Every Good Boy Does Fine

 

EGBDF are the notes on the lines of the treble staff and the reason for the title of Jeremy Denk's memoir about his life as a musician:  Every Good Boy Does Fine.

I am almost finished reading Denk's 350 plus page book which I borrowed from the Princeton Library.  It has a NEW sticker on it so I will return it soon so someone else can borrow it.  But it may be worth buying as an investment in my own Music Appreciation course--one I can enjoy from the couch in our living room--as long as I have my laptop close by.  Actually I would have to move to Jim's study so that I have more reliable internet access. 

Denk lists musical works at the beginning of each chapter and then proceeds to describe them and analyze them.  I have gone to YouTube and listened to several of them including a Schubert Impromptu and a Brahms Concerto for Cello and Piano.  I pulled out my tattered Well Tempered Clavichord and played Bach's Prelude in C Major, the first and the easiest prelude in the book--but with new ears and eyes after reading Denk's description of it.  I should do more of that careful listening but will need to do it over time and at my leisure.

I thought that I would like to listen to Denk himself play.  The first thing I found when I did a search was a great interview in which John Dickerson of CBS news sits near Denk at the piano and asks him questions about his book and his practicing.  Dickerson is smiling and so is Denk.  

Reading about Denk's teachers made me remember my teachers.  Over the years I have had three piano teachers not including my first teacher who was my dad.  I longed to have a "real teacher" but that was not something my parents felt they could afford until I was in middle school.  My teachers were kind to me unlike some of Denk's teachers who could be very demanding and even cruel.  I remember my high school piano teacher telling me to "think on each note."  Every single one?  That was mind boggling to me as I played from beginning to end without a great deal of thought.  My college teacher did not really encourage me to continue lessons with her after one year but suggested instead I read Copland's book  What to Listen for in Music.  She needed to invest her time in the students who were going to be majoring in piano. 

Also over the years I had three different organ teachers.  My first organ teacher was my high school choir director.  He could be a bit harsh.  I remember practicing all week on some piece and he commented, "You're sight-reading, of course?"  To his credit, he gave me a good start because the other teachers I had as an adult did not correct my technique.  I even signed up for harpsichord lessons at Notre Dame and decided it was a great experience that enriched my organ playing but I was never going to buy a harpsichord so ten lessons or so was enough.

Maybe I will meet Jeremy Denk as I see he is an American Academy of Arts and Sciences fellow and Jim will be initiated into the Academy next year.  If I do meet him, I will tell him that his book enriched my life.  

 I am also thinking what a remarkable thing this information age is.  I can sit in my apartment with my ASUS laptop--not a fancy tool at all--and I can listen to music and hear interviews and my world becomes a much bigger place than 508 Barclay Boulevard.