't have to be one to know there's supposed to be a difference between allegro and presto.


Still, lot's of disagreements on composers intentions there, sonny. Not sure you boys (girls) is a durn sight more reliable than the little Asian dude. Hey, maybe the little guy asked your friends Allegro and Presto and they told him to go for it.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

Oldhoosierdude said:


> Still, lot's of disagreements on composers intentions there, sonny. Not sure you boys (girls) is a durn sight more reliable than the little Asian dude. Hey, maybe the little guy asked your friends Allegro and Presto and they told him to go for it.


I was talking about Gould, not a "little Asian dude".


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

consuono said:


> I was talking about Gould, not a "little Asian dude".


The polite Canada boy? That's different then. I'll ask him about all this there next time he comes over.


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## Marc (Jun 15, 2007)

Without the humming, it would not be Gould.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

SONNET CLV said:


> Gould's humming would likely bother me if he didn't accompany it with such glorious "incidental" music from his piano.


Of course, I secretly wish for a box set of Glenn Gould's "greatest hits" -- that is, the humming with the piano music filtered out.


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