Guitars, tips and great music discussions
A little bit of Glenn Gould trivia for all of those interested.
(1) Glenn Gould’s mother played the organ at St. Andrew’s Church, 73 Simcoe Street, Toronto. Central Presbyterian church in Toronto
(2) His childhood home was32 Southwood Dr
(3) His summer home in Uptergrove Ont., near lake Simcoe/Orillia.
(4) Buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto Canada in the Eastern part, section 38, plot 1050 row 1088
(5) His apartment was at 110 St. Clair ave W.
Keep on Jammin’
The one thing that I see in the evolution of the acoustic guitar today is its link with the past from Canada’s own, Glenn Gould.
He used a unique approach while playing in his later years, around 1983, when he took away part of the piano body to let the sound come out of the instrument in a unorthodox way.
First of all, the guy was way ahead of his time. What he did was to remove the wooden cover section that is used to cover the piano keys. He removed this part entirely. He would also close the piano lid on his concert piano, allowing the sound to be sent through the missing cover section of the piano.
This allowed him to hear the subtle tones while playing his music.
This was best shown in his 1980’s work of the gloomy nature of life. The slowness of some of his canon’s reflect the need for this type of sound exposure that the musician needs to fully understand what the audience hears, but as a very unique approach.
Second of all, the guy went to places that no one probably ever thought of venturing. I wonder if the person who thought of the guitar side ports ever watched Glenn Gould Hereafter? If he did, I bet this is where he may have got the idea, but then again I could be dead wrong.
I have been toying around with the idea of putting in a new state of the art pick up system in my Larrivee. The system is called the LR Baggs iMIX. It captures a lot of the character in my guitar with an active response to it. That means that the pickups pick up the aggressive or passive playing of the strings on the guitar.
Now in order to place it in there, I must have it installed inside the body above the sound hole, closest to my face. That’s fine with me. The next question is what in the world do I do with the hole that the factory installed system sat in? It would look mighty funny just viewing a rectangular opening right there in my face. Do I just leave it there or what should I do with it? Here is my best option, I think.
I have always wanted both of my acoustic guitars to have pick ups so I can have a back-up on stage. So why not put my old pick up from the Larrivee into my old Aspen acoustic guitar. Perfect, I think? Unfortunately if I do this I will have this opening on the side of the body near my chest where the old system was. It would look so odd and out of place that I would be reluctant to let anyone look at my guitar. So while talking about my problem with the guitar tech at the 12th fret, he gave me this fabulous idea of the side port!
They could change the look of the old hole and create a fancy looking design in it’s place!
This will allow a small portion of the sound to come up directly to me acting like another sound hole or a monitor if you will. This will not effect the tonal qualities of my baby I have been told. The tech had one in this part of the workshop that he made and let me try it out. Not only did it look very cool and original, but it was nice to have some sound coming from a part of the guitar that I have never heard it coming from in the past.
Now all I have to do is convince my wife about this one, wish me and my Larrivee luck will you all?
Keep on Jammin’
Thank God for that little area beneath the current newspaper that holds the previous days editions!
I was shopping with my wife this past Sunday and I was stopped in my tracks by the front page news caption ” The Secret Life of Glenn Gould”. I just had to have a copy of this article about my favorite Canadian Pianist of all time.
As to the title of the article, many autobiographies tried to tackle this topic, but it was mostly pure speculation. Mr. Gould was such a private person that most fans knew nothing about him besides his being the most refreshing interpreter of Bach’s pieces. “He was the James Dean of classical music,” said Tim Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic of the Washington Post and a friend of Gould’s. “He made Bach swing.” Some consider him perhaps the greatest piano virtuoso of the 20th century!
For most of his life, there were rumors he was either asexual or gay. Now with this revelation in hand, the idea can be put to rest once and for all.
In 1967, Glenn Gould carried on an affair for five years with a married women named Cornelia Foss. She, 25, and her husband, 34, Lukas Foss, were great friends and admirers of his work. Glenn and the Foss’ first met in LA one night in 1957, and later on Lukas found work as a conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1963. Both Glenn and the Foss’ couldn’t have been happier.
With Gould calling them all the time, Lucas became suspicious of them. In 1966 Cornelia says that Glenn asked for her hand in marriage. Then in 1967, she put her kids in the family station wagon and moved from Buffalo to Toronto to be closer to him.
Everything was going fine until she noticed some unsettling behaviour with him two weeks after she left Lucas. She must have been saying to herself what have I got myself, and more importantly, my children into?
