Jane Erb: >Take it from me, and I'll leave my own likes and dislikes out of this, >but absolutely, positively yes. I've been told no amount of times that >one cannot be a real music lover without loving Mozart. I've been told the same -- and I don't believe it. I happen to like Mozart in very small doses. And understanding his musical contribution certainly enhances my appreciation of other music I listen to -- some of which I even enjoy. I guess the lesson I have learned from starting this thread is there are people for whom there are absolute truths, i.e. "Ignore the humming which distracts you and you will grow". Trouble is -- I'm not sure I believe this and I'm also not sure I want to believe it. Gould's humming -- whatever Muse inspires it, whatever artistry he displays -- interferes with the reason I listen to music. And it certainly interferes with my appreciation of his own interpretative skills. I would be just as irritated and turned off by Toscanini's muttering or any of the other 'greats' mentioned in the (many!) responses to my original point. I watch movies for entertainment. I would be severely distracted if halfway through 'Lawrence of Arabia' an extraneous shot was spliced in of O'Toole and Hawkins partying in celebration of a successful scene. I listen to music to try to gain some sense of what the composer is trying to communicate -- not that the artist is incidental, but I'm after his interpretation, not his extraneous thought processes. Then again -- maybe I haven't grown sufficiently, no matter what my tailor tells me! Tim Mahon