Date:         Fri, 26 Jan 1996 08:46:00 PST
Subject:      Leon Fleischer interview

FYI:

I heard an interview on "Fresh Air"  on NPR yesterday with pianist Leon
Fleischer, who suffered an overuse injury to his right hand about 30 years
ago and subsequently became well-known for performing all the left-hand-only
piano repertoire.

After all these years of trying many kinds of treatments (he said he has "a
whole skeleton of bones to pick with Western medicine"), he's now able to
play with BOTH hands thanks to rolfing (a specific type of massage therapy).

As Mr. Fleischer described his warm-ups and stretches before playing, the
interviewer commented that he sounded like an athlete, and Fleischer said
that if the money were spent researching injuries and biodynamics of
musicians they way it is for professional athletes . . . well, that these
injuries would be less common and more treatable.

"Fresh Air" sells tape transcripts of programs. I  don't have the info, but
I bet it's on their Web page. If you can find the National Public Radio web
page, it has a link to "Fresh Air."

Ann Becker