The Ineffable Moment of Performance

NMB, Florida March 25, 2001 A.H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
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THE INEFFABLE MOMENT OF PERFORMANCE

Yitzhak Perlman performed once again at the Broward Performing Arts Center.
A pianist and a page-turner accompanied him. These were the only people on
the stage and they filled it. The theater was also filled with the
rustling, coughing, sneezing and clearing of throats and inappropriate
applause.

If Mr. Perlman used his crutches as weapons equipped with rifled barrels
and long cartridges he could pick off a few of the pests just by sitting and
resting a moment from his labors at sawing at his fiddle. He would do the
world a world of good by ridding the auditorium of undisciplined people most
of whom were not sure if the piece was over or just a piece of it was.

Of all of the moments during his performance Mr. Perlman might have thought
at one point when one of those moments came around that THIS one was it -
the moment when the clarity of his playing shone forth and thrilled each and
every one of us. This was the time when he reached the acme of his career
and hit the perfect note amidst all the false notes hit by the audience in
their restlessness and fatuous self-congratulation for their being at the
right place at the right time.

This was no mean feat. For all in that audience to be transported with
delight at the same time by the artistry of this man was and is a signal
event. Life may be made up of tiny moments out of entire lives just like
that.

The story is told about the singer who happened to be traveling alone in
the country. He spied a large old apple tree and some cows in a field. He
stopped and went to see the site and then felt it was the perfect time and
place for him to sing. And he did sing. He sang his heart out - and, there
was no one to hear him but himself and the cows.

That is the way life is. That ineffable moment comes to us and we are
unprepared and it passes without us.
Carol's Evaluation: out of 10.