With Your Own Two Hands by Seymour Bernstein

Author:Seymour Bernstein [Bernstein, Seymour]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Manduca Music Publications
Published: 2016-03-11T05:00:00+00:00

MY ARM IS FALLING OFF!

I once played the Wanderer Fantasy by Schubert for the late Alexander Brailowsky with whom I studied for many years. Those who play it will agree that it has one of the most taxing finales in the entire repertory. History has it that even Schubert succumbed to its difficulties, for when he performed it for the first time, he suddenly threw up his hands in despair and exclaimed, “Only the devil should play this piece.” For me, such historical evidence came after the fact, for a cautious tempo was my own admission that it is a hazardous piece. Brailowsky, however, had his own notion of the tempo. After the opening measures, he cried, “Faster!” I went faster. But suddenly I felt my arm muscles contract. As the difficulties increased, so did the contractions in my arm. Just as my strength was waning, Brailowsky shouted over the fortissimos, “It’s not fast enough!” That was too much. Forgetting my awe and respect for him, I raised my hands from the piano (not unlike Schubert, evidently) and shouted back at him, “I can’t go any faster!” Having played this piece himself many times, he was all too familiar with its difficulties and burst into laughter at my distress. “You know,” he said quite good-humoredly, “I am right, you are right, and Schubert is wrong!” We both had a good laugh over this virtually impossible piece (see Illustration X).

The expression, “My arm is falling off,” refers to tightness and pain in the forearm that eventually make it difficult to move your fingers. The pain is caused by muscles that contract involuntarily, not unlike those leg cramps that seem to have a mind of their own. There are three precautionary steps to ward off arm cramps: (1) command your fingers—and not your arms—to assume the major share of responsibility; (2) allow natural tension to keep your fingers taut; and (3) acquire endurance.

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