Yesterday afternoon, as I was driving back from Charleston, I heard a bit of an interview with Kyra Sedgwick, which caused me to think: I hope she never plays “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” It would be so unfair, and would cause me to think less of her. The game would start, and a split-second later she’d yell “I win!” every time. How monotonous.
And that brought me to something that Kathryn Fenner brought to my attention recently: That our own Phillip Bush is connected to Ludwig von Beethoven by only five steps. It goes like this:
- Beethoven taught Carl Czerny.
- Czerny taught Theodor Leschetizky.
- Leschetizky taught Artur Schnabel.
- Schnabel taught Leon Fleisher.
- Fleisher taught Phillip.
And you know why Kathryn likes this game, don’t you?
Because Phillip teaches Kathryn.
Phillip, of course, has performed on the blog. You can also find a CD of Phillip playing his master’s master’s master’s master’s master’s work here, and read about him on Wikipedia.
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Now, there is also a huge thing about mathematicians and Erdos Numbers–Paul Erdos was a prolific mathematican who was bipolar and abused stimulant drugs, and had no fixed address for much of his life, traveling from one mathematician’s house to another, co-authoring papers. He famously said that a mathematician is a machine for converting caffeine into theorems. He is dead now, so the best a new person can do is 2, but there is a mathematician at USC with an Erdos of one, (Steve Fenner is only a 3, so far), so sharpen your pencils.
Are there similar numbers in other fields?
What’s the purpose of all this? I once worked on a project with an Apollo astronaut, does that make me more valuable to my employer?
Well, studying the piano with someone is a way of passing along techniques and artistic approaches that predates our video age.
The Erdos number thing is more of a Bacon number thing–someone who was a prolific collaborator–an amusement, although there is certainly a lot of wisdom handed down through many of these collaborations. My husband creates new PhDs one at a time, by hand, for example.
I cannot say whether the Apollo astronaut passed on anything useful to you, but I certainly think there are many more measures than just value to an employer.
At least you should have gotten him to give you a moon rock or something…
This sort of game reminds me of Allen Ginsberg’s claim of four degrees of (sexual) separation from Walt Whitman, long before anyone had heard of Kevin Bacon.
Which I really wasn’t trying to think about…
Also, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is played by naming an actor and figuring out how to connect him or her to a film with Kevin Bacon. You don’t win or lose…although you could play by figuring out the remotest actor, not the closest one! #unclearontheconcept
Who’s to say he didn’t… he did walk on it and stuff sticks to your boots.
PhD… Piled High and Deep.
So Kathryn is a sixth level student of Beethoven. Carnegie Hall awaits.
Steven Davis says:
“What’s the purpose of all this?”
`Kathryn Fenner says:
“You don’t win or lose…although you could play by figuring out the remotest actor, not the closest one! #unclearontheconcept”
###
The purpose could be to connect you, Steven, to `Kathryn — albeit unknown to the two of you — via the remotest actor (who is not Kevin Bacon or our own Phillip).
The concept is crystal clear. And there is always a winner.
>>>I win<<<
As they sing on Sesame Street: One of these things is not like the other/ One of these things just doesn’t belong….
Beethoven, Czerny, Leschetizky, Schnabel, Fleisher, Bush, Fenner
“Who is Kathryn Fenner?”
ding ding ding!
I am the happy recipient of an anomaly. I so am unworthy of Maestro Bush’s tutelage, but I do my best….
My first exposure to the Erdos was an individual claiming it as a qualification: “You should listen to me, my Erdos number is 2!”
I looked it up and started laughing. Seems my Erdos number is 3.