The SECOND FINGER...

...has many guises in real life. It is the index finger, the trigger finger, and the finger which beckons. All these roles are absorbed ino its pianistic functions, for it has considerable responsibilities: to keep order, to navigate, to set up. As the squad leader juxtaposed against the thumb, it has the awesome task of serving as liaison between Cyclops and the maidens, entities of radically different lineage and voice. It must cooperate with both sides to harmonize the differences, and as such it develops a distinctively androgynous personality, capable of both soothing the beast and regulating the bevy. It is the finger which may require the most care and attention.

The second finger... must lead the way.... In addition, and vitally important, the index finger provides base, compass, and support for the otherwise tender pinky, which desperately needs healing and hardening to accomplish its painfully exposed mission as guardian of the melody line.

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

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