The 4-hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss introduced the concept of life style design. Instead of planning a 9 to 5 career you plan your lifestyle. How to finance it comes in second.
An early adopter of lifestyle design was Glenn Gould, a Canadian pianist, composer, writer, and broadcaster. Glenn Gould is my musical hero. If you are not familiar with Glenn, read the Wikipedia article.
Gould gave up public performances when he was at the height of his career in 1964. Gould argued that traditional classical concerts were a sort of competition where a non-empathetic and critical audience was just waiting for the performer to fail.
What is the lifestyle without concerts for a concert pianist? Here are highlights from Gould
- He had a passion for J.S. Bach, and he devoted most of his time interpreting Bach in his personal, unique manner
- Gould was always totally immersed in what he did
- He developed a "love affair with the microphone", spending countless hours at the recording studio, selecting carefully the takes for the final recording
- He made not only musical recordings, but also radio documentaries
- One if his peculiarities was to hum when he played the piano, also during recordings
- He lived a secluded life and communicated mainly by telephone with his friends
- He made money with recordings and wise investments
Gould had to endure a lot of critique from other musicians and art critics. I think, however, that he was truly happy with his life choices.
If you want to hear him play Bach subscribe to Spotify (I think they have all his records) or watch him on YouTube.
