For the Left Hand (2021) - full transcript
Norman Malone, survivor of devastating childhood trauma, surmounts barriers to fulfill his love of music. Heartwarming tale of talent and passion, channeled for his survival and shared with students via public school choir coaching.
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[MUSIC: LOW BASS NOTES]
[DEEP RUMBLING OF BASSOONS]
[FRENCH HORNS BEGIN MELODY]
[CLARINETS TAKE UP THE MELODY]
[VIOLINS JOIN IN]
[ORCHESTRA SWELLS]
[ORCHESTRAL THEME REPEATS]
[DISSONANT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]
[CRESCENDO AND SNARE DRUM]
[ORCHESTRA SUSTAINS FINAL NOTE]
[POWERFUL LEFT-HAND OCTAVE]
[OPENING SOLO OF 'THE RAVEL' PIANO CONCERTO]
NORMAN:
I was perfectly content
to work on this material
in my home.
[OPENING SOLO BUILDS]
[ROLLING CHORDS]
It's enough to know
I can do it.
And whether or not
anybody hears it or not,
it is -
it's mine.
[STRONG, PERCUSSIVE CHORDS]
[SOUND FADES INTO HALLWAY]
WOMAN: I think I first started
hearing Norman playing
when I started
taking the elevator.
And I'd hear music coming out
through the door.
[STATELY PIANO MELODY SOUNDS BEHIND DOOR]
I started...
waiting before I'd press
the button.
Especially when
he was playing Ravel.
[FORCEFUL, RISING NOTES]
[CHORDS BOUNCING FURTHER AND FURTHER APART]
[ALTERNATING HIGH AND LOW NOTES]
[DESCENDING HIGH NOTES]
[CLAMORING LOW NOTES]
[NOTES GLIDING UPWARD TO A CLIMAX]
[FINAL NOTE REVERBERATES]
[SOFT RAINDROPS]
[SOLO PIANO PLAYING CHOPIN]
HOWARD: I'm a journalist
at the Chicago Tribune.
I'm going to a concert at night
which is what I do most nights.
And before the concert,
I decided I need to have
some dinner
because the critic
must be fed.
[RAIN SPATTERING]
The rain was coming down
horizontally.
So I just darted
into a hotel restaurant.
And then two
other refugees from the rain
walked in.
WOMAN: I look over and
I see Howard Reich
sitting at a table by himself.
HOWARD: It so happened,
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
was in the midst
of a French music festival.
So I asked them the immediate
question that came to mind,
which is, "Did you hear
the Ravel Left Hand Concerto?"
And I said, "Oh!"
and Almarie said, "Oh!"
and we both said simultaneously,
"We should tell Norman."
and...
Howard said,
"Who's Norman?"
[BRISK MUSIC PLAYING]
HOWARD:
One of the women said,
"There's this man who
lives on the same floor as me.
"I hear all of this beautiful
piano music coming out,
"and I found out he plays only
with his left hand."
I thought, "Left hand?
"Do you think you could
introduce me to him?"
[ENERGETIC JAZZ MUSIC]
A few weeks later
it was set up,
I met Norman where he goes
every Sunday to hear jazz.
And as soon as I saw him.
I recognized that face.
Because I'd been
seeing him at concerts
for the past 20 or 30 years.
[HEARTY APPLAUSE]
He never had told anyone
what happened to him.
MUSICIAN:
Thank you very much.
HOWARD: They all assumed
that he had had a stroke
or something like that.
He also kept
another secret.
He still had been
practicing the piano.
[OPENING SOLO OF 'THE RAVEL']
Especially the Ravel
Left Hand Concerto,
which he had been working on
for over 60 years.
♪
Well that makes a
story for a journalist.
[RISING CHORDS]
It ran on the front page
of the Tribune
for three days running
during the Thanksgiving
holiday weekend
when everybody's looking
at the paper.
And suddenly,
Norman is famous.
NEWSMAN SCOTT PELLEY:
We end tonight with a musician
who discovered
there was no end to his talent.
NEWS ANCHOR: Norman Malone
is one of Chicago's very own.
HOWARD:
The week after the story ran,
Norman starts receiving
invitations to give concerts.
[GENTLE PIANO]
[EMOTIONAL, SMOOTH MELODY]
[MELODY SLOWING DOWN]
[MUSIC ENDS TENDERLY, HOLDING ON FINAL NOTE]
[APPLAUSE]
NORMAN [SINGING]: ♪ Twinkle,
twinkle little star ♪
♪ How I wonder - ♪
CHILDREN:
♪ What you are...?
NORMAN:
♪ Up a -
CHILDREN: ♪ above the
world so high... ♪
NORMAN:
♪ Like a -
CHILDREN:
♪...diamond...
TOGETHER: ♪ in the
sky, twinkle twinkle ♪
CHILDREN:
♪...little star...
NORMAN:
♪ How I -
CHILDREN: ♪...wonder
what you are? ♪
NORMAN:
Very good, very good.
I taught school for 34 years.
And - Yes.
Because I'm a lot of old.
[ADULTS LAUGH]
And when I was a little older
than you are now,
I had an injury.
So I had to learn how to play
the piano with only one hand.
[NORMAN DEMONSTRATES OPENING SOLO OF 'THE RAVEL']
♪
I was always interested
in music.
And I started it
when I was five.
[CLAMORING LOW NOTES]
[NOTES GLIDING UPWARD TO A CLIMAX]
[CLAPPING]
NORMAN:
Good!
[SOFT PIANO NOTES]
My parents bought me a
upright white piano.
It was downstairs
on the first level
of the Ida B. Wells unit
we owned.
[HIGH NOTE ON VIOLIN]
My house was very tense.
I didn't understand it.
But I knew there was
something that...
wasn't quite settling.
[MINOR KEY STRINGS]
According to my mother,
my father had
advanced stages of syphilis.
And he knew that
he was going to die.
She found a hatchet
underneath the bed.
So...
she knew that
something could happen
at any time.
The night of the accident,
I was told to stay awake.
And of course,
I fell asleep.
[EERIE WHINE OF VIOLINS]
Rather than burdening my mother
of raising three boys,
my father decided
he was going to take us
with him.
[EERIE VIOLIN WHINE]
He assumed that all three of us
and him were dead.
And all three of us survived.
I remember
the three of us laying
side by side in a hospital.
We couldn't move.
Yeah, it was panic.
Panic!
Your ability to walk was gone.
Your ability to use
your right hand was gone.
I had to learn how to write.
I had to learn how
to pick up things.
But I wanted to play piano.
[A QUIET SOLO FROM 'THE RAVEL' BEGINS]
It became...
the force of survival.
[STEADY, WAVE-LIKE MELODY]
INSTRUCTOR:...two... three...
[MUSIC CONTINUES THROUGHOUT]
NORMAN: Tai Chi,
it's the timing involved.
You have to get certain poses
at a certain rate of speed,
and it's consistent,
so it's rhythm.
INSTRUCTOR:
Just wipe, left hand on top.
And hands come back
to the middle.
[MUSIC SURGES]
NORMAN:
All motion,
all movement,
is music.
[PIANO NOTES RISE AND FALL IN WAVES]
[MUSIC STOPS]
[FINAL DESCENDING CHORDS]
LECTURER: I don't see
what I want and
what the composer wants
as two separate things.
What I want to do is to
create a direct line
between Mozart
and the Mozart listener.
[A RECORDING PLAYS FROM MOZART'S THE MAGIC FLUTE]
NORMAN:
After the injury,
playing piano
never left my mind.
♪
I remember in high school,
they had a
music appreciation class.
I wanted to be
in that class.
[LECTURE RESUMES]
Of course I was in the
handicap school at that time.
But finally they let me in.
And I was listening to Wagner.
And I thought, "Whoa!
"I made it."
That class really
sparked my energy.
[APPLAUDING]
I wanted to see
if it's possible
for me to continue piano.
[MOZART PIANO CONCERTO PERFORMANCE]
When it was time to graduate,
I told them I wanted
to play music.
They thought perhaps
something wasn't quite
right with my thinking.
They sent me to a psychologist.
He said, "Do you realize that
you don't have both hands?"
"Yes, I do."
"And you still want to do this?"
"Yes I think I do."
"Mhmm... So what
do you think you can do
"with just one hand?"
And I thought,
"Okay...
"Norman shut up."
[SINISTER OPENING MUSIC FROM 'THE RAVEL']
I can remember sitting
in a therapist's office
as he's showing me
these ink blots.
"Now,
look at this other one here."
Boom.
"What do you see?
"Mm hmm. All right."
With that...
questionable look in their eyes.
[DEEP, RUMBLING BASSOON]
And I thought,
"Uh-oh...
"I, I'm insane.
They gonna commit me."
♪
I began to investigate
on my own.
I went down Michigan Avenue,
trying to find a teacher
in the Fine Arts Building and
other buildings down there.
Well, once they found out
that I wasn't able to
play with two hands,
they looked at me like,
you know,
"This is an impossibility."
[DOWNCAST ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]
Until I finally found
Lester Mather.
And he said,
"Okay!
"Let's try it."
He was the first one that
believed that I could do it.
[MUSIC BRIGHTENS]
He was my hero.
[SLOW PIANO MUSIC]
We began looking
for material for the left hand.
[NORMAN PRACTICING]
Carl Fischer,
Lyon and Healy.
I got everything they had.
The first material
we found was very basic.
Elementary songs,
spirituals.
[NORMAN PLAYS DEEP RIVER]
[SONG GRADUALLY SLOWS TO AN END]
[SUSTAINED FINAL CHORD]
And then when you finally
found something of substance,
it was always classical.
[NORMAN PRACTICES BARTOK'S STUDY FOR THE LEFT HAND]
Bela Bartok's
Study for the Left Hand.
[PRACTICING SLOWLY AND MINDFULLY]
Anyone looking at it
would think,
"Well, this can't be done
by one hand alone."
[A SERIES OF STRONG, DELIBERATE CHORDS]
But it's very cleverly spaced.
Triplets,
bass and treble clef,
bouncing back and forth,
all the way through.
And that's the secret
of successful
left hand compositions.
I was doing good.
I finally decided to
audition for DePaul.
And I was accepted.
[UPBEAT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]
I was excited.
[BUOYANT PIANO MELODY]
I can remember my last year,
I had to take an
education class.
Teacher in there was
Dr. Anne Lally.
And she took me aside and said,
"What was I planning on doing?"
I said, "Teaching,"
and she says,
"How can you teach,
you're handicapped?
"And you'll have trouble
getting up and down stairs,
"doing things like that."
And I thought,
"Oh, my God, I've been
training all this while
"and now...
"there's a possibility that
I can't teach."
But I thought,
"Well, you've gotten this far.
"Keep going."
[CHEERS, CLAPS, AND WHISTLES]
STUDENT 1: Hello!
NORMAN: Yes! Yes.
STUDENT 1: Barbara.
You used to call me
Goober Petunee.
[NORMAN CHORTLES]
STUDENT 2: '86, '87, '88, '89.
Four years in your choir.
NORMAN:
Wow.
Erin. Erin, Erin...
ERIN: Oh, yeah.
That was so exciting.
NORMAN: The audience didn't know
what the hell was going on.
Cuz we cut it short!
[LAUGHING]
ERIN: And they were just like,
"Wha...? Right..."
NORMAN: Yes.
Yes, yeah.
STUDENT 3: You stood up for me
when I had only one credit.
And I wanted
to come back to school,
and you saved me.
And... thank you.
NORMAN: [EMOTIONAL]
Thank you. Thank you.
[SOFT CHATTER AND LAUGHTER]
MAN: I took my name off,
because I told them
you wouldn't remember me and
I wasn't going to say who I was.
