The significance of the order: ‘All hands on deck!’

A friend of mine recently sustained terrible injuries to his hand when his shotgun blew up. Such accidents fill me with horror, not least because they remind me how important our hands are to us, and how easily — in scores of different ways — they can be damaged. Hands are miraculous things, and one of the delights of observing children is to see how quickly they make use of them — pointing, turning knobs, pressing buttons, above all using a pencil. I have just received a delightful photo of my transatlantic granddaughter drawing. It is a Vermeer-like study in intense concentration. Though she is only 20 months old, she holds the pencil firmly and correctly. This is very important. However young a child is, it is essential, if the slightest sign of artistic talent emerges, to see that the hand grips the instrument (even chalk) in the most efficient manner, and there is only one: its base between thumb and forefingers, its tip guided jointly by forefinger and middle finger. Correct holding cannot be taught too early, for once a mishabit develops, it is extraordinarily difficult to eradicate later.

The same principle, ceteris paribus, applies to a child with musical talent. Yehudi Menuhin once told me, ‘The first thing with fiddling is to hold the bow properly, and there is only one way.’ The hand can become part of an instrument by 12 months of age, in rare cases, and certainly by two. I believe Clara Schumann was beginning to play the piano before she could even speak. She certainly learnt to read notes before letters. And why not? Nothing prodigious about it: merely a particular sense of priorities. She had remarkably strong hands, and needed them to master the exercises usual in those days, especially for women who aspired to be concert pianists.