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A violin with three strings

On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, a 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.

By Jack Riemer
Submitted by Michael

Photos:

Itzhak-Perlman-1 Itzhak-perlman-2 Itzhak-Perlman-3 avery-fisher-hall
{ 14 comments… add one }
  • STEM Student September 18, 2014, 1:45 pm

    Inspiring

  • Stephen March 31, 2014, 7:48 pm

    Hi Tim! THANK you!!!

  • Tim March 31, 2014, 7:21 pm

    Today, 3/31/2014, I had to struggle in order to keep my chin up.

    On 11/29/2011, I was run over by a car and was dead when the rescue team found me pinned between the rear axle of a Ford Expedition and the car frame. After using their jaws of life, they were able to untangle me from the drive shaft.

    I had 11 flailed ribs on the area right around my heart. The paramedic that was giving me CPR enroute the hospital had such a moving experience that he called my wife and told her about how he doesn’t usually pray for his patients–but felt compelled to pray for me!

    God answered his prayer and by the time we arrived at the hospital, he had a light pulse. Once again at the hospital, no one gave me much of any hope except my neurologist and my wife. I had been without oxygen for too long–yet through walking out the situation with God, I eventually woke up and had an apoxic brain injury (lack of oxygen) and could not do many of the things I was accustomed to doing–like just talking and communicating with others. Sometimes I just have to be thankful for what I do have instead of feeling sorry for myself about things I cannot enjoy as much as I used to.

    2 1/2 years later I am now just beginning to work again on a part time basis–but thank God for the gift of life. I hope that this story inspires someone to live life more fully!

  • Dhananjaj October 25, 2013, 9:25 am

    Story is most inspirational to mind.

  • Pranitha July 13, 2013, 4:35 am

    Beautifully thought-provoking…..

  • Nihed December 25, 2012, 3:04 pm

    Such an inspiring story and Perlman is an example to show us that we should keep doing our best no matter what happens.

  • Rheena December 21, 2012, 11:43 pm

    An inspiring experience to those who think they can’t do things because they lack something that other’s have.

  • Vandana December 18, 2012, 8:40 am

    Truely Inspiring….

  • Nikhil December 12, 2012, 9:28 am

    Awesome …. !! A true inspiring ever… !!

  • Pawan December 12, 2012, 8:38 am

    The story was very good and motivating…

  • Esther December 10, 2012, 5:06 am

    Wow!!! That’s a lesson learned.

  • Joan December 6, 2012, 8:40 am

    We should always be ready to use what life gives us. Loved it!

  • Anoj Agarwala December 6, 2012, 3:22 am

    Excellent and inspiring incident. It should not be called a story and each one of us should take a lesson to bring out the Best in Life from what is available with us.

  • Nelson December 5, 2012, 11:13 pm

    Inspiring.

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