Nicholas McCarthy, born 1989, a very unusual musician not because he was born without his right arm, but because he proved that impossibility is indeed nothing. Nicholas began to challenge the world at the age of only 14, when he first started to learn the piano.

During his teenage years Nicholas was brought down by his teachers. According to an interview he had with the BBC news, his teachers told him that he could not possibly become a pianist with one hand. “It was soul crushing because that’s all I wanted to do,” McCarthy said. Apparently this discouragement gave Nicholas more reason to not give up; being a young and headstrong teenager, he successfully found his way.

After only 3 years of practicing the piano with his only hand, McCarthy was awarded a place at the junior department of the Guildhall School Of Music, where he studied music and piano techniques with the concert pianist Lucy Parham for two years. This granted him the annual piano prize before he graduated.

The musically educated or the unmusically educated person can definitely understand what kind of a challenge McCarthy would have faced to be achieved as an acclaimed musician and pianist.

The wonder layes in how can a harmonic instrument be played to its full potential with only one hand instead of two? Nicholas’ theory was practical and simple: knowing that is what he wanted to do, his determination showed him the way.

Obviously most pianists use both hands, but it’s not necessarily a criteria. The left hand is usually used to construct the bass clef for a musical piece, while the right hand will play the melody on the treble clef, which in some cases means the left hand is almost repetitive or often relaxed while playing. But in order for Nicholas to play such musical pieces by elite Composers like Chopin or others, he has to put all the pressure on his only hand, thus playing the bass clef and the treble clef with one hand which requires an extremely high speed, for some pianists a second can hold up to 4 different notes on each hand but for McCarthy it would have to be 8. One can only imagine what kind of speed and focus and precision one would need to achieve such a technique.

Almost a century ago Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, the Chopin-inspired composer, wrote the musical piece “Prelude and Nocturne for the Left Hand, Op. 9.” which is often performed by Nicholas, as if it was written specially to be played by McCarthy. For McCarthy it sure is a piece of cake.

Image Courtesy of  Nicholas McCarthy

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March 26, 1778 was the day Ludwig Van Beethoven’s music started invading ears. It was his first performance was a barely eight years old child. 49 years later on that same day March 26th , Beethoven passes away.

Ludwig was no ordinary musician. He was born with a vision and assigned to a fate that has shaped music to what it is.  Ludwig’s legacy is yet lit to this century, from having his music acknowledged by merely observers  and written on papers to being recorded on electronic devices , Compact discs and played in global orchestras.

He was only 22 when he was under the apprenticeship of Papa Haydn. Haydn was known for his unique methods of teaching music, continuing the teachings of Mozart And Bach. But not for Ludwig ,He was a young man filled with a burst filled with passion and a belief that he will never  step in another Musician’s shoes, even if it was the greatest musician of all, Amadeus Mozart. It was not long till Ludwig’s arrogance deflected with Haydn’s teachings; in less than a year he had nothing else to learn from him.

Eight years later, Beethoven had already performed his first Symphony. Rumors began to spread then that he lost his hearing.but Was that the factor that made him famous after his death? The curiosity of how such genius work is being produced without being heard by its composer.

Its a two way argument that leads to one logical conclusion, the fact about musicians and sound. Musicians tend to develop what is known as “the feel,” or Instincts. These developed reactions come from what the sounds of music played around us do to our senses, and its pattern is  sub consciously being taught to the brain.If indeed Beethoven had lost his hearing, he no longer needed his hearing senses to develop his music.

It was all played within the dimensions of his brain and what has become his natural abilities and instincts : to know the next note without playing it. Just like predicting the future, the fate of a musical piece lays within him, the future of a note and where it stands next. The music that resulted from this is no different than the pieces with his full hearing functionality, or maybe it was even better.

The opposed argument comes when one listens to Beethoven’s symphonies and realizes the genius of its dynamics. Considering Ludwig’s 5th Symphony, the masterpiece of all symphonies in some opinions, is it really possible that such genuine genius could be composed in such perfection without being heard by its composer? For some, the only logical explanation is that Beethoven never lost his hearing completely, it has only faded with time and music sound vibrations that surrounded him , a common side effect of his life which was music.

This controversy has gained him the immortality and respect he always wanted. It is only sad, like the Moon light Sonata, that he achieved it after his death.

Image Courtesy of  Joseph Karl Stieler [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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