I have never thought I do this kind of thing! Last month, I sprained a joint of my right finger. This is really bad for pianists. Initially I thought a half day rest might be all it needed to heel.
No way!
Almost a month past, I am still not able to use my finger with full power. Acupuncture has been helping and I am finally seeing the end of a tunnel. My former classical teacher, Ed Bedner, used to warn me, “We use fingers not only for piano but for so many other daily things. Always, be careful!” I have somewhat listened to him but here I am with a swollen injured joint!
It was not like, my tendon was cut or the bone was crushed. Only sprained. So eventually it will heel, but this injury after almost 20 years taught me something; that is, when I can’t play piano, I simply want to play the instrument.
As a pianist, I have been playing my instrument everyday, and because I want to play so much, playing piano has become part of my occupation.
However, when you do that everyday, you tend to forget this simple feeling of wanting to play. Actually, I injured my finger when the college was in recess, and it was not that I had a big concert or anything during that period. No major loss. If I didn’t injure my finger, I would have had spent an ordinary days of practicing or composing, but it does not matter what I had on my schedule. I just simply wanted to play.
When we put our strong effort into something, or when we do certain things for a long period of time, we tend to forget the fact that we started doing it because we simply wanted to do it.
The great pianist, Daniel Barenboim once said in the interview that when he took lessons with the legend, Vladimir Horowitz, Horowitz said, “Never forget that you want to express yourself with this instrument (piano)” Barenboim stated in that interview it was a single piece of advice that has stayed on him until today.
Now, “Why did Horowitz gave this advice?”
Because he knew that we forget this! We don’t tell anybody not to forget things if we know she or he will never forget it. We say “Don’t forget” only when we know that we forget.
If we can go back to the simply idea of “wanting”, just like the very first time we feel that way, I think, in everything, not just playing the instruments, but in whatever it is that we do, we will be one step close to the truth.
This might be a homework that has waitied for me, that I needed to learn from this injury.