I'm just coming by...
[NEARBY LAUGHTER]
NORMAN:
Who are you?
MAN: [OFF SCREEN]:
When word got out
that they were having
this choir,
I told my wife,
"I have to be a part of that."
There's no way I would miss it.
You know, 40 years later
it's still in me.
It hasn't left.
CHOIR [SINGING]: ♪ Silent
night, Holy night ♪
REPORTER: Members of the
Lincoln Park High School chorus
performing at the Art Institute
on Michigan Avenue today,
led by music teacher
Norman Malone.
When Mr. Malone came
to the school five years ago,
it had no chorus.
Now it has a girls chorus
and a mixed chorus
where the boys join in.
There is a wall full of awards
to testify for their skill
in choral competition.
SUZIE NELSON:
He's hard, but he's good.
Very good.
TRACY COOPER: The choir
director is like my father.
I mean,
he makes everyone listen.
REPORTER:
You're tough on those kids.
NORMAN: Yeah.
Yeah, but...
I'm very tough on them,
but I'm also tough on myself.
[CHOIR WARMING UP]
You do know that this man
is still watching you.
So don't fake it!
[CHOIR LAUGHS]
You gotta open up
your mouth,
give us a better breath.
I learned from him,
so you can ask my kids
how crazy I am when
I'm directing them.
And I go, "Don't blame me.
I learned it
from this crazy guy."
[HEARTY LAUGHTER]
Everybody knows Mr. Malone
as my choir teacher / slash dad.
He has led me through
so many important journeys
as a musician and
as a teacher.
And most importantly,
I think as a - as a human being.
One, two-and-breath.
CHOIR [SINGING]:
♪ The Lord bless you
NORMAN [JOINING]:
♪ and keep you,
♪ and be gracious unto you.
And be gracious... ♪
♪ And be gracious... ♪
GRACE:
One and two!
♪ Gracious unto you. ♪
GRACE:
I still remember,
the first day I walked
into his room,
he was very nice and
friendly.
And then I started
to see the other side of him,
where he would be very...
um, strict,
passionate.
NORMAN [FORCEFUL]:
♪ Ah, a-a-ah Ahhh.
♪ Amen. ♪
♪ Amen.
Amen. ♪
♪ Aaaaaaah.... ♪
STUDENT: Hopefully,
he won't yell at us too much.
Like, sometimes
if we were singing flat,
he would say,
"Visualize someone pulling
"like a string or
pulling your hair up,"
and sometimes
he'd actually do it.
So I'd never,
I try to sing on -
on key as much as possible.
NORMAN [BELTING]:
Five, ah, hey hey Go!
CHOIR [SINGING]:
♪ Dominus deus....
[CONTINUING IN LATIN]
MALE STUDENT: You know,
he was a strong man,
which was a good thing for -
especially the males coming in,
you know,
to see that.
Really a mentor.
Fought for what was right.
PATRICIA: It was a very
difficult time for me,
um, I had a lot of...
turmoil going on
in my own personal life.
So he was very much an
important part of...
um...
I think really keeping me alive,
to be honest.
He really helped fuel
that fire to continue music
and not giving up on people and
not giving up on life.
Teenagers
just need someone to say,
"You know what,
it's gonna be okay.
"And you're gonna
get through this
and I believe in you."
It's like, "Well, if THIS person
believes in me,
then maybe I actually
have a shot at something here."
NORMAN:
♪ Bum buh, buhhhh...
1, 2, ready, go.
♪ I...
CHOIR:
♪ I wish you...
NORMAN [INTERRUPTING]:
Jump up and down, three times.
Again.
CHOIR [COUNTING JUMPS]:
One two three!
STUDENT:
Flashback.
NORMAN:
1, 2, ready, go.
♪ I wish you the sunshine
of spring time... ♪
Altos, stand please.
You begin on the same note.
1, 2, 3,
1, 2,
Sing!
♪ I wish...
♪ ... you the sunshine of
spring time... ♪
Boom, GO!
♪ I -
♪ I wish you.... ♪
That was weak,
that was weak.
GRACE: He's going to
conduct the final piece
which is called
My Wish for You.
And...
for the Lincoln Park graduates,
it takes such a special place
in our hearts
because that's
our graduation song.
♪ ... time for you... ♪
NORMAN:
One two!
♪ And a love of
your own... ♪
GRACE:
As you walk across the stage,
you hear the other kids
singing that same song.
♪ ... of your own... ♪
NORMAN:
Two! Three! One Two Go!
♪ I wish you the wonder
of winter. ♪
♪ I wish you 'till
we meet... ♪
♪ again! ♪
[AUDIENCE CHEERS AND APPLAUDS]
NORMAN: I hope
that I brought them
what I have learned.
That you have to survive.
Um.
And music is
a way of surviving.
[SHIMMERING PIANO MELODY FROM 'THE RAVEL']
MAN: The choir was
everything to my father.
The choir was flawless.
And he cared about that.
And that mattered to him
a great deal.
[OVERLAPPING CONVERSATIONS]
We're having a pizza party.
Yeah yeah! Pizza party. Wooh!
Ha, hah!
We're having a pizza party.
Pizza party.
We're having a pizza party,
tonight!
Yeah!
WOMAN: All right,
look at all these pizzas, folks.
[FAMILY CHATTERS ABOUT SALAD OPTIONS]
NORMAN:
Wow, hug! Oh, hug.
Big hug,
thank you.
Can I get a hug?
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you...
[GIRLS CHATTER]
MARK:
I'm praise band director
at West Hartford United
Methodist Church.
And you know, the pastor
has his job with the sermon,
but we have an equally
important job with the music.
NORMAN:
What's the choir singing?
MARK:
Um, let's see.
Lord, I Lift Your Name on High.
Ten Thousand Reasons.
It's fun.
I mean, it's starting to
become you know,
fulfilling.
NORMAN:
M-hm.
MARK: My dad,
he introduced me
to classical music.
WFMT on the drive,
we couldn't listen to
any other radio station.
There was nothing like that.
But uh, my mother,
she brought like Roberta Flack
into my life, you know,
and Smokey Robinson
and all that.
♪
She was a songwriter,
very shy about her art.
NORMAN:
I met Carol at a party.
And I said
to her girlfriend Pat.
I said, "Oh, who's that?"
"Oh, that's Carol Smith."
[TENDER MUSIC]
So, I found out that
Pat went home and called Carol
and said,
"This boy wants to meet you."
♪
MARK:
She was just so vibrant.
[TAKES A SHAKY BREATH]
♪
My dad was drawn to my mother
by her laughter and
her love of life.
But my dad,
she saw...
a strong man,
you know,
strong,
silent type.
My father keeps
his emotions in.
You have to understand,
I didn't know
about what happened to
my dad till I was in my 20s.
Um...
and so -
there was a lot of mystery.
MARK [SINGING]:
♪ If you... want me...
My dad's side
of the family,
they had a lot of...
weight of the world on them.
NORMAN:
My mother,
she was always there for us.
Very protective.
My brother Arthur,
Irving,
myself and my mother.
They always lived
in the same house.
And my mother
took care of us.
Even though we all have
the same paralysis,
I recovered a lot quicker
than my brothers.
Arthur, my younger brother,
is bedridden, and...
my middle brother Irving,
he is really having a
difficult time.
And out of the three,
I was the one that succeeded.
[MARK PERFORMING AN ORIGINAL COMPOSITION]
[MUSIC RESOLVES IN LIGHT, AIRY CHORDS]
NORMAN:
That's beautiful.
MARK:
Thank you.
NORMAN:
And that's your own?
MARK: That's mine.
That's mine, yeah.
I did that one in the studio.
Long time ago.
NORMAN: All right.
I need a copy of that.
MARK: Yeah, I got it.
Sure, thank you.
[MARK PLAYS ANOTHER COMPOSITION]
NORMAN: I personally
blamed myself for the injury.
My therapist had to help me
realize that
it wasn't my fault.
And I had to accept that.
I was a child.
It was quite a revelation.
[LIVELY PIANO NOTES RISING AND FALLING]
I could have been at home
with my brothers.
But I wanted so much more.
And so therefore
I had to break out.
[NOTES GLIDING DOWNWARDS]
♪
[DOOR SLIDES OPEN]
This is a collection of all
my left hand compositions
that I've had bound.
I think I have...
300, 400 plus
left hand compositions
that I've discovered.
When I first started,
there were only a handful
of left hand compositions
that I was aware of.
This is my thesis
about, um - Paul Wittgenstein.
My savior.
[ORIGINAL RECORDING]
[AN ELEGANT PASSAGE]
It was a natural thing
for me to do:
Analyze Wittgenstein's complete
volume of left hand material.
[FLUTTERING HIGH NOTES]
These concertos were
commissioned
by Paul Wittgenstein.
The Hindemith has an
interesting history.
Paul Wittgenstein
refused to play it.
So it was left unknown
until after his death.
[PIANO AND FULL ORCHESTRA PLAYING A BRISK MELODY]
[DEEP, FORCEFUL PIANO NOTES]
The Benjamin Britten.
I don't know why they don't
play that more often.
[MODERNIST PIANO SOLO]
[RAPIDLY RISING SCALE]
Or the Richard Strauss.
[A QUIETLY REGAL MELODY]
And the Prokofiev
Concerto for the Left Hand.
[RAPID, ENERGETIC PIANO ACCOMPANIED BY STRINGS]
That's quite a tricky piece,
and very seldom played.
There are other composers that
have written beautiful works.
[GRAND, SWEEPING PIANO MELODY]
[STRONG PUNCTUATIONS BY PIANO AND ORCHESTRA]
But the Ravel...
it's the most outstanding
left hand piece
in the whole repertoire.
[STEADY, DEEP CASCADES ON SOLO PIANO]
This is a piece that
I was meant to play.
So I wanted to find out
as much as I could.
[PIANO SOLO CONTINUES OVER SOUNDS OF NATURE]
[INSECTS BUZZING]
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[SOMEONE KNOCKS ON A DOOR]
WOMAN:
Dear Norman.
NORMAN:
How are you?
JOAN:
I've heard SO much about you!
Finally you're here.
NORMAN:
Yes.
JOAN:
Can I give you a big hug?
NORMAN:
Oh, yes. Yes.
NORMAN:
Look at that!
That's your father.
JOAN:
That's my dad.
I'm putting him in his forties
around this time.
I'm not quite sure.
JOAN [OFF CAMERA]:
My father was Paul Wittgenstein.
The musical world
knows him
as the pianist who played
with his left hand only.
[QUIET PASSAGE FROM 'THE RAVEL']
My father lived in Vienna.
He gave his first concert
in 1914.
And then,
World War One started.
[DEEP RUMBLE ON PIANO]
My father enrolled
in the army.
A Russian bullet caught him
in the right arm.
And they took him prisoner,
and they had to
amputate the arm.
But that wasn't
going to stop him.
First he made a cardboard
cutout of the piano keys
and he'd practice and
practice and practice.
And then there was an
old piano that was out of tune.
He could practice on that.
[REVERBERATING CHORDS]
But then they sent him home.
Normally,
a person would have said,
"Maybe I better think
of something else to be."
but that's not
who he was.
He looked around, and there was
no music for the left hand -
something concert worthy.
[INTRICATE PIANO FLOURISH]
And that's where the
Ravel came from.
JOAN [READING]: Ravel was
old and rather frail by then,
plagued
by insomnia and fatigue.
"But,"
he said in French,
"I make a game of difficulty."
My father wanted to
be certain that,
"The concerto must
not be a stunt.
"The listener must never
feel that more could have been
accomplished with two hands.
