JSB's Keyboard Thought Pumps

I failed miserably at piano lessons; my attempts to maintain two fluid melodic lines in the most simple counterpoint was a disaster. For some reason, however, listening to music where two ore more musical ideas are developed and elaborated in counterpoint has always helped me think and work. I discovered this specifically while writing my dissertation at the Troy Public Library. I purchased a cheap Radio Shack CD player and headphones and helped myself to the library's CD collection as I worked. That's when I became really attached to Bach's organ works, and fell in love all over again with his masterful counterpoint. So what's a "thought pump?" It's my bastardization of Daniel Dennett's term "intuition pump," which is a term he uses to describe philosophical thought experiments. Dennett is brilliant.

I own two complete sets of J.S. Bach. Today I burned a 7 hour CD of music that is great for working at my desk. It contains:

• Two Part Inventions
• Three Part Inventions
• French Suites
• English Suites
• Clavier-Ubung
• Goldberg Variations

All pieces are played on a modern piano (harpischord and clavichord are not great for working, and people aren't able to tune them out when you answer the phone or have a visitor. I'm very much enjoying these.