After many years with Mr. Gould she returned to Lucas in 1972. Gould never really got over her some close friends would say.
After the tragic passing of Mr. Gould on Oct. 4, 1982, friends found notes in his St. Claire Apt. stating …
“I am deeply in love with a certain beautiful girl. I asked her to marry me, but she turned me down but I still love her more than anything in the world and every minute I can spend with her is pure heaven … “
I can only imagine the facial expression on the one who came across the earth shattering confession!
Glenn Gould R.I.P.
Keep on Jammin’
Glenn Gould (25 September 1932 – 4 October 1982)
The best Canadian premier Pianist of all time is Glenn Gould, period! End of all explanations and discussions.
If I had the chance to witness 2 musical acts of the last millennium it would be that of Glenn Gould playing anything and Canada’s own Max Webster. Honestly, I feel like I was gypped by this musical exclusion. (Maybe I shouldn’t have used that word because it is a reference to the negative aspects of “gypsies”, did you know that? Sorry, all of you gypsies of the world. I just thought that people should know the origins of some words.) Ok class, now on to the subject at hand.
I am proud and honored to announce that I live just outside his neighbourhood. He lived at 32 Southwood Drive in Toronto, Ontario. Main St. turns into Southwood Dr., and it’s south of Danforth Ave very close to where we currently own a home. He lived out his life in an apartment at 110 St Clair Ave. W, near Avenue Road. Across the road, on the north-west corner of Avenue Road and St. Clair, is the Glenn Gould Park. We used to live in that area too when we were apartment dwellers. This is another small park that has recently been named in honour of the internationally famous pianist.
This giant was a tortured genius. In 1957, he was the first musician to play in the former USSR after WWII. And you thought someone else was the first to play there, ha!
He was a Presbyterian of Scottish extraction. Gould made his debut as an organist, not as a pianist, at the Eaton Auditorium, Toronto, on December 12, 1945, not yet 13 years of age. Later on in his life he said that this was his favorite and best acoustic quality venue in which to play in, in Toronto. People were said to be greatly impressed and astonished by Gould, the child, who could play with such brilliant technique and interpretive ability. On May 8, 1946, Gould performed, for the first time, as piano soloist with the Toronto Conservatory Orchestra at Massey Hall in Toronto.
In the fall of 1977, the U.S. Government sent two ships, Voyager 1 and 2, into outer space. A variety of messages were placed on board these earthly space craft that were capable of communicating the existence of intelligent creatures living on our planet. Among these was included a short prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach, as performed by Glenn Gould.
He became a frail hypochondriac who lived in a solitary nocturnal existence. For fear of injuring his hands, he refused to shake hands, even with conductors after a show. Gould was obsessed with the Canadian Arctic and dreamed of spending an entire winter above the Arctic Circle. He also had a unique obsession with his piano chair and animals. He was aware of this unique obsession of Buffalo NY from Torontonians.
He was also said to be witty and fun-loving. I had met a person who was working at CBC as a camera man and he told me that he never ever spoke to him but, saw him on a regular basis at CBC. He remembers all the eccentric traits that he was said to have. Glenn Gould also suffered stage fright. He would sit very low in his chair, humming and singing as he played.
Not that I’m comparing myself to him but, when I play difficult pieces, I too hum and sing certain phrases of a piece that I am playing. He was known for his nocturnal living habits but I am not. By doing all of his work at the CBC recording studios at night, this allowed him unheard of access to all aspects of recording technology.
He decided in 1964, a year before my birth, at the age of 32 to quit doing all live concerts. His final performance was in Los Angeles, in 1964, what a drag on my part. So why do you think he did this? This is why he quit playing live.
My favorite documentary that he produced was called “The idea of North“. You get an idea of what is like at the 7:08th minute of this video. This was really out there for the times but in today’s environment it is just plain BRILLIANT! This is a must to see.
My favorite documentary about him is called “32 short stories of Glenn Gould”. This is another must to see if you can catch it on CBC. Strangely, this documentary strangely captures the feeling of being Canadian.
Two days after his 50th birthday he suffers a massive stroke. He was rushed to Toronto General Hospital where he died a week later on Oct. 4, 1982. The world was stunned by Gould’s sudden death. All the more shocking due to the fact that he, almost neurotic, went to great lengths to avoid getting sick.
I just wish that more people had the opportunity to have seen him live.