The piano part must be complete,
beautiful and transparent."
NORMAN [READING]:
Ravel invited Wittgenstein
to his home near Paris
to listen to the finished work.
"Wittgenstein wasn't
overwhelmed by the composition.
"I suppose Ravel
was disappointed.
"And I was sorry,
"but I had never learned
to pretend.
"Only much later after I studied
the Concerto for months
"did I become
fascinated by it
"and realize what a
great work it was."
[ORIGINAL RECORDING]
[PLAYING COMPLEX CLIMACTIC SOLO]
JOAN:
This is my favorite picture.
Do you see that hand?
NORMAN:
M-hm.
JOAN: My father is
doing finger exercises.
NORMAN:
Yeah, I do that too.
JOAN: You probably do.
NORMAN: Yeah.
JOAN:
There's no sitting still.
NORMAN:
This is so similar to me.
JOAN: You recognize yourself?
NORMAN: Yeah.
JOAN: So I wanted to
tell you a little bit
about this piano that
you're sitting at.
This guy was
in my father's room
where he would
just do exercises
in the middle of the night
if he had to -
NORMAN:
Ahh!
JOAN: This was his,
And all the -
the big ones were
given away.
[NORMAN REHEARSES WAVE-LIKE MELODY FROM 'THE RAVEL']
[STRONG, ROLLING NOTES]
[MUSIC FADES]
VOICE ON TV: Why is there a
bandage on my hand?
DOCTOR:
Well, fortunately
there will be only slightly
diminished use of three fingers.
For how long?
Afraid it will be permanent.
Oh my God.
DOCTOR:
But your leg will be fine.
PATIENT:
I don't care about my leg.
These are my life,
I play the piano.
I'm a concert pianist.
A pianist?
Are you familiar
with the story behind the Ravel?
PATIENT:
No, and I don't really...
DOCTOR: It was written
for an Austrian concert pianist
named Paul Wittgenstein.
He lost his right arm
during the First World War.
Don't you see?
Your hand may be still.
But your gift
cannot be silenced
if you refuse to
let it be.
[TENTATIVELY PLAYS OPENING OF 'THE RAVEL']
[CONTINUING MORE CONFIDENTLY]
[INCREASING SPEED AND STRENGTH]
[PLAYING WITH VIRTUOSIC MASTERY]
He just sat down and
played that!
NORMAN: Yeah...
JOAN: Oh come on.
NORMAN:
It takes years...
[LAUGHING TOGETHER]
[RAIN PATTERS SOFTLY]
Wittgenstein was able to
commission these pieces.
And that really
encouraged me to say,
"Well,
I can do that too."
[A RAGTIME PIANIST PERFORMS SWEET ENVY]
I'm always interested
in trying to find
new left hand compositions.
♪
For years, if I heard
something interesting,
and I got a chance to
approach the composer,
I'd casually say,
"Oh, would you ever think
of writing something?"
And that never materialized.
♪
HOWARD: When Norman
told me about his frustration,
I introduced him to someone
I've written about for years.
NORMAN: Reginald Robinson is
a genius ragtime composer.
And he thought,
"Oh! This is a challenge."
[SWEET ENVY ENDS WITH A FLOURISH]
REGINALD: Hi!
NORMAN: Welcome.
REGINALD: Hey, Norman.
NORMAN: How are you?
REGINALD:
I'm fine, how about you?
But I figured it.
There has to be
a way to...
get that sound.
NORMAN:
Mm hmm.
REGINALD: And you know,
within uhh...
one hand.
NORMAN:
Mm-hm, mm-hm.
REGINALD:
So for ragtime,
really the left hand
has a role
of going bass note, chord,
bass note, chord.
[PLAYING RAGTIME AT A VERY FAST TEMPO]
REGINALD:
But this time,
I'm playing
in places where
the right hand in ragtime
would usually, uh,
cover certain notes.
I've never heard of a
left hand ragtime composition.
Ragtime is a steady beat
against syncopated rhythms.
And Eubie Blake,
the great ragtime pianist,
always said,
"This hand has nothing to do
with this hand."
So now I can go,
"THIS hand has nothing to do
with THIS hand!"
Play it for me.
REGINALD:
Okay.
[AN EASY-GOING RAGTIME MELODY]
[LEADING UP TO A FINAL FLOURISH]
NORMAN:
I love it!
I can hear it,
I can hear it.
Now...
Can I PLAY it?
[SLOWLY AND METHODICALLY]
REGINALD: I put the fingering
in specifically.
Over time it becomes
easier to pull off.
[DEMONSTRATING CORRECT FINGER POSITIONS]
So it's one...
Mm-hm.
[NORMAN TRIES THE FINGERING]
Then reach -
with your thumb there,
reach over
for the second,
second finger...
to B.
And three.
And it sets you right at four.
[NORMAN IMPROVISES AN ENDING]
This is going to be great.
[LAUGHING WITH GLEE]
[PRACTICING AT A DELIBERATELY SLOW TEMPO]
[AUDIENCE MURMURING]
NORMAN:
Oh!
I don't need to see that.
REGINALD:
Yeah, I was gonna tell you.
NORMAN: Haha!
I don't need to see that.
God.
What have I gotten myself into?
REGINALD [CHUCKLING]:
Oh, wow!
NORMAN:
But it sounds okay?
REGINALD:
It sounds fine.
You sound really good.
Yeah.
NORMAN:
Okay. All right.
REGINALD: One thing
I would suggest
is just play it slow.
Take your time.
Play it at whatever tempo
you want.
NORMAN:
Yeah.
REGINALD:
No one's heard this before,
so whatever you do is -
NORMAN:
Yeah. Yeah.
But I was glad I came over
yesterday to touch the piano.
I thought, "Whoa!"
REGINALD: It's a different feel
from at home?
NORMAN: Oh, yeah.
REGINALD: The action is more -
NORMAN:
It's heavier.
As a child,
I played church organ.
I would play for Mass.
But then a pastor,
was a new pastor,
and he said,
"Oh, you're the cripple one."
And I thought, "Whoa."
I didn't know how to respond
to something like that.
No one had ever said that.
I said, "Well...
"I'll never touch the
organ again."
REGINALD:
Mmm.
NORMAN: Reginald's piece
is contributing
to the field
of left hand repertoire,
which is so needed.
[EXCITED APPLAUSE]
[APPLAUSE FADES]
So I have to live
up to my part.
[HUSHED SILENCE]
[ROBUST OPENING OF NORMAN MALONE'S RAG]
[PLAYING AT A SLOW, MEASURED PACE]
[INTRODUCING A RELAXED RAGTIME SWING]
[MISSES NOTE, THEN RECOVERS]
[MUSIC TRANSITIONS TO A NEW, BREEZY MELODY]
NORMAN:
A composition like this
has never been
written before.
And I'm so grateful that
I asked Reginald to do it.
[TENTATIVELY]
[MORE CONFIDENTLY]
[HITTING A WRONG NOTE -]
[CLEANLY FINISHING THE PERFORMANCE]
[APPLAUSE]
[TUNING INSTRUMENTS]
[HORNS AND WOODWINDS JOIN]
[TUNING STOPS]
[PERFORMANCE OF AN ORCHESTRAL OVERTURE BEGINS]
♪
I'm one of the founders
of the West Hartford Symphony
Orchestra.
The former president
of the board sent me a link
and said, "Gee, you ought to
take a look at this."
It had a real effect on me
emotionally.
And so I wrote to him.
And the next day,
my phone rang.
It said Norman Malone.
He said, "My son and
daughter-in-law
live in Connecticut."
And I said, "Well -
"if you have the Ravel
under your fingers,
"and you're
comfortable with it,
"how about
playing it with
"the West Hartford Symphony
Orchestra?"
I thought,
"Holy Mother,
"Holy Mother.
Okay. All right."
[VIOLINS HOLD ON FINAL NOTE]
There you are.
[LISTENING TO CD OF 'THE RAVEL']
I had to think long and
hard about it.
I get nervous every time
I have to perform.
[ORCHESTRAL CLIMAX]
But to play
with an orchestra!
How many people
get that offer?
[OPENING PIANO SOLO]
HOWARD:
The level of risk
to play a concerto
with orchestra
for the first time is huge.
To do it at age 79 when
you've never played a concert,
and you've never
played with orchestra before,
is monumental.
[THUNDEROUS PIANO MUSIC]
[RISING NOTES]
[MUSIC BOUNCES BETWEEN HIGH AND LOW CHORDS]
It took me so long
to learn the Ravel
that I'm afraid if I don't
practice parts of it every day,
I'll lose it.
[REHEARSING A NEW SECTION]
So it's a daily prayer.
Of course, I can't play
the orchestra part.
I had to find an accompanist.
ACCOMPANIST: How are ya?
NORMAN: Fine.
ACCOMPANIST:
Hi, I'm Bryan Shilander.
NORMAN:
Norman Malone.
BRYAN:
It's a pleasure. Come on in.
[PLAYING THE ORCHESTRAL OPENING]
BRYAN: So if I go:
And one,
two, three....
BRYAN: Right?
NORMAN: Yeah.
NORMAN:
Bryan and I, we clicked.
So he played the
orchestra part.
BRYAN:
And then you hear this.
[ALTERNATING PHRASES]
NORMAN:
And then that?
[STRUGGLING]
BRYAN: There's a little bit
of freedom there.
NORMAN: It's getting used to
hearing your part.
BRYAN: Yeah,
it's distracting, isn't it?
NORMAN:
Yeah, yeah.
It's like, oh God.
Where am I now?
♪
NORMAN:
When I realized
how many piano concertos for
the left hand have been written,
this is the only one that
has survived the test of time.
HOWARD:
The question is why?
The Ravel concerto
tells a story.
It's Wittgenstein's story.
His great, profound loss
and his struggle
to overcome that loss.
And therefore it also tells
the story of Norman Malone.
[YEARNING MELODY]
[BEGINNING TO STRUGGLE AGAIN]
NORMAN:
Okay, all right.
BRYAN: Give it a try?
NORMAN: Yeah.
[BEGINNING AGAIN]
HOWARD: It begins
with the double basses
playing so low
that we can barely discern
what they're playing.
[ORCHESTRA BEGINS PLAYING 'THE RAVEL']
There's this murmuring,
growling going on.
[BASSOONS JOIN]
We almost cannot decode
what we're hearing.
And what is the instrument
doing from down low?
Climbing up.
And how is it climbing up?
With what musicians call
dotted rhythms,
which basically means a
very long note
followed by a very short note.
[WOODWINDS PLAY DOTTED RHYTHMS]
HOWARD [DEMONSTRATING]:
Ba bum, ba bum,
ba-ba-bum,
ba bum.
[STRING SECTION CRESCENDOS]
This gives the music
a kind of nobility or heroism
that we're going to hear
over and over again,
as this struggle continues
of a pianist trying to see
if he can still make music
with one hand.
[OPENING SOLO]
[RUMBLING NOTES BUILD ON ONE ANOTHER]
This is a colossal
opening statement.
You would never guess
it was being played by one hand,
it wouldn't even
enter your mind.
[BOUNCING NOTES]
And now the main statement.
Here's where the pianist
first plays the heroic theme.
[GRAND, STATELY MELODY PLAYS]
[LOW REVERBERATING NOTES]
It's a statement
of self affirmation
and of power.
It's epic.
[ROLLING FLOURISHES]
[COMPLEX, BOUNCING MUSIC]
This is one of the first
grueling parts of the piece
because the pianist is
bouncing all over the keyboard
high to low,
and these leaps
are so far apart,
and the chords are so complex
that it's like target practice
trying to hit each
one correctly.
