Playing A Violin With Three Strings

On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.

If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches. To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is an awesome sight.

He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play.

By now, the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. They
remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play.

But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You
could hear it snap - it went off like gunfire across the room. There was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do.

We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage - to either find another violin or else find another string for this one. But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again.

The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before.

Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to
know that.

You could see him modulating, changing, re-composing the piece in his head. At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before.

When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium. We were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done.

He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said - not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone - "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."

What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the definition of life - not just for artists but for all of us.

Here is a man who has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, who, all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, finds himself with only three strings; so he makes music with three strings, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable, than any that he had ever made before, when he had four strings.

So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.

article by Jack Riemer (received via email)

How To Deal With Challenges

Wherever you are and however much of an adventure you are having, it is safe to say that more than likely that you will be faced with challenges and obstacles on a regular basis. This is what life is made up of. Some of us though seem to have the knack of making it all seem so easy, while others get caught up in the negativity of the challenge and only see problems ahead of them.

Challenges can consume you if you let them. You can, on the other hand choose to focus on your strengths instead and see challenges as a part of life, which is exactly what they are. If you allow yourself to focus on the difficulty of the challenge, that is what's going to grow in size, yet if you focus on solutions for your dilemma, the chances are you will find one or even more possibilities for solving your problem. Through trying times, we do not want to believe that some good can come out of our challenging periods. Yet, if we look back on the difficult times in our lives, whether it be about a relationship, one's business, an addiction, financial problems or other ... have we not learnt more as a result of each challenge? Have we not grown and become stronger, more compassionate human beings?

I am not saying that we need deny the severity of the challenge and the pain it may be causing. It is essential to feel the emotion that has surfaced to be able to accept the challenge and what it means to us. Give yourself time, but then put on your obstacle boots, do what you have to do about it, do all you can do and when that is done and no more can be achieved at that time, let it go and trust that it will be taken care. Wait and be patient for the right time and then take another step forward. Do not expect that all challenges can be solved immediately. Some need time and there always seems to be a reason for this. When challenges arise do not think you are being singled out and punished. Challenges are the stuff life is made of. However, how you choose to overcome the challenge will determine your rate of success.

In the words of Mark Victor Hansen, “Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what!. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more successful.”

by Kim Knight
www.kimknightcoaching.com

Never Give Up...

There are times when nothing goes the way you want. All your plans fail, your rock solid dreams shatter like castles of sand. These are the testing times, you go through these because God wants you to realize your strength. Sometimes these problems lead you to new discoveries; the ones which bring you fame, prosperity, satisfaction, happiness and most importantly it takes your mental strength to a much higher level. It gives you confidence that you are strong enough to fight and come out victorious.

Later in your life when you will think about this time it will bring a smile on your face. It will give you confidence, strength and happiness and I say this with experience. I once read in an article in the Reader’s Digest “God picks tough ones to deal with tough problems”. So always be happy to face problems that god trusts you and believes that you can face those problems, don’t let him down.

The key to winning over such problems is by not loosing hope. Remember a match is not lost till the last ball is bowled and a war not won till the last bullet is fired. Every dark cloud has a silver lining, so you got to wait for that silver lining. Remember, no matter how long the night the dawn will break and you have to wait for the dawn.

So never give up, you never know when life would take a U-turn and you would suddenly come out of all the problems, right on top of this world, happy as u always were.

So hold on to the steering,,, drive steady… U turn ahead….