The Square Hand With Conic Fingers

Illustration

Now,though at first sight it may appear strange to say that musical composition comes under this head,yet a little cosideration will show that such not only the case,but that there is a logical reason that it should be so.In the first place,the square hand is more the hand of the student.It gives more the power of application and continuity of effort,while the conic fingers give the intuitive and inspirational faculties.The musical composer,no matter how imaginative,no matter how inspired in ideas,is certainly not without the student's side to his character.If we consider,for a moment the quality of brain and the disposition which is absolutely necessary,we will understand more clearly why the hand must be thus wonderfully balanced-why the inspirational,imaginative nature must be linked to that of the thoughful,the soild,the methodical,and that which also proceeds from the foundation of the known-as,for instance,harmony and counterpoint-to reach the world of the unknown,through the gates of imagination and idealism.That shape of the hand must be commonly called the conic or artistic;but the smallest observation of life will show that though the people with purely conic or artistic hands have the artistic nature and the appreciation of what is artistic,yet they may not have-and I have most often observed that they have not-the power or the ability to bring their ideas before the world in the same masterful way which the mixid square and conic do.