And getting through
this one long measure
is almost impossible.
It's so hard that
they've got to grab hold
of the right side of the piano
in order to stabilize themselves
and finesse these large leaps.
It's even harder
for Norman Malone,
because not only can he not
physically grab the piano,
Norman has only one leg that
works properly.
So in order for him to use the
pedal to get a bigger sound,
or to control color, or voicing,
or create sonic illusions,
he's got to put his left foot
over on the right side pedal,
and he cannot use
two pedals at once,
which all great pianists want to
do to create special effects.
[REPEATED RAPID LOW NOTES]
[NOTES SLIDING UPWARDS TO A FINISH]
NORMAN:
Just keep working on it.
BRYAN: Yeah,
it's come a long ways.
[DISTANT SOUNDS OF REHEARSAL]
[PIANO BEGINS PLAYING]
♪
[COMPLEX PATTERN OF INTERLOCKING NOTES]
HOWARD: The top notes,
the melody notes
are being played
rhythm of two on the top
and rhythm of three
on the bottom.
Ravel is creating
the illusion
of two hands
playing at once.
The notes are not
striking at the same time.
And this makes
the ear think
the right hand is
playing the melody
and the left hand is
playing the accompaniment.
But in fact, one hand is
playing all of this
at the same time.
[PIANO IS JOINED BY CLARINET]
[NORMAN BEGINS TO FALTER]
This theme is like the opposite
of the heroic theme.
Where the hero theme is
full of vigor and grandeur,
this is very yearning
and longing.
[RICHLY LAYERED MELODY]
This is a very vulnerable
portrait
of the protagonist
of the piece,
which is the
left handed pianist.
[NORMAN PLAYS TENDER, CARESSING MELODY]
[REHEARSING INSIDE]
RICHARD: That was...
very close.
I just want to
make sure we can...
you do slightly better than
very close for Saturday morning.
[RAPID STACCATO NOTES]
[FALSE START]
NORMAN: Oh. Sorry.
[ANOTHER FALSE START]
NORMAN: Ahh.
RICHARD:
One, twoooo,
threeeee-yup!
Ba-bee-bababa...
NORMAN:
Ummm...
It's so hard for me
to just see that.
Can I start back at 17?
RICHARD:
Sure.
One, two, one,
and -
[FUMBLING]
NORMAN:
I'm just getting...
frustrating myself.
RICHARD:
So it's one, two,
two two,
harp, two...
I've always admired Norman's
stick-to-it-ness.
[NORMAN MUTTERS]
[FUMBLING AGAIN]
He just meets a
difficult moment head on,
and just keeps hammering at it.
Nope, yeah. No,
so you got that too soon.
So keep in mind,
I mean you gotta be
aware of that -
[GRUNTING]
one, two
tri-ple-et,
tri-ple-et,
one, two
tri-ple-et,
tri-ple-et.
[NORMAN JOINS IN RHYTHM]
HOWARD: Everyone plays
the Ravel concerto differently.
I was at Orchestra Hall
and heard a pianist play
the left hand concerto
note perfectly,
fine.
And you know what that
performance did not capture?
What this piece is about:
the struggle.
[PLAYS WITH GREAT DELIBERATION]
[PRACTICING CONTINUES]
[PRACTICING CONCLUDES]
[ORCHESTRA BUSILY WARMS UP]
[WOODWINDS PRACTICING]
[OVERLAPPING COMMOTION]
RICHARD: I think the nature
of any community orchestra
is the nature
of amateurs.
These are people who
love music.
It's a mix
of youth and age.
We have, I believe,
seven doctors.
So I've been able to tell
the orchestra
if any of them have problems
we've got a psychiatrist,
we've got a dentist,
we've - you know we have
uh, many -
we can solve their
problems for them.
Norman has not worked
with an orchestra.
He could do it at any speed
he wants at home.
But when you get to rehearse
with an orchestra,
mmmm.
[CHAOTICALLY OVERLAPPING INSTRUMENTS]
RICHARD:
All right, Norman.
NORMAN:
Ahhhhhh!
[CHUCKLING]
Oh, okay.
[REPETITIVE STACCATO CELLO NOTES]
[RICHARD HUMS THE MELODY]
[HUMMING CONTINUES]
[NORMAN STUMBLES]
NORMAN:
Ah!
RICHARD:
Okay.
Uh...
it must have been
my singing, right Norman?
NORMAN: That is,
the singing, yeah.
RICHARD:
Second measure of 30.
[CLEARING HIS THROAT]
Second bar of 30 please.
Right where Norman enters.
One, two.
[PLAYING CORRECT NOTES, SLIGHTLY OUT OF SYNC]
HOWARD: When you're on stage
with 60 other musicians,
if you lose your place,
it could be a disaster
because the orchestra
will keep playing
no matter what.
Norman does these
high risk events
when you could potentially
humiliate yourself publicly.
That's courage.
[FLOWING MELODY]
NORMAN: I don't think
you ever get there.
I think it's a
lifetime commitment.
That cadenza -
is eight or nine pages
of solo piano.
And it starts off low,
and works up to a melody.
[MELODY ASCENDS ALONGSIDE DEEP, SURGING CHORDS]
[PLAYING STRENGTHENS]
And it keeps building
on that melody
until it just breaks out
and then the orchestra
comes in.
And you're just
ripping through it.
Ripping through it.
[TORRENT OF DEEP, FIRM CHORDS]
Oh, it makes your blood just -
hits the top of the roof.
[THE ORCHESTRA CRESCENDOS]
[MUSIC SLOWLY FADES]
RICHARD: But we can fix things,
whatever we want to.
NORMAN: Once we played
all the way through,
it was better.
RICHARD: Yes, because that's
more of what you're used to.
NORMAN: I'm used to just
playing it straight through.
RICHARD: Straight through.
NORMAN: Right, right.
NORMAN: Okay, all right.
RICHARD: All right, relax.
We'll see you
around one o'clock tomorrow.
HOWARD:
How's it going?
RICHARD: Good. Good.
Very good.
Some spots are
much more solid...
[PASSING TRAFFIC]
[DISTANT TUNING OF ORCHESTRA]
NORMAN: Thank you.
Say a prayer.
MUSICIAN::
You sound great.
NORMAN:
Say a prayer. Say a prayer.
CONCERTMASTER:
And so we play,
it's not a pretty note.
NORMAN:
Okay.
CONCERTMASTER: It's a
weird, artificial harmonic.
But you'll see my bow
start to move.
NORMAN:
Alright.
CONCERTMASTER:
And if you see my bow moving,
just wail on that piano.
MARK MALONE:
Ravel to me is about...
a storm.
It's tumultuous.
And you're just, like,
holding on.
I'm excited to see him play
with an orchestra.
[DISTANT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC OF THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER]
[LOUDER]
[MUSIC CONTINUES, MUFFLED AND DISTANT]
[CLOSING NOTES OF THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER]
[FINAL NOTE]
USHER:
Come with me, please.
[CONCERT HALL FALLS SILENT AS NORMAN'S FOOTSTEPS ECHO]
[APPLAUSE]
[APPLAUSE SUBSIDES]
[SHUFFLING OF BENCH]
[PAGE RUSTLES]
[HUSHED SILENCE]
[RUMBLING BASS SECTION]
[BASSOONS JOIN]
[SOFT MELODY OF FRENCH HORNS]
[WOODWINDS JOIN IN]
[STRING SECTION SLOWLY BUILDS]
[DRAMATIC CRESCENDO]
[MUSIC INCREASES IN TENSION AND REPEATS]
[SNARE DRUM JOINS IN]
[VIOLINS HOLD ON A RAPIDLY REPEATING NOTE]
[ORCHESTRAL CLIMAX]
[THUNDEROUS OPENING NOTES]
[JUMPING OCTAVES]
[DEEP, DESCENDING CHORDS]
[ASCENDANT ROLLING MELODY]
[STRONG, BOUNCING NOTES]
[FIRMLY LANDING ON LOW CHORD]
[GENTLE, MAJESTIC MELODY]
NORMAN:
Playing the opening section...
and all of a sudden,
I realized where I was and
what I was doing.
It was like,
WOOOMP!
It came down on me.
And I went,
Holy God!
Where am I?
What am I doing?
[A NOTE REVERBERATES]
[NORMAN HESITATES, PLAYING IMPROVISED CHORDS]
[PAGE CRINKLES LOUDLY]
It felt like I was out
for days.
I froze.
And I thought, "You don't have
time for this nonsense.
"You got to continue."
And in that split second
I just went back.
[NORMAN RECOVERS, RESUMES PLAYING]
[PLAYING WITH INCREASING CONFIDENCE]
RICHARD: In the middle
of his opening statement,
something had happened.
[SLIGHT FUMBLE]
And I was just waiting to see
how he was gonna resolve this.
There's a whoops here,
uh, but I -
how do I fix it?
For the audience,
it might have looked
like a momentary rest
in the music.
So - not a big deal.
[MUSICAL TENSION BUILDS]
[BOUNCING BETWEEN HIGH AND LOW CHORDS]
[ASCENDING CHORDS FROM LOW TO HIGH]
[RAPIDLY DESCENDING HIGH NOTES]
[CLAMOROUS LOW NOTES]
[NOTES GLIDING UPWARD TO A CLIMAX]
[ORCHESTRA RESUMES MAJESTIC MELODY]
[SHARP VIOLIN NOTES]
[BOOMING TIMPANI DRUM]
[RAPIDLY DESCENDING STACCATO NOTES]
[SINGLE NOTE SUSTAINED]
[STRINGS PLUCKING RHYTHMICALLY]
[STACCATO PIANO]
[SOFT, RHYTHMIC BEAT]
[HESITATES, PLAYING SLIGHTLY OFF RHYTHM]
[REJOINING, BACK IN SYNC WITH RHYTHM]
[VIOLINS JOIN IN]
[PIERCING NOTES ON VIOLINS]
[FRANTIC RHYTHM]
[LIVELY SOLO]
[RAPIDLY BOUNCING CHORDS]
[STRINGS SECTION JOINS IN, PLUCKING RHYTHMICALLY]
[CASCADING NOTES]
[SWIRLING CURRENTS OF PIANO MELODY]
[WOODWINDS SUBTLY JOIN]
[PROLONGED CRESCENDO]
[MUSIC STRENGTHENS AND SURGES]
[CLIMACTIC ORCHESTRAL SWELL]
[PIANO NOTES FLOWING IN A TORRENT OF WAVES]
[DRUMS AND BRASS POUNDING]
[ROARING FINISH AS MUSIC STOPS]
[APPLAUSE FILLS THE CONCERT HALL]
NORMAN:
Whew!
[CHEERS AND SUSTAINED OVATION]
MARK: Great job.
NORMAN:
Thank you, young man.
NORMAN:
Yep.
MARK:
Best I've heard you play.
NORMAN:
Yeah.
MARK: You did it.
NORMAN: Yeah.
MARK:
How do you feel? Good?
NORMAN:
Yeah. I made it. I did it.
MARK: You did it!
NORMAN: I did it.
MARK: It's scary, man.
All these musicians up here.
NORMAN: Yeah.
MARK: But you did it.
NORMAN:
Ah!
Wow...
♪
[PERFORMING BENJAMIN BRITTEN'S DIVERSIONS
FOR THE LEFT HAND]
♪
This one's tough. Ready?
NORMAN: All right.
COMPOSER: Here we go.
NORMAN:
Good, a challenge. Yes.
COMPOSER:
Let's see if I can do it.
Here we go,
you ready?
