Ears and earplugs

The basis for success in business, in art, and in everyday life is the ability to subtly feel the situation, take into account the diversity of all parameters, and penetrate deeply into the essence of the matter. The grandmaster calculates thousands of options and is able to fight with a supercomputer and even reduce the duel to a draw, and the shark is able to catch the smell of blood in the ocean three kilometers from the wound. In short, the higher the sensitivity, the better for the job.

And I thought so until I came across a book by the famous violinist Gidon Kremer*, where on one of the pages he describes problems with the very sensitivity that I considered the matrix for solving all problems. So one day (I state in my own words) in one of the European the capital, I think in Amsterdam, already after midnight he tried to fall asleep early before tomorrow’s afternoon concert, but … But he was disturbed by the noise of workers who were fussing and banging somewhere three blocks away from the hotel. This sound was practically inaudible to anyone, especially in a room with a tightly closed window and a drawn curtain, but Gidon Kremer was tormented, as the princess and the pea from Andersen’s fairy tale toiled.

He got it – attention! – a set of earplugs that he always carries with him, and began to pick up earplugs that would tightly cut off his sensitive brain of a musician from extraneous noise …

He tried one, the second… Unfortunately, none of the plugs worked 100%, and the damned ringing of the hatch on the pavement leaked through microscopic pores.

Having twisted and exhausted, the musician forgot rather than fell asleep.

And in the morning there was trouble, he could not pull the cork out of his left ear.

At night, he drove it so tightly and deeply inside that he could not remove it without outside help … Seek a doctor? Meanwhile, it’s time for the concert, the car is waiting at the entrance …

In short, I refer those who wish to read the page where Gidon Kremer describes the nightmare of the then violin playing at a concert with one ear immured tightly.

It turns out that the subtlety of perception only at first glance seems to be an indisputable advantage of the individual, alas, susceptibility is also a curse.

Let us recall the episode with the boy Mozart, who fainted and almost died from the cruel joke of the trumpeter, who blew into the ear of a genius with a false sound of a trumpet.

Mozart was barely brought to his senses.

Let us recall the episode with Shostakovich, described by conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky in a book about life. * … After the performance of Shostakovich’s large-scale symphony in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the composer appeared in the conductor’s room in the most upset feelings: “Why did you do this? What’s wrong with the triangle? How dare you?

The conductor could not understand why he had upset the author so much.

It turned out that at the end of the second part of the symphony, in the polyphony of the orchestra, the short quivering sound of a triangle (triangle) in a high register, one of the smallest musical midgets of a symphony orchestra, did not sound, and Shostakovich heard that the necessary sound did not sound.

The conductor himself did not hear this detail in the roar of music.

Rozhdestvensky immediately called the musician to the carpet. It turned out that in the fateful moment the drummer dropped the steel stick from his hand to strike, but while he was looking on the floor under his feet, time had passed.

The musician was sure that no one would notice a musical oversight.

How do you hit the target? – I once asked a friend of the champion of Russia in shooting from a rifle in a prone position.

Here is her answer.

It turns out that first you need to take control of the movement of blood in the index finger, which lies on the trigger; if the blood in your finger goes in jerks, you will miss, but now the blood has become “smooth”, after which it begins to peer into the target, noting not only the swaying of the flags of the wind indicators, but also tracking the movement of the sun, which begins to edge out from behind the cloud. What for? And then, that the sun will heat the left half of the flying bullet, and this effect must also be taken into account and, having made a microscopic correction for the sun, shift the front sight to the left accordingly … And now it is possible? No! The mystic begins. It is also necessary to balance the negative stain of failure with the positive stain of good luck. These psychophysical spots at the moment are located one on the left, the other a little behind: the area of ​​evil rivals and the lawn of light of encouragement from the coach and girlfriends. And finally, darkness and light are balanced, the blood in the finger froze, the edge of the sun came out of the cloud, the wind indicator ribbon on the stand moved a little … Pli!

She has two or three seconds to solve this puzzle.

There is! The target is hit ten.

She lost her form because of a mere trifle: someone pushed the champion with an elbow in the back in the subway before the Olympics. The bruise remained in the brain. Unfortunately, a superprofessional can be put out of action by any speck of darkness, such as a false sound of a trumpet, as in the case of Mozart, or the tinkle of a manhole cover on the pavement – like the sound of a triangle – three blocks from your sensitive ear.

Dreaming of super achievements, we must not forget that at that highest level, a pea easily kills a princess.