Referencing Glenn Gould at the RCM’s recent Keyboard Pedagogy Professional Development Summit

By Penny Johnson, Contributing Author

I recently attended the two-day Keyboard Pedagogy Professional Development Summit held at The Royal Conservatory’s TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning in Toronto. I believe I was one of several hundred piano teachers from across North America who have congregated to hear noteworthy figures in the field, as well as to network and advance our ideas for further personal and professional growth. We have already been exposed to presentations on such topics as “Piano Pedagogy 101: In Consideration of the Basics” (Dr. Marvin Blickenstaff); “A Creative Spirit: Pieces” (Dr. Andrew Hisey); “Not Just in Theory: Making the Most of Repertoire Study” (Dr. Janet Lopinski); “Learning How to Learn” (Dr. Kent McWilliams). Yet even with all of our energies focused on piano pedagogy and not on such Gouldian themes as contrapuntal radio, solitude, north or Art of Fugue, Glenn Gould's name came up three times in a very short while. Given the fact that Gould's work as a pioneer of recording techniques is finally realizing it's rightful place in the realm of twenty-first century methodology, I find it reassuring to know that so too in the teaching studio does his manner of performance and interpretation continue to influence piano pedagogues.

Throughout the 1990’s and early 2000’s, I recall Gould being mentioned frequently by piano teachers, particularly when discussing a student’s interpretation of a work by Bach. During my undergraduate and graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music, Gould would be referenced both in the teaching studio and master class setting, as well as informal listening parties with friends, not to mention the countless teachers who played his recordings as part of their lectures. Similarly, a trip to the listening desk at Eastman’s Sibley Music Library just wouldn’t be complete without a Gould disc, which were almost always in circulation.

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