[A SPARE STACCATO RHYTHM]
[MUSIC GROWS IN COMPLEXITY]
[PAGE RUSTLES]
[JAZZY MELODY]
[FAST-PACED RIFFS]
this program possible.
Support your local PBS station.
[MUSIC: LOW BASS NOTES]
[DEEP RUMBLING OF BASSOONS]
[FRENCH HORNS BEGIN MELODY]
[CLARINETS TAKE UP THE MELODY]
[VIOLINS JOIN IN]
[ORCHESTRA SWELLS]
[ORCHESTRAL THEME REPEATS]
[DISSONANT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]
[CRESCENDO AND SNARE DRUM]
[ORCHESTRA SUSTAINS FINAL NOTE]
[POWERFUL LEFT-HAND OCTAVE]
[OPENING SOLO OF 'THE RAVEL' PIANO CONCERTO]
NORMAN:
I was perfectly content
to work on this material
in my home.
[OPENING SOLO BUILDS]
[ROLLING CHORDS]
It's enough to know
I can do it.
And whether or not
anybody hears it or not,
it is -
it's mine.
[STRONG, PERCUSSIVE CHORDS]
[SOUND FADES INTO HALLWAY]
WOMAN: I think I first started
hearing Norman playing
when I started
taking the elevator.
And I'd hear music coming out
through the door.
[STATELY PIANO MELODY SOUNDS BEHIND DOOR]
I started...
waiting before I'd press
the button.
Especially when
he was playing Ravel.
[FORCEFUL, RISING NOTES]
[CHORDS BOUNCING FURTHER AND FURTHER APART]
[ALTERNATING HIGH AND LOW NOTES]
[DESCENDING HIGH NOTES]
[CLAMORING LOW NOTES]
[NOTES GLIDING UPWARD TO A CLIMAX]
[FINAL NOTE REVERBERATES]
[SOFT RAINDROPS]
[SOLO PIANO PLAYING CHOPIN]
HOWARD: I'm a journalist
at the Chicago Tribune.
I'm going to a concert at night
which is what I do most nights.
And before the concert,
I decided I need to have
some dinner
because the critic
must be fed.
[RAIN SPATTERING]
The rain was coming down
horizontally.
So I just darted
into a hotel restaurant.
And then two
other refugees from the rain
walked in.
WOMAN: I look over and
I see Howard Reich
sitting at a table by himself.
HOWARD: It so happened,
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
was in the midst
of a French music festival.
So I asked them the immediate
question that came to mind,
which is, "Did you hear
the Ravel Left Hand Concerto?"
And I said, "Oh!"
and Almarie said, "Oh!"
and we both said simultaneously,
"We should tell Norman."
and...
Howard said,
"Who's Norman?"
[BRISK MUSIC PLAYING]
HOWARD:
One of the women said,
"There's this man who
lives on the same floor as me.
"I hear all of this beautiful
piano music coming out,
"and I found out he plays only
with his left hand."
I thought, "Left hand?
"Do you think you could
introduce me to him?"
[ENERGETIC JAZZ MUSIC]
A few weeks later
it was set up,
I met Norman where he goes
every Sunday to hear jazz.
And as soon as I saw him.
I recognized that face.
Because I'd been
seeing him at concerts
for the past 20 or 30 years.
[HEARTY APPLAUSE]
He never had told anyone
what happened to him.
MUSICIAN:
Thank you very much.
HOWARD: They all assumed
that he had had a stroke
or something like that.
He also kept
another secret.
He still had been
practicing the piano.
[OPENING SOLO OF 'THE RAVEL']
Especially the Ravel
Left Hand Concerto,
which he had been working on
for over 60 years.
♪
Well that makes a
story for a journalist.
[RISING CHORDS]
It ran on the front page
of the Tribune
for three days running
during the Thanksgiving
holiday weekend
when everybody's looking
at the paper.
And suddenly,
Norman is famous.
NEWSMAN SCOTT PELLEY:
We end tonight with a musician
who discovered
there was no end to his talent.
NEWS ANCHOR: Norman Malone
is one of Chicago's very own.
HOWARD:
The week after the story ran,
Norman starts receiving
invitations to give concerts.
[GENTLE PIANO]
[EMOTIONAL, SMOOTH MELODY]
[MELODY SLOWING DOWN]
[MUSIC ENDS TENDERLY, HOLDING ON FINAL NOTE]
[APPLAUSE]
NORMAN [SINGING]: ♪ Twinkle,
twinkle little star ♪
♪ How I wonder - ♪
CHILDREN:
♪ What you are...?
NORMAN:
♪ Up a -
CHILDREN: ♪ above the
world so high... ♪
NORMAN:
♪ Like a -
CHILDREN:
♪...diamond...
TOGETHER: ♪ in the
sky, twinkle twinkle ♪
CHILDREN:
♪...little star...
NORMAN:
♪ How I -
CHILDREN: ♪...wonder
what you are? ♪
NORMAN:
Very good, very good.
I taught school for 34 years.
And - Yes.
Because I'm a lot of old.
[ADULTS LAUGH]
And when I was a little older
than you are now,
I had an injury.
So I had to learn how to play
the piano with only one hand.
[NORMAN DEMONSTRATES OPENING SOLO OF 'THE RAVEL']
♪
I was always interested
in music.
And I started it
when I was five.
[CLAMORING LOW NOTES]
[NOTES GLIDING UPWARD TO A CLIMAX]
[CLAPPING]
NORMAN:
Good!
[SOFT PIANO NOTES]
My parents bought me a
upright white piano.
It was downstairs
on the first level
of the Ida B. Wells unit
we owned.
[HIGH NOTE ON VIOLIN]
My house was very tense.
I didn't understand it.
But I knew there was
something that...
wasn't quite settling.
[MINOR KEY STRINGS]
According to my mother,
my father had
advanced stages of syphilis.
And he knew that
he was going to die.
She found a hatchet
underneath the bed.
So...
she knew that
something could happen
at any time.
The night of the accident,
I was told to stay awake.
And of course,
I fell asleep.
[EERIE WHINE OF VIOLINS]
Rather than burdening my mother
of raising three boys,
my father decided
he was going to take us
with him.
[EERIE VIOLIN WHINE]
He assumed that all three of us
and him were dead.
And all three of us survived.
I remember
the three of us laying
side by side in a hospital.
We couldn't move.
Yeah, it was panic.
Panic!
Your ability to walk was gone.
Your ability to use
your right hand was gone.
I had to learn how to write.
I had to learn how
to pick up things.
But I wanted to play piano.
[A QUIET SOLO FROM 'THE RAVEL' BEGINS]
It became...
the force of survival.
[STEADY, WAVE-LIKE MELODY]
INSTRUCTOR:...two... three...
[MUSIC CONTINUES THROUGHOUT]
NORMAN: Tai Chi,
it's the timing involved.
You have to get certain poses
at a certain rate of speed,
and it's consistent,
so it's rhythm.
INSTRUCTOR:
Just wipe, left hand on top.
And hands come back
to the middle.
[MUSIC SURGES]
NORMAN:
All motion,
all movement,
is music.
[PIANO NOTES RISE AND FALL IN WAVES]
[MUSIC STOPS]
[FINAL DESCENDING CHORDS]
LECTURER: I don't see
what I want and
what the composer wants
as two separate things.
What I want to do is to
create a direct line
between Mozart
and the Mozart listener.
[A RECORDING PLAYS FROM MOZART'S THE MAGIC FLUTE]
NORMAN:
After the injury,
playing piano
never left my mind.
♪
I remember in high school,
they had a
music appreciation class.
I wanted to be
in that class.
[LECTURE RESUMES]
Of course I was in the
handicap school at that time.
But finally they let me in.
And I was listening to Wagner.
And I thought, "Whoa!
"I made it."
That class really
sparked my energy.
[APPLAUDING]
I wanted to see
if it's possible
for me to continue piano.
[MOZART PIANO CONCERTO PERFORMANCE]
When it was time to graduate,
I told them I wanted
to play music.
They thought perhaps
something wasn't quite
right with my thinking.
They sent me to a psychologist.
He said, "Do you realize that
you don't have both hands?"
"Yes, I do."
"And you still want to do this?"
"Yes I think I do."
"Mhmm... So what
do you think you can do
"with just one hand?"
And I thought,
"Okay...
"Norman shut up."
[SINISTER OPENING MUSIC FROM 'THE RAVEL']
I can remember sitting
in a therapist's office
as he's showing me
these ink blots.
"Now,
look at this other one here."
Boom.
"What do you see?
"Mm hmm. All right."
With that...
questionable look in their eyes.
[DEEP, RUMBLING BASSOON]
And I thought,
"Uh-oh...
"I, I'm insane.
They gonna commit me."
♪
I began to investigate
on my own.
I went down Michigan Avenue,
trying to find a teacher
in the Fine Arts Building and
other buildings down there.
Well, once they found out
that I wasn't able to
play with two hands,
they looked at me like,
you know,
"This is an impossibility."
[DOWNCAST ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]
Until I finally found
Lester Mather.
And he said,
"Okay!
"Let's try it."
He was the first one that
believed that I could do it.
[MUSIC BRIGHTENS]
He was my hero.
[SLOW PIANO MUSIC]
We began looking
for material for the left hand.
[NORMAN PRACTICING]
Carl Fischer,
Lyon and Healy.
I got everything they had.
The first material
we found was very basic.
Elementary songs,
spirituals.
[NORMAN PLAYS DEEP RIVER]
[SONG GRADUALLY SLOWS TO AN END]
[SUSTAINED FINAL CHORD]
And then when you finally
found something of substance,
it was always classical.
[NORMAN PRACTICES BARTOK'S STUDY FOR THE LEFT HAND]
Bela Bartok's
Study for the Left Hand.
[PRACTICING SLOWLY AND MINDFULLY]
Anyone looking at it
would think,
"Well, this can't be done
by one hand alone."
[A SERIES OF STRONG, DELIBERATE CHORDS]
But it's very cleverly spaced.
Triplets,
bass and treble clef,
bouncing back and forth,
all the way through.
And that's the secret
of successful
left hand compositions.
I was doing good.
I finally decided to
audition for DePaul.
And I was accepted.
[UPBEAT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]
I was excited.
[BUOYANT PIANO MELODY]
I can remember my last year,
I had to take an
education class.
Teacher in there was
Dr. Anne Lally.
And she took me aside and said,
"What was I planning on doing?"
I said, "Teaching,"
and she says,
"How can you teach,
you're handicapped?
"And you'll have trouble
getting up and down stairs,
"doing things like that."
And I thought,
"Oh, my God, I've been
training all this while
"and now...
"there's a possibility that
I can't teach."
But I thought,
"Well, you've gotten this far.
"Keep going."
[CHEERS, CLAPS, AND WHISTLES]
STUDENT 1: Hello!
NORMAN: Yes! Yes.
STUDENT 1: Barbara.
You used to call me
Goober Petunee.
[NORMAN CHORTLES]
STUDENT 2: '86, '87, '88, '89.
Four years in your choir.
NORMAN:
Wow.
Erin. Erin, Erin...
ERIN: Oh, yeah.
That was so exciting.
NORMAN: The audience didn't know
what the hell was going on.
Cuz we cut it short!
[LAUGHING]
ERIN: And they were just like,
"Wha...? Right..."
NORMAN: Yes.
Yes, yeah.
STUDENT 3: You stood up for me
when I had only one credit.
And I wanted
to come back to school,
and you saved me.
And... thank you.
NORMAN: [EMOTIONAL]
Thank you. Thank you.
[SOFT CHATTER AND LAUGHTER]
MAN: I took my name off,
because I told them
you wouldn't remember me and
I wasn't going to say who I was.
I'm just coming by...
