5min book review #17

Philip Glass: Words Without Music. A memoir

Value for money

10/10

Year, Price, Pages, Cover design

2015 by Liveright Publishing Company; EUR 32,57; 416 pages (The content itself 396 pages; Index 20 pages); Hardcover

Frontispiece by Richard Pasley; Book design by Barbara M. Bachman, Production manager: Anna Oler;

Jacket photograph by Annie Leibowitz; Jacket design by Kimberley Glyder, Author photograph by Steve Pyke.
Top-quality paper, the exquisite reading experience

5 sentences about the book

If you’re a fan of Glass’s music, then ‘Words Without Music’ is a must-read for you. Even if you’re unsure whether his writing can match his musical brilliance, I have good news. This marvelous autobiography is brilliantly written, and I found myself thoroughly engrossed in every page of Glass’s history, where he reflects on the transformations witnessed during his professional lifetime: ‘The way things changed during my professional lifetime is, in part, the subject of this book’ (116).

Glass takes us back to his childhood in Baltimore, where he grew up with his mother Ida Glass, father Ben Glass, sister Sheppie, and brother Marty. Leaving home at a tender age, he embarked on his college journey in Chicago before delving into his years at Juilliard, a renowned private conservatory in New York City.

A significant part of Glass’s memoir centres around his encounters with yoga, Hindu music, and his sojourns to India. He vividly recounts his visits to Rishikesh, Kathmandu, Darjeeling, and Kalimpong. Moreover, Glass shares his exploration of vegetarian cooking and the profound connections he formed with influential figures in Indian music, such as Ravi Shankar, and in the world of yoga, including Yogi Vithaldas and Dr. Ramamurti S. Mishra.

Throughout his narrative, Glass’s exceptional writing shines through. A transformative meeting with his teacher Nadia Boulanger in Paris exemplifies his outstanding storytelling. He seamlessly weaves in stories about his first wife JoAnne Akalaitis and their children, Juliet and Zack, as well as the poignant tale of Candy Jernigan. We are also touched by the nostalgic stories of Glass’s family holidays in Cape Breton, a place that holds special memories for them. Glass also offers intriguing insights into his various jobs in New York City, including his time as a taxi driver and plumber, revealing how he balanced his creative pursuits with practical responsibilities: ‘A lot of ‘Einstein on the Beach’ was written at night after driving a cab. On the days I didn’t have to drive, I had time to compose during the day and attend to household chores and business, like arranging tours’ (275).

In the final section of the book, Glass delves into his music composition process, providing further insights and sharing his early attempts. We become witnesses to his inaugural public appearance and gain a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the creation of his groundbreaking operas, including ‘Einstein on the Beach,’ ‘Satyagraha,’ and ‘Akhnaten.’ Additionally, Glass offers a unique perspective on his collaborations with film directors while composing music for the silver screen.

What did I learn?

• I noticed that Glass began working at his father’s store from an early age, and he continued to embrace manual work later on as well. Reading between the lines, I recognized the importance of a strong work ethic in shaping one’s life from a young age. This quote coins everything: “The Quaker philosophy is consistent with an idea that developed in me later. I never wanted to be a Quaker, but I did send my first two children to a Quaker school in Manhattan. […] I liked their philosophy of life, work, and spirit. Bedrock's ideas of social responsibility and change through nonviolence came to me through the Quackers. When people’s lives reflect ideas like that, their behavior becomes automatically part of a bigger picture.” 13–14
• If you want to explore the bedrock of Glass’s music, the origins can be found in the records available at his father’s store: “The sounds of chamber music entered my heart, becoming my basic musical vocabulary. I thought, simply, that was how music was supposed to sound. That was my base, and quite a lot of everything else eventually became layered around it.” 18
• Glass’s departure from Baltimore to Chicago brought about a newfound awareness of the segregation he had unknowingly lived with throughout his life in Baltimore: “I lived in a world where segregation was taken for granted and not even discussed. This was my conversion from being a kid from a border state, a Dixie state, whatever you want to call it, which was segregated from top to bottom — its restaurants, movie houses, swimming pools, and golf courses. I think it took me less than a minute to realize that I had lived my whole life in a place that was completely wrong. It was a revelation.” 24
• “My favorite person in the book is Mlle. Boulanger. If you haven’t heard about her, now is the time to Google her. Right now!” “What Mlle. Boulanger taught was how to hold a hammer, how to use a saw, how to measure, how to visualize what you were doing, and how to plan the whole process. And when you had learned all that, you could build a really good table. Now, she never thought the ‘table’ was itself a music composition. She thought her training was simply about technique. Basically, when you left her, if you had studied with her diligently, you would end up with a toolbox of shiny, bright tools that you knew how to use.” 139
• I admire Glass’s approach to life. I hope that by reading this book, I can become a slightly kinder and more humble person:
  “I have confidence about what I was doing. […]
  Still, my perception was that I always did well. I never thought I was doing poorly. I thought I’ve got a nice, two-bedroom rent-controlled apartment on Fourteenth Street and Second Avenue. I have two kids and they have food to eat. They have clothes. I’ve got a day job and a night job. I have a band, an audience, and a record company. I thought we were doing great, though my children were aware that they were living a different kind of life than most of their friends. I was never embarrassed by our circumstances.” 280

What was missing?

• Nothing

Favorite quotes

“It almost didn’t matter to me whom I studied with, as long as I found the right teacher, and that was pretty much my attitude. In fact, I think that has persisted. I’ve found teachers all through my life, people I knew who were otherwise unknown.” 31

“There were countless moments during my years in Paris when Mlle. Boulanger or Raviji passed on to me insights about music in particular and life in general. It was if I had two angels on my shoulders, one on the right and one on the left, both whispering in my ears.” 149

“The power of morality is not something that is talked about much these days, especially among contemporary people. But when we look at it from the point of view of commitments, and when we see how the Buddhists treat making and keeping commitments as a form of morality, then we can come to a better understanding of Gandhi’s work and how it continues to reverberate with us.” 190

“We understand the world because of the way we were taught to see. That’s why we become Americans, we become Indians, we become Eskimos. We see that world because that’s what was installed, almost banged, into our heads when we were very, very young. But it’s also possible to step out of that world.” 196