Don't you see? Your hand maybe stilled, but your gift cannot be silenced if you refuse to let it be.
The gift does not lie in your hands! I have hands, David. Hands that can make a scalpel sing. More than anything in my life, I wanted to play. But I do not have the gift. I can play the notes; but I can not make the music.
You've performed Liszt; Rachmaninoff; Chopin. Even if you never do so again, you already know the joy that I will never know for as long as I live.
Because the true gift is in your head. And in your heart. And in your soul.
Now, you can shut it off forever; or you can find new ways to share your gift with the world; through the baton; the classroom; the pen.
As for these works, they're for you.
Because you, and the piano will always be as one.
What the human body and mind can do in the face of adversity is phenomenal. The inspiration behind this lengthy quotation, from the19th episode of Season 8 of M*A*S*H titled "Morale Victory", is an Austrian Pianist by the name of Paul Wittgenstien, whose right hand had to be amputated during WW1.
He begun a long search to commission piano work composed for the left hand alone. Composer after composer turned him down, until he found French Composer Maurice Ravel. And this is the piece he composed for Wittgenstein : Piano Concerto for the left hand in D Major.
Piano Notation of Ravel's Piano Concerto in D
What the human body and mind can do, especially in the face of adversity is incredible. If you have been blessed with a talent; make use of it, and share it with the world. If you lose the idyllic way to bring to life the gifts within you, find alternatives.
Because there are always alternatives!
