The fermata!
 - A hold or pause sign that indicates a note should be held longer than its normal duration.

Why have I been thinking about the fermata today?  Well quite simply I am working on Chopin's Etude in E Major which he composed for his friend Franz Liszt.  On page 4 of the etude there is a passage described with con bravura in the measure.  The notes are crazy sevenths that test one's patience beyond any reasonable level of understanding.

When I dream about playing this etude in a drawing room with a fire place, I think that when I reach the end of the etude on page 5, that I should hold the final e g and e g for ever.  In other words I should hold those final notes as if there were a fermata on top, so I will have the time to realize what I accomplished in getting to the end of this wonderful piece.

Which leads me to one additional thought about fermatas.  Every year from 7 to 18 I participated in a yearly piano recital.  Each year, I seemed to play with more polish than in years past.  However when I got to the end of the piece, I often seemed to play the last note and jump off the piano in sheer relief.  Relief that I got through the blasted sonata, invention or nocturne.  Or relief,that I could finally take a couple of weeks off and play music from my various "Beatles" books.

Some times when I think about the fermata, I think about it in terms of work.  Perhaps when I am doing a presentation I should pause, sort of holding that thought, and give the people I am speaking to the time to digest what I have said, before I jump to the next topic.

I remember hearing Jean Yves Thibaudet at the Ohio Theatre one time.  He had the ability to play and linger on the last note, which gave you time to think about all he had accomplished, and of course to look at his red socks.  He has a wonderful Debussy CD which is life changing actually, so I would suggest buying it very soon.

My daughter Sarah while in the Bishop Watterson High School, had a button that said "hold me I'm a fermata"  Good advice I think!