What they would have edited out (if they could) Audio recording, 47:21 minutes

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Under the virtuosic piano in Glenn Gould's recordings, there is humming. The first time I heard it, his voice grabbed me because it sounded so fallible, so unconcerned with public appearances. He unwittingly performed introversion, like a stranger whispering in my ear. The intimacy of this made me listen repeatedly, obsessively, for his vocalizations.

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Audio engineers have been trying to digitally eradicate the humming in Glenn's recordings for decades; it spoils the "perfection" of his playing. The piece began with a desire to do precisely the opposite: edit out all the piano and leave only the hums. Then I realized I had been humming along to him for years, following Glenn's voice under the melody. This is an unedited recording of me trying to follow along as precisely as possible to Glenn's humming, in real time, for the duration of his 1981 recording of the Goldberg Variations.

Commissioned by Temple Contemporary as part of the Silence Series, curated by Rob Blackson, 2012.