[NEARBY LAUGHTER]
NORMAN:
Who are you?
MAN: [OFF SCREEN]:
When word got out
that they were having
this choir,
I told my wife,
"I have to be a part of that."
There's no way I would miss it.
You know, 40 years later
it's still in me.
It hasn't left.
CHOIR [SINGING]: ♪ Silent
night, Holy night ♪
REPORTER: Members of the
Lincoln Park High School chorus
performing at the Art Institute
on Michigan Avenue today,
led by music teacher
Norman Malone.
When Mr. Malone came
to the school five years ago,
it had no chorus.
Now it has a girls chorus
and a mixed chorus
where the boys join in.
There is a wall full of awards
to testify for their skill
in choral competition.
SUZIE NELSON:
He's hard, but he's good.
Very good.
TRACY COOPER: The choir
director is like my father.
I mean,
he makes everyone listen.
REPORTER:
You're tough on those kids.
NORMAN: Yeah.
Yeah, but...
I'm very tough on them,
but I'm also tough on myself.
[CHOIR WARMING UP]
You do know that this man
is still watching you.
So don't fake it!
[CHOIR LAUGHS]
You gotta open up
your mouth,
give us a better breath.
I learned from him,
so you can ask my kids
how crazy I am when
I'm directing them.
And I go, "Don't blame me.
I learned it
from this crazy guy."
[HEARTY LAUGHTER]
Everybody knows Mr. Malone
as my choir teacher / slash dad.
He has led me through
so many important journeys
as a musician and
as a teacher.
And most importantly,
I think as a - as a human being.
One, two-and-breath.
CHOIR [SINGING]:
♪ The Lord bless you
NORMAN [JOINING]:
♪ and keep you,
♪ and be gracious unto you.
And be gracious... ♪
♪ And be gracious... ♪
GRACE:
One and two!
♪ Gracious unto you. ♪
GRACE:
I still remember,
the first day I walked
into his room,
he was very nice and
friendly.
And then I started
to see the other side of him,
where he would be very...
um, strict,
passionate.
NORMAN [FORCEFUL]:
♪ Ah, a-a-ah Ahhh.
♪ Amen. ♪
♪ Amen.
Amen. ♪
♪ Aaaaaaah.... ♪
STUDENT: Hopefully,
he won't yell at us too much.
Like, sometimes
if we were singing flat,
he would say,
"Visualize someone pulling
"like a string or
pulling your hair up,"
and sometimes
he'd actually do it.
So I'd never,
I try to sing on -
on key as much as possible.
NORMAN [BELTING]:
Five, ah, hey hey Go!
CHOIR [SINGING]:
♪ Dominus deus....
[CONTINUING IN LATIN]
MALE STUDENT: You know,
he was a strong man,
which was a good thing for -
especially the males coming in,
you know,
to see that.
Really a mentor.
Fought for what was right.
PATRICIA: It was a very
difficult time for me,
um, I had a lot of...
turmoil going on
in my own personal life.
So he was very much an
important part of...
um...
I think really keeping me alive,
to be honest.
He really helped fuel
that fire to continue music
and not giving up on people and
not giving up on life.
Teenagers
just need someone to say,
"You know what,
it's gonna be okay.
"And you're gonna
get through this
and I believe in you."
It's like, "Well, if THIS person
believes in me,
then maybe I actually
have a shot at something here."
NORMAN:
♪ Bum buh, buhhhh...
1, 2, ready, go.
♪ I...
CHOIR:
♪ I wish you...
NORMAN [INTERRUPTING]:
Jump up and down, three times.
Again.
CHOIR [COUNTING JUMPS]:
One two three!
STUDENT:
Flashback.
NORMAN:
1, 2, ready, go.
♪ I wish you the sunshine
of spring time... ♪
Altos, stand please.
You begin on the same note.
1, 2, 3,
1, 2,
Sing!
♪ I wish...
♪ ... you the sunshine of
spring time... ♪
Boom, GO!
♪ I -
♪ I wish you.... ♪
That was weak,
that was weak.
GRACE: He's going to
conduct the final piece
which is called
My Wish for You.
And...
for the Lincoln Park graduates,
it takes such a special place
in our hearts
because that's
our graduation song.
♪ ... time for you... ♪
NORMAN:
One two!
♪ And a love of
your own... ♪
GRACE:
As you walk across the stage,
you hear the other kids
singing that same song.
♪ ... of your own... ♪
NORMAN:
Two! Three! One Two Go!
♪ I wish you the wonder
of winter. ♪
♪ I wish you 'till
we meet... ♪
♪ again! ♪
[AUDIENCE CHEERS AND APPLAUDS]
NORMAN: I hope
that I brought them
what I have learned.
That you have to survive.
Um.
And music is
a way of surviving.
[SHIMMERING PIANO MELODY FROM 'THE RAVEL']
MAN: The choir was
everything to my father.
The choir was flawless.
And he cared about that.
And that mattered to him
a great deal.
[OVERLAPPING CONVERSATIONS]
We're having a pizza party.
Yeah yeah! Pizza party. Wooh!
Ha, hah!
We're having a pizza party.
Pizza party.
We're having a pizza party,
tonight!
Yeah!
WOMAN: All right,
look at all these pizzas, folks.
[FAMILY CHATTERS ABOUT SALAD OPTIONS]
NORMAN:
Wow, hug! Oh, hug.
Big hug,
thank you.
Can I get a hug?
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you...
[GIRLS CHATTER]
MARK:
I'm praise band director
at West Hartford United
Methodist Church.
And you know, the pastor
has his job with the sermon,
but we have an equally
important job with the music.
NORMAN:
What's the choir singing?
MARK:
Um, let's see.
Lord, I Lift Your Name on High.
Ten Thousand Reasons.
It's fun.
I mean, it's starting to
become you know,
fulfilling.
NORMAN:
M-hm.
MARK: My dad,
he introduced me
to classical music.
WFMT on the drive,
we couldn't listen to
any other radio station.
There was nothing like that.
But uh, my mother,
she brought like Roberta Flack
into my life, you know,
and Smokey Robinson
and all that.
♪
She was a songwriter,
very shy about her art.
NORMAN:
I met Carol at a party.
And I said
to her girlfriend Pat.
I said, "Oh, who's that?"
"Oh, that's Carol Smith."
[TENDER MUSIC]
So, I found out that
Pat went home and called Carol
and said,
"This boy wants to meet you."
♪
MARK:
She was just so vibrant.
[TAKES A SHAKY BREATH]
♪
My dad was drawn to my mother
by her laughter and
her love of life.
But my dad,
she saw...
a strong man,
you know,
strong,
silent type.
My father keeps
his emotions in.
You have to understand,
I didn't know
about what happened to
my dad till I was in my 20s.
Um...
and so -
there was a lot of mystery.
MARK [SINGING]:
♪ If you... want me...
My dad's side
of the family,
they had a lot of...
weight of the world on them.
NORMAN:
My mother,
she was always there for us.
Very protective.
My brother Arthur,
Irving,
myself and my mother.
They always lived
in the same house.
And my mother
took care of us.
Even though we all have
the same paralysis,
I recovered a lot quicker
than my brothers.
Arthur, my younger brother,
is bedridden, and...
my middle brother Irving,
he is really having a
difficult time.
And out of the three,
I was the one that succeeded.
[MARK PERFORMING AN ORIGINAL COMPOSITION]
[MUSIC RESOLVES IN LIGHT, AIRY CHORDS]
NORMAN:
That's beautiful.
MARK:
Thank you.
NORMAN:
And that's your own?
MARK: That's mine.
That's mine, yeah.
I did that one in the studio.
Long time ago.
NORMAN: All right.
I need a copy of that.
MARK: Yeah, I got it.
Sure, thank you.
[MARK PLAYS ANOTHER COMPOSITION]
NORMAN: I personally
blamed myself for the injury.
My therapist had to help me
realize that
it wasn't my fault.
And I had to accept that.
I was a child.
It was quite a revelation.
[LIVELY PIANO NOTES RISING AND FALLING]
I could have been at home
with my brothers.
But I wanted so much more.
And so therefore
I had to break out.
[NOTES GLIDING DOWNWARDS]
♪
[DOOR SLIDES OPEN]
This is a collection of all
my left hand compositions
that I've had bound.
I think I have...
300, 400 plus
left hand compositions
that I've discovered.
When I first started,
there were only a handful
of left hand compositions
that I was aware of.
This is my thesis
about, um - Paul Wittgenstein.
My savior.
[ORIGINAL RECORDING]
[AN ELEGANT PASSAGE]
It was a natural thing
for me to do:
Analyze Wittgenstein's complete
volume of left hand material.
[FLUTTERING HIGH NOTES]
These concertos were
commissioned
by Paul Wittgenstein.
The Hindemith has an
interesting history.
Paul Wittgenstein
refused to play it.
So it was left unknown
until after his death.
[PIANO AND FULL ORCHESTRA PLAYING A BRISK MELODY]
[DEEP, FORCEFUL PIANO NOTES]
The Benjamin Britten.
I don't know why they don't
play that more often.
[MODERNIST PIANO SOLO]
[RAPIDLY RISING SCALE]
Or the Richard Strauss.
[A QUIETLY REGAL MELODY]
And the Prokofiev
Concerto for the Left Hand.
[RAPID, ENERGETIC PIANO ACCOMPANIED BY STRINGS]
That's quite a tricky piece,
and very seldom played.
There are other composers that
have written beautiful works.
[GRAND, SWEEPING PIANO MELODY]
[STRONG PUNCTUATIONS BY PIANO AND ORCHESTRA]
But the Ravel...
it's the most outstanding
left hand piece
in the whole repertoire.
[STEADY, DEEP CASCADES ON SOLO PIANO]
This is a piece that
I was meant to play.
So I wanted to find out
as much as I could.
[PIANO SOLO CONTINUES OVER SOUNDS OF NATURE]
[INSECTS BUZZING]
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[SOMEONE KNOCKS ON A DOOR]
WOMAN:
Dear Norman.
NORMAN:
How are you?
JOAN:
I've heard SO much about you!
Finally you're here.
NORMAN:
Yes.
JOAN:
Can I give you a big hug?
NORMAN:
Oh, yes. Yes.
NORMAN:
Look at that!
That's your father.
JOAN:
That's my dad.
I'm putting him in his forties
around this time.
I'm not quite sure.
JOAN [OFF CAMERA]:
My father was Paul Wittgenstein.
The musical world
knows him
as the pianist who played
with his left hand only.
[QUIET PASSAGE FROM 'THE RAVEL']
My father lived in Vienna.
He gave his first concert
in 1914.
And then,
World War One started.
[DEEP RUMBLE ON PIANO]
My father enrolled
in the army.
A Russian bullet caught him
in the right arm.
And they took him prisoner,
and they had to
amputate the arm.
But that wasn't
going to stop him.
First he made a cardboard
cutout of the piano keys
and he'd practice and
practice and practice.
And then there was an
old piano that was out of tune.
He could practice on that.
[REVERBERATING CHORDS]
But then they sent him home.
Normally,
a person would have said,
"Maybe I better think
of something else to be."
but that's not
who he was.
He looked around, and there was
no music for the left hand -
something concert worthy.
[INTRICATE PIANO FLOURISH]
And that's where the
Ravel came from.
JOAN [READING]: Ravel was
old and rather frail by then,
plagued
by insomnia and fatigue.
"But,"
he said in French,
"I make a game of difficulty."
My father wanted to
be certain that,
"The concerto must
not be a stunt.
"The listener must never
feel that more could have been
accomplished with two hands.
The piano part must be complete,
beautiful and transparent."
