Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1884-07-14
Leff.Handed Musicians.

One-Handed Pianist and VfOHn1Sts
who Reverse the Order of Things.
''You've never seen piano ike that, have
you 2" said the dealer in musical instruments
to Sun reporter.
The reporter never had seen a piano just
like that, although he had seen nearly every
kind of piano, from the old-fashioned spinet
down to the modern grand. But the piano
in question looked like none of these. 1t
seemed a modern grand which had been sub
iected to powerful pressure laterally. Its
case was of but half the usual breadth, and
both white and black keys were similarly
narrow On the ordinary key board it is
difficult to stretch more than an octave with
perfect ease ; on this piano two octaves could
be stretched with as much ease as one octave
on the standard piano.
E'Now, what do you suppose it's Tor =
asked the repairer, with look of triumph
which showed that he fully expected the re-
porter to give it up.
'EFor man who can only play with his
left arm, said the reporter.
''My dear sir,' exclaimed the repairer,
thoroughly taken abaek, chow do you come
to know that 2"
Because" replied the reporter, ''as I en-
tered a man with but one arm, and that his
left one, went out besides, in Germany L
heard the famous one-armed Hungarian per-
form, and he played on piano which some
what resembled that"
''WeII,' ~ said the repairer, F'this man plays
as well your Hungarian, whom have also
heard. Like him, he is an amateur. But
YOUR Hungarian as I know, often plays in
public for charity, while this piano is never
heard except in its owners drawing room"
"Can he play great variety of compost
tons 3"
.'sIt is extraordinary to what extent he has
developed his powers of execution. You
know, of course, there are number of pieces
for No aft
Kalkbrenner, for instance, composed an Ella
borate etude or fantasia for the IN. s., and in
LISTS arrangement of Schubert's 'Du Bist
die Ruiz the melody is first set for the left
hand alone But this ft-handed pianist
looks upon such pieces as mere trifes. His
ambition is to play well with his left hand
what others who are very proficient find diff
fculty in playing with both hands. You
wouldn't believe it, but he has actually tao
k1ed some of Bach's compositions with sue
cess. You know what that means. In Bach
the various parts are so skillfu1ly and beauti-
fully interviewer it is all two hands can do
to eventuate them properly, SO that one may
readily be distinguished from the other.
| How does he manage it He has got each
| finger of that left hand of his as indepen-
| dent of the others as one hand of JoseHy's,
| for instance is of the other. I've often told
| this left-handed player he had an advantage
| over us---that we poor devils had two arms
| it is true, but only one hand to each, while
| he had only one arm, it is true but five hands
| to it, for each of his fingers is as good as a
| hand"
| s'And piano like that offers special ad-
vantages to such player % queried the re-
| porter.
| ''Many advantages, - was the reply. ''You
| will notice that he can control two octaves
| easily, without moving his hand from one po-
sition. If he wishes to leave that position to
| strike a lower or higher note he will find the
note much nearer to him than on an ordinary
piano. This players facility is truly marvel
Gus. He may, for instance, have chord to
| strike in which two notes are in the position
| last assumed by his hand and two beyond it.
An ordinary player who attempted it with
| one hand would be obliged to break the
| chord and the result would be an arpeggio
| But this player reaches the notes beyond the
position with such marvellous swiftness that
| the four notes sound as if they had been
| struck simultaneously, the intervals being in
| fnitesimally small. Then he has with great
| discrimination chosen two specialties. You
| know there are many beautiful songs whose
accomplishments are extremely simple, com
| passing perhaps not more than three octaves,
| and also that each part of a duet quatre
mains is usually within a small compass.
| This is specially the case with the bass part
One player very often takes the bass in such
compositions, transforming them to duets a
| tros mains, but using his left hand with such
effect that you'd never suppose, If, for in
stance, you sat in an adjoining room, the
players were one hand short. But, as l said
before, if you want to hear something truly
marvellous you should hear him play Bach.
| A nice fellow, too---modest and unassuming :;
never plays for anyone but his friends"
'EAnd have you any other instruments for
one-armed musicians s' asked the reporter.
"None for one-armed players" was the re-
ply, ''but several for players who, though
| they have both arms intact, are, like our one
armed amateur, left-handed,n
''What instruments do they play on ?'
'Only stringed instruments. You see, it
makes no difference at all what hand you use
in wind instruments whether, for instance,
you work the valves or the stops with the
right or left hand, or how you work the slides
of the trombone and, l suppose, the bass
drummer can make much noise and the
triangle player jingle merrily with one
hand as with the other. But have several
customers, players on stringed instruments,
who bow with the left hand"
''Is it difficult to adjust the instruments to
such players ?''
''Not at all. Some of them don't need to
have them adjusted. They play on fddles
strung in the ordinary fashion. They of
course have methods of lingering entirely
their own, and they usually allow the violin
to rest so that the bow and the belly of the
violin are nearly parallel. On other violins
the order of stringing is reversed. It is a
very simple matter, and as the violin is sym
metrical there is no difference in the sound.
1 experience but one difficulty 1 have most
ly to do with repairing fiddles for right-hand-
ed players, and sometimes from sheer custom
I send home a fiddle strung after the usual
manner to a left-handed player. All he has
to do, of course is simply to restring the in
strument himself but if you ever saw
stout German on hot day stringing his VIC
lin you'd know what kind of a job it is"