Last night I decided to take my own adjustable piano stool to play at our choir concert. At our rehearsal on Thursday evening the seat with the piano in the hall annoyed me no end. It was too low and not adjustable. As a pianist it is rare that you ever perform on the instrument you practise on. You get what is provided by the venue. While this was a lovely baby grand, its seat had seen better days. It’s not something I usually worry too much about but I felt really uncomfortable playing and was far happier last night sitting on my own piano bench. Fussy? Perhaps. But as I drove home I was thinking that this was probably the only thing I would ever have in common with eccentrically, amazingly talented Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. Among other things, he is famous for his unusual piano chair which you can read about here:
He played on it his whole life and took it with him everywhere. If it lets you play Bach like this then I say good decision. (He also sang along with his playing.)
And if you haven’t seen the documentary 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould I highly recommend it.