NORMAN [READING]:
Ravel invited Wittgenstein
to his home near Paris
to listen to the finished work.
"Wittgenstein wasn't
overwhelmed by the composition.
"I suppose Ravel
was disappointed.
"And I was sorry,
"but I had never learned
to pretend.
"Only much later after I studied
the Concerto for months
"did I become
fascinated by it
"and realize what a
great work it was."
[ORIGINAL RECORDING]
[PLAYING COMPLEX CLIMACTIC SOLO]
JOAN:
This is my favorite picture.
Do you see that hand?
NORMAN:
M-hm.
JOAN: My father is
doing finger exercises.
NORMAN:
Yeah, I do that too.
JOAN: You probably do.
NORMAN: Yeah.
JOAN:
There's no sitting still.
NORMAN:
This is so similar to me.
JOAN: You recognize yourself?
NORMAN: Yeah.
JOAN: So I wanted to
tell you a little bit
about this piano that
you're sitting at.
This guy was
in my father's room
where he would
just do exercises
in the middle of the night
if he had to -
NORMAN:
Ahh!
JOAN: This was his,
And all the -
the big ones were
given away.
[NORMAN REHEARSES WAVE-LIKE MELODY FROM 'THE RAVEL']
[STRONG, ROLLING NOTES]
[MUSIC FADES]
VOICE ON TV: Why is there a
bandage on my hand?
DOCTOR:
Well, fortunately
there will be only slightly
diminished use of three fingers.
For how long?
Afraid it will be permanent.
Oh my God.
DOCTOR:
But your leg will be fine.
PATIENT:
I don't care about my leg.
These are my life,
I play the piano.
I'm a concert pianist.
A pianist?
Are you familiar
with the story behind the Ravel?
PATIENT:
No, and I don't really...
DOCTOR: It was written
for an Austrian concert pianist
named Paul Wittgenstein.
He lost his right arm
during the First World War.
Don't you see?
Your hand may be still.
But your gift
cannot be silenced
if you refuse to
let it be.
[TENTATIVELY PLAYS OPENING OF 'THE RAVEL']
[CONTINUING MORE CONFIDENTLY]
[INCREASING SPEED AND STRENGTH]
[PLAYING WITH VIRTUOSIC MASTERY]
He just sat down and
played that!
NORMAN: Yeah...
JOAN: Oh come on.
NORMAN:
It takes years...
[LAUGHING TOGETHER]
[RAIN PATTERS SOFTLY]
Wittgenstein was able to
commission these pieces.
And that really
encouraged me to say,
"Well,
I can do that too."
[A RAGTIME PIANIST PERFORMS SWEET ENVY]
I'm always interested
in trying to find
new left hand compositions.
♪
For years, if I heard
something interesting,
and I got a chance to
approach the composer,
I'd casually say,
"Oh, would you ever think
of writing something?"
And that never materialized.
♪
HOWARD: When Norman
told me about his frustration,
I introduced him to someone
I've written about for years.
NORMAN: Reginald Robinson is
a genius ragtime composer.
And he thought,
"Oh! This is a challenge."
[SWEET ENVY ENDS WITH A FLOURISH]
REGINALD: Hi!
NORMAN: Welcome.
REGINALD: Hey, Norman.
NORMAN: How are you?
REGINALD:
I'm fine, how about you?
But I figured it.
There has to be
a way to...
get that sound.
NORMAN:
Mm hmm.
REGINALD: And you know,
within uhh...
one hand.
NORMAN:
Mm-hm, mm-hm.
REGINALD:
So for ragtime,
really the left hand
has a role
of going bass note, chord,
bass note, chord.
[PLAYING RAGTIME AT A VERY FAST TEMPO]
REGINALD:
But this time,
I'm playing
in places where
the right hand in ragtime
would usually, uh,
cover certain notes.
I've never heard of a
left hand ragtime composition.
Ragtime is a steady beat
against syncopated rhythms.
And Eubie Blake,
the great ragtime pianist,
always said,
"This hand has nothing to do
with this hand."
So now I can go,
"THIS hand has nothing to do
with THIS hand!"
Play it for me.
REGINALD:
Okay.
[AN EASY-GOING RAGTIME MELODY]
[LEADING UP TO A FINAL FLOURISH]
NORMAN:
I love it!
I can hear it,
I can hear it.
Now...
Can I PLAY it?
[SLOWLY AND METHODICALLY]
REGINALD: I put the fingering
in specifically.
Over time it becomes
easier to pull off.
[DEMONSTRATING CORRECT FINGER POSITIONS]
So it's one...
Mm-hm.
[NORMAN TRIES THE FINGERING]
Then reach -
with your thumb there,
reach over
for the second,
second finger...
to B.
And three.
And it sets you right at four.
[NORMAN IMPROVISES AN ENDING]
This is going to be great.
[LAUGHING WITH GLEE]
[PRACTICING AT A DELIBERATELY SLOW TEMPO]
[AUDIENCE MURMURING]
NORMAN:
Oh!
I don't need to see that.
REGINALD:
Yeah, I was gonna tell you.
NORMAN: Haha!
I don't need to see that.
God.
What have I gotten myself into?
REGINALD [CHUCKLING]:
Oh, wow!
NORMAN:
But it sounds okay?
REGINALD:
It sounds fine.
You sound really good.
Yeah.
NORMAN:
Okay. All right.
REGINALD: One thing
I would suggest
is just play it slow.
Take your time.
Play it at whatever tempo
you want.
NORMAN:
Yeah.
REGINALD:
No one's heard this before,
so whatever you do is -
NORMAN:
Yeah. Yeah.
But I was glad I came over
yesterday to touch the piano.
I thought, "Whoa!"
REGINALD: It's a different feel
from at home?
NORMAN: Oh, yeah.
REGINALD: The action is more -
NORMAN:
It's heavier.
As a child,
I played church organ.
I would play for Mass.
But then a pastor,
was a new pastor,
and he said,
"Oh, you're the cripple one."
And I thought, "Whoa."
I didn't know how to respond
to something like that.
No one had ever said that.
I said, "Well...
"I'll never touch the
organ again."
REGINALD:
Mmm.
NORMAN: Reginald's piece
is contributing
to the field
of left hand repertoire,
which is so needed.
[EXCITED APPLAUSE]
[APPLAUSE FADES]
So I have to live
up to my part.
[HUSHED SILENCE]
[ROBUST OPENING OF NORMAN MALONE'S RAG]
[PLAYING AT A SLOW, MEASURED PACE]
[INTRODUCING A RELAXED RAGTIME SWING]
[MISSES NOTE, THEN RECOVERS]
[MUSIC TRANSITIONS TO A NEW, BREEZY MELODY]
NORMAN:
A composition like this
has never been
written before.
And I'm so grateful that
I asked Reginald to do it.
[TENTATIVELY]
[MORE CONFIDENTLY]
[HITTING A WRONG NOTE -]
[CLEANLY FINISHING THE PERFORMANCE]
[APPLAUSE]
[TUNING INSTRUMENTS]
[HORNS AND WOODWINDS JOIN]
[TUNING STOPS]
[PERFORMANCE OF AN ORCHESTRAL OVERTURE BEGINS]
♪
I'm one of the founders
of the West Hartford Symphony
Orchestra.
The former president
of the board sent me a link
and said, "Gee, you ought to
take a look at this."
It had a real effect on me
emotionally.
And so I wrote to him.
And the next day,
my phone rang.
It said Norman Malone.
He said, "My son and
daughter-in-law
live in Connecticut."
And I said, "Well -
"if you have the Ravel
under your fingers,
"and you're
comfortable with it,
"how about
playing it with
"the West Hartford Symphony
Orchestra?"
I thought,
"Holy Mother,
"Holy Mother.
Okay. All right."
[VIOLINS HOLD ON FINAL NOTE]
There you are.
[LISTENING TO CD OF 'THE RAVEL']
I had to think long and
hard about it.
I get nervous every time
I have to perform.
[ORCHESTRAL CLIMAX]
But to play
with an orchestra!
How many people
get that offer?
[OPENING PIANO SOLO]
HOWARD:
The level of risk
to play a concerto
with orchestra
for the first time is huge.
To do it at age 79 when
you've never played a concert,
and you've never
played with orchestra before,
is monumental.
[THUNDEROUS PIANO MUSIC]
[RISING NOTES]
[MUSIC BOUNCES BETWEEN HIGH AND LOW CHORDS]
It took me so long
to learn the Ravel
that I'm afraid if I don't
practice parts of it every day,
I'll lose it.
[REHEARSING A NEW SECTION]
So it's a daily prayer.
Of course, I can't play
the orchestra part.
I had to find an accompanist.
ACCOMPANIST: How are ya?
NORMAN: Fine.
ACCOMPANIST:
Hi, I'm Bryan Shilander.
NORMAN:
Norman Malone.
BRYAN:
It's a pleasure. Come on in.
[PLAYING THE ORCHESTRAL OPENING]
BRYAN: So if I go:
And one,
two, three....
BRYAN: Right?
NORMAN: Yeah.
NORMAN:
Bryan and I, we clicked.
So he played the
orchestra part.
BRYAN:
And then you hear this.
[ALTERNATING PHRASES]
NORMAN:
And then that?
[STRUGGLING]
BRYAN: There's a little bit
of freedom there.
NORMAN: It's getting used to
hearing your part.
BRYAN: Yeah,
it's distracting, isn't it?
NORMAN:
Yeah, yeah.
It's like, oh God.
Where am I now?
♪
NORMAN:
When I realized
how many piano concertos for
the left hand have been written,
this is the only one that
has survived the test of time.
HOWARD:
The question is why?
The Ravel concerto
tells a story.
It's Wittgenstein's story.
His great, profound loss
and his struggle
to overcome that loss.
And therefore it also tells
the story of Norman Malone.
[YEARNING MELODY]
[BEGINNING TO STRUGGLE AGAIN]
NORMAN:
Okay, all right.
BRYAN: Give it a try?
NORMAN: Yeah.
[BEGINNING AGAIN]
HOWARD: It begins
with the double basses
playing so low
that we can barely discern
what they're playing.
[ORCHESTRA BEGINS PLAYING 'THE RAVEL']
There's this murmuring,
growling going on.
[BASSOONS JOIN]
We almost cannot decode
what we're hearing.
And what is the instrument
doing from down low?
Climbing up.
And how is it climbing up?
With what musicians call
dotted rhythms,
which basically means a
very long note
followed by a very short note.
[WOODWINDS PLAY DOTTED RHYTHMS]
HOWARD [DEMONSTRATING]:
Ba bum, ba bum,
ba-ba-bum,
ba bum.
[STRING SECTION CRESCENDOS]
This gives the music
a kind of nobility or heroism
that we're going to hear
over and over again,
as this struggle continues
of a pianist trying to see
if he can still make music
with one hand.
[OPENING SOLO]
[RUMBLING NOTES BUILD ON ONE ANOTHER]
This is a colossal
opening statement.
You would never guess
it was being played by one hand,
it wouldn't even
enter your mind.
[BOUNCING NOTES]
And now the main statement.
Here's where the pianist
first plays the heroic theme.
[GRAND, STATELY MELODY PLAYS]
[LOW REVERBERATING NOTES]
It's a statement
of self affirmation
and of power.
It's epic.
[ROLLING FLOURISHES]
[COMPLEX, BOUNCING MUSIC]
This is one of the first
grueling parts of the piece
because the pianist is
bouncing all over the keyboard
high to low,
and these leaps
are so far apart,
and the chords are so complex
that it's like target practice
trying to hit each
one correctly.
And getting through
this one long measure
is almost impossible.
