An article in the Wall St Journal talks about pianist Izumi Tateno. Five years ago, in the midst of performing, he had a stroke. He was 65 years old. He said, "In an instant, I lost all the music that I had accumulated inside me for over 60 years." He thought that with some rehab, he would be back to performing in a few months. But his right hand did not cooperate.
He began to play a score that was written only for the left hand. Many such scores were composed for soldiers injured in wars. And when he played, he forgot that he was playing with only one hand. Since then, other composers have written pieces for him and he has returned to performing, using only his left hand.
What impressed me most about his story was his response when someone asked him if he was frustrated that he could no longer play most of the music he had known. Mr. Tateno replied, "How can I be dissatisfied when I can express myself fully through music?"
Is music complete when played with two hands? Apparently not. Apparently music doesn't depend on the number of hands doing the expressing. I love the idea of completeness being something different than what we think it is. How much of the music of our lives is already whole, as we continue along unaware and, possibly, dissatisfied?
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