Just wondering which instruments would be the most adaptable if 'something' happened, other than brass, I suppose
I've been lying here trying to think of alternate fingering for piano scales, for instance, that will still work in groups.

Or even, if you had the the chance of an extra finger, which hand would you have it on, and between which other 2 fingers?

Not tempting fate by even speculating, I'm afraid!

I have a flautist friend who damaged her right thumb in a lighting rig. She couldn't play while it was healing, but her playing is fine now, even though her thumb is missing a bit, as it is the only digit not used for fingering - just for support.

When I used to go to CBSO concerts back in the 1980s there was a viola player who played left handed. Someone told me it was because she had some missing fingers on her left hand, which meant she could not play the conventional way round. Not sure whether this was the case, but I imagine it is possible to bow with fingers missing.

My dad was missing the end of his left index finger, but he was no musician. He could play one piece on the piano (which I note is on the grade 4 syllabus this time, but it was probably a simplified version he played). I remember trying to show him how to play the guitar and we gave up because it didn't work with his finger.

In the orchestra one of my daughters plays in there are two one handed brass players. Trumpeter missing left hand, manages fine by balancing the instrument on his wrist, and horn player, who has the horn on a stand to avoid using his right hand.

I know Django Reinhardt has 2 paralysed fingers and he worked out a new technique to fit on guitar. I had a violin pupil with half a little finger on her left hand. She only went as far as grade 3 before she moved, so we didn't get to much position changing.
I had one of those sleepless nights last night due to itchy wasp stings(!) and ended up trying to work out piano scale patterns minus various fingers. Quite interesting, Eb major kept mucking up my plans
My husband has just said Tony Iommi lost his fingertips and had some made..not sure if that improved his playing
And there's the one armed drummer from Def Leppard too.

I once taught a pupil to grade 4 standard who only had half a right thumb...she coped, but as the music got faster and more complex started struggling, then due to school pressures chose to give up... But she just adapted and got on with it!! she had very limited use of her thumb, but was very inventive with fingering!!!

Of course, Alfred Brendel has a book of his own poetry entitled One Finger too Many.

Many years ago, when BBC1 broadcast the programme That's Life! they showed a newspaper advert for a calculator which viewers had written in to say, ".. was held by a hand with thumb and five fingers!"

The company replied to the programme, stating that should anyone come forward with said thumb and five fingers, they'd give them a calculator for free.

Several people legitimately came forward to claim their prize!


The question of how the 'correct' number of fingers comes about, of how when limbs are growing the elbow, wrist and phalanges kick in at just the right time, is fascinating. This is the territory of Professor Lewis Wolpert.

I know someone who was born with only a thumb and little finger on his left hand - so he learned brass as a kid. And another musician who had only thumb and three fingers on his left hand - and he became a very good recorder player. But, like Solari, I don't think I'll speculate - I've had infected fingers at various times, once in the run up to a diploma exam, and would always intervene medically if there were any sign of impaired healing....because of the structure of the hand's tissues, with tight anchoring of everything on the palm side, and looser webbed arrangements over the back, infection in the hand can quickly splint it, and from there cause it to become stiff .

The poetry book by Brendel has the German title, "Fingerzeig" I think? I have it in German, and the poems are very quirky and witty. Herr Brendel told me when he was signing my copy that another is due to come out - that was some years ago, so you have reminded me to go and look to see if it has yet, clavicembalo, thank you.

Of course, you don't need either little fingers for the harp. But I'd sure miss them on the piano! (not much call for any of them when singing, either!).

When I was young, my piano teacher was then quite old (probably nearly as old as me ). The middle finger of his left hand suffered from a problem, maybe arthritis, which caused the tendon to shorten and this made his finger permanently fold up into the palm of his hand. When he really needed to use this finger he managed to play the note with the knuckle of the middle joint - he wasn't lightningly fast with it, and it worked best on black notes, but it was still very impressive, nonetheless.

My flute playing grandaughter had her left hand in plaster for a few weeks, so we played a duet of two on the same flute. She did the blowing and playing the right hand notes, and I played the left. You have to be really good friends to do this, as it is quite cosy .

During the Napoleonic wars, a French flute-playing soldier by the name of Rebsomen lost his left arm and had a flute constructed that worked entirely off the right hand. The flute was held in a clamp and apparently he played conventional flute music brilliantly.

Thought you might like to see this snippet of footage of Paul Wittgenstein playing Ravel with his one arm

Wittgenstein



How I love those who 'defy augury'.

Thanks for that iona. One of the first piano concertos for which I owned a recording - Pascal Roge in that particukar case - my preferred of the two Ravel concertos. I have the score, have had a copy since my late teens. Sometimes I pretend that I can play it!

Not a direct reply, but as may be expected in a mining area, our church organist lost finger No5 on his right hand down't pit some years ago. It makes some spread chords rather challenging for him!

My first thought when I read this was ooh, that must be the worst one to lose - I have such a limited stretch anyway, but actually any would be awful for a keyboard instrument.
It's amazing how adaptable people can be when the spirit of music is there though

Maybe you should have stuck to baroque fingering.

The jazz trombonist Mark Bassey was affected by thalidomide. His legs are "normal" but both arms are the classic thalidomide "stumps". He plays the trombone using the stump to supprt it, and with a prosthetic arm and hook to operate the slide.

You don't need little fingers to play the harp...

click

A new name to me, and he's very good Thanks for drawing my attention to him, TSax