It's so hard that
they've got to grab hold
of the right side of the piano
in order to stabilize themselves
and finesse these large leaps.
It's even harder
for Norman Malone,
because not only can he not
physically grab the piano,
Norman has only one leg that
works properly.
So in order for him to use the
pedal to get a bigger sound,
or to control color, or voicing,
or create sonic illusions,
he's got to put his left foot
over on the right side pedal,
and he cannot use
two pedals at once,
which all great pianists want to
do to create special effects.
[REPEATED RAPID LOW NOTES]
[NOTES SLIDING UPWARDS TO A FINISH]
NORMAN:
Just keep working on it.
BRYAN: Yeah,
it's come a long ways.
[DISTANT SOUNDS OF REHEARSAL]
[PIANO BEGINS PLAYING]
♪
[COMPLEX PATTERN OF INTERLOCKING NOTES]
HOWARD: The top notes,
the melody notes
are being played
rhythm of two on the top
and rhythm of three
on the bottom.
Ravel is creating
the illusion
of two hands
playing at once.
The notes are not
striking at the same time.
And this makes
the ear think
the right hand is
playing the melody
and the left hand is
playing the accompaniment.
But in fact, one hand is
playing all of this
at the same time.
[PIANO IS JOINED BY CLARINET]
[NORMAN BEGINS TO FALTER]
This theme is like the opposite
of the heroic theme.
Where the hero theme is
full of vigor and grandeur,
this is very yearning
and longing.
[RICHLY LAYERED MELODY]
This is a very vulnerable
portrait
of the protagonist
of the piece,
which is the
left handed pianist.
[NORMAN PLAYS TENDER, CARESSING MELODY]
[REHEARSING INSIDE]
RICHARD: That was...
very close.
I just want to
make sure we can...
you do slightly better than
very close for Saturday morning.
[RAPID STACCATO NOTES]
[FALSE START]
NORMAN: Oh. Sorry.
[ANOTHER FALSE START]
NORMAN: Ahh.
RICHARD:
One, twoooo,
threeeee-yup!
Ba-bee-bababa...
NORMAN:
Ummm...
It's so hard for me
to just see that.
Can I start back at 17?
RICHARD:
Sure.
One, two, one,
and -
[FUMBLING]
NORMAN:
I'm just getting...
frustrating myself.
RICHARD:
So it's one, two,
two two,
harp, two...
I've always admired Norman's
stick-to-it-ness.
[NORMAN MUTTERS]
[FUMBLING AGAIN]
He just meets a
difficult moment head on,
and just keeps hammering at it.
Nope, yeah. No,
so you got that too soon.
So keep in mind,
I mean you gotta be
aware of that -
[GRUNTING]
one, two
tri-ple-et,
tri-ple-et,
one, two
tri-ple-et,
tri-ple-et.
[NORMAN JOINS IN RHYTHM]
HOWARD: Everyone plays
the Ravel concerto differently.
I was at Orchestra Hall
and heard a pianist play
the left hand concerto
note perfectly,
fine.
And you know what that
performance did not capture?
What this piece is about:
the struggle.
[PLAYS WITH GREAT DELIBERATION]
[PRACTICING CONTINUES]
[PRACTICING CONCLUDES]
[ORCHESTRA BUSILY WARMS UP]
[WOODWINDS PRACTICING]
[OVERLAPPING COMMOTION]
RICHARD: I think the nature
of any community orchestra
is the nature
of amateurs.
These are people who
love music.
It's a mix
of youth and age.
We have, I believe,
seven doctors.
So I've been able to tell
the orchestra
if any of them have problems
we've got a psychiatrist,
we've got a dentist,
we've - you know we have
uh, many -
we can solve their
problems for them.
Norman has not worked
with an orchestra.
He could do it at any speed
he wants at home.
But when you get to rehearse
with an orchestra,
mmmm.
[CHAOTICALLY OVERLAPPING INSTRUMENTS]
RICHARD:
All right, Norman.
NORMAN:
Ahhhhhh!
[CHUCKLING]
Oh, okay.
[REPETITIVE STACCATO CELLO NOTES]
[RICHARD HUMS THE MELODY]
[HUMMING CONTINUES]
[NORMAN STUMBLES]
NORMAN:
Ah!
RICHARD:
Okay.
Uh...
it must have been
my singing, right Norman?
NORMAN: That is,
the singing, yeah.
RICHARD:
Second measure of 30.
[CLEARING HIS THROAT]
Second bar of 30 please.
Right where Norman enters.
One, two.
[PLAYING CORRECT NOTES, SLIGHTLY OUT OF SYNC]
HOWARD: When you're on stage
with 60 other musicians,
if you lose your place,
it could be a disaster
because the orchestra
will keep playing
no matter what.
Norman does these
high risk events
when you could potentially
humiliate yourself publicly.
That's courage.
[FLOWING MELODY]
NORMAN: I don't think
you ever get there.
I think it's a
lifetime commitment.
That cadenza -
is eight or nine pages
of solo piano.
And it starts off low,
and works up to a melody.
[MELODY ASCENDS ALONGSIDE DEEP, SURGING CHORDS]
[PLAYING STRENGTHENS]
And it keeps building
on that melody
until it just breaks out
and then the orchestra
comes in.
And you're just
ripping through it.
Ripping through it.
[TORRENT OF DEEP, FIRM CHORDS]
Oh, it makes your blood just -
hits the top of the roof.
[THE ORCHESTRA CRESCENDOS]
[MUSIC SLOWLY FADES]
RICHARD: But we can fix things,
whatever we want to.
NORMAN: Once we played
all the way through,
it was better.
RICHARD: Yes, because that's
more of what you're used to.
NORMAN: I'm used to just
playing it straight through.
RICHARD: Straight through.
NORMAN: Right, right.
NORMAN: Okay, all right.
RICHARD: All right, relax.
We'll see you
around one o'clock tomorrow.
HOWARD:
How's it going?
RICHARD: Good. Good.
Very good.
Some spots are
much more solid...
[PASSING TRAFFIC]
[DISTANT TUNING OF ORCHESTRA]
NORMAN: Thank you.
Say a prayer.
MUSICIAN::
You sound great.
NORMAN:
Say a prayer. Say a prayer.
CONCERTMASTER:
And so we play,
it's not a pretty note.
NORMAN:
Okay.
CONCERTMASTER: It's a
weird, artificial harmonic.
But you'll see my bow
start to move.
NORMAN:
Alright.
CONCERTMASTER:
And if you see my bow moving,
just wail on that piano.
MARK MALONE:
Ravel to me is about...
a storm.
It's tumultuous.
And you're just, like,
holding on.
I'm excited to see him play
with an orchestra.
[DISTANT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC OF THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER]
[LOUDER]
[MUSIC CONTINUES, MUFFLED AND DISTANT]
[CLOSING NOTES OF THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER]
[FINAL NOTE]
USHER:
Come with me, please.
[CONCERT HALL FALLS SILENT AS NORMAN'S FOOTSTEPS ECHO]
[APPLAUSE]
[APPLAUSE SUBSIDES]
[SHUFFLING OF BENCH]
[PAGE RUSTLES]
[HUSHED SILENCE]
[RUMBLING BASS SECTION]
[BASSOONS JOIN]
[SOFT MELODY OF FRENCH HORNS]
[WOODWINDS JOIN IN]
[STRING SECTION SLOWLY BUILDS]
[DRAMATIC CRESCENDO]
[MUSIC INCREASES IN TENSION AND REPEATS]
[SNARE DRUM JOINS IN]
[VIOLINS HOLD ON A RAPIDLY REPEATING NOTE]
[ORCHESTRAL CLIMAX]
[THUNDEROUS OPENING NOTES]
[JUMPING OCTAVES]
[DEEP, DESCENDING CHORDS]
[ASCENDANT ROLLING MELODY]
[STRONG, BOUNCING NOTES]
[FIRMLY LANDING ON LOW CHORD]
[GENTLE, MAJESTIC MELODY]
NORMAN:
Playing the opening section...
and all of a sudden,
I realized where I was and
what I was doing.
It was like,
WOOOMP!
It came down on me.
And I went,
Holy God!
Where am I?
What am I doing?
[A NOTE REVERBERATES]
[NORMAN HESITATES, PLAYING IMPROVISED CHORDS]
[PAGE CRINKLES LOUDLY]
It felt like I was out
for days.
I froze.
And I thought, "You don't have
time for this nonsense.
"You got to continue."
And in that split second
I just went back.
[NORMAN RECOVERS, RESUMES PLAYING]
[PLAYING WITH INCREASING CONFIDENCE]
RICHARD: In the middle
of his opening statement,
something had happened.
[SLIGHT FUMBLE]
And I was just waiting to see
how he was gonna resolve this.
There's a whoops here,
uh, but I -
how do I fix it?
For the audience,
it might have looked
like a momentary rest
in the music.
So - not a big deal.
[MUSICAL TENSION BUILDS]
[BOUNCING BETWEEN HIGH AND LOW CHORDS]
[ASCENDING CHORDS FROM LOW TO HIGH]
[RAPIDLY DESCENDING HIGH NOTES]
[CLAMOROUS LOW NOTES]
[NOTES GLIDING UPWARD TO A CLIMAX]
[ORCHESTRA RESUMES MAJESTIC MELODY]
[SHARP VIOLIN NOTES]
[BOOMING TIMPANI DRUM]
[RAPIDLY DESCENDING STACCATO NOTES]
[SINGLE NOTE SUSTAINED]
[STRINGS PLUCKING RHYTHMICALLY]
[STACCATO PIANO]
[SOFT, RHYTHMIC BEAT]
[HESITATES, PLAYING SLIGHTLY OFF RHYTHM]
[REJOINING, BACK IN SYNC WITH RHYTHM]
[VIOLINS JOIN IN]
[PIERCING NOTES ON VIOLINS]
[FRANTIC RHYTHM]
[LIVELY SOLO]
[RAPIDLY BOUNCING CHORDS]
[STRINGS SECTION JOINS IN, PLUCKING RHYTHMICALLY]
[CASCADING NOTES]
[SWIRLING CURRENTS OF PIANO MELODY]
[WOODWINDS SUBTLY JOIN]
[PROLONGED CRESCENDO]
[MUSIC STRENGTHENS AND SURGES]
[CLIMACTIC ORCHESTRAL SWELL]
[PIANO NOTES FLOWING IN A TORRENT OF WAVES]
[DRUMS AND BRASS POUNDING]
[ROARING FINISH AS MUSIC STOPS]
[APPLAUSE FILLS THE CONCERT HALL]
NORMAN:
Whew!
[CHEERS AND SUSTAINED OVATION]
MARK: Great job.
NORMAN:
Thank you, young man.
NORMAN:
Yep.
MARK:
Best I've heard you play.
NORMAN:
Yeah.
MARK: You did it.
NORMAN: Yeah.
MARK:
How do you feel? Good?
NORMAN:
Yeah. I made it. I did it.
MARK: You did it!
NORMAN: I did it.
MARK: It's scary, man.
All these musicians up here.
NORMAN: Yeah.
MARK: But you did it.
NORMAN:
Ah!
Wow...
♪
[PERFORMING BENJAMIN BRITTEN'S DIVERSIONS
FOR THE LEFT HAND]
♪
This one's tough. Ready?
NORMAN: All right.
COMPOSER: Here we go.
NORMAN:
Good, a challenge. Yes.
COMPOSER:
Let's see if I can do it.
Here we go,
you ready?
[A SPARE STACCATO RHYTHM]
[MUSIC GROWS IN COMPLEXITY]
[PAGE RUSTLES]
[JAZZY MELODY]
[FAST-PACED RIFFS]