The FOURTH FINGER...

Traditionally and physiologically, the fourth finger is considered the weak sister. Everyone knows it is feeble and fragile, unfocused in its attack, unsure of its landing. It refuses to emerge from its dependence upon the third finger, to the mutual confusion of both. Artificial devices, such as Schumann's contraption to liberate it, result only in frustration or trauma. We keep trying, yet it seems hopeless. But wait! Chopin designates the fourth finger for crucial missions of the cantabile touch. Incredible, for we have been on the wrong track all these years. Instead of trying to mechanize it, we should be honoring its special gift. For what we thought was a one-legged flamingo may turn out to be a bird of paradise!


- from "Piano Pieces" - by Russell Sherman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (NY) 1996, 244pp.

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