Pianist's with Missing Fingers???

[Spatula]

Hey do you know of any professional performers with any of their fingers missing...or perhaps impaired?

[monk]

Yes.

Horace Parlan is a quite renowned jazz pianist. Played e.g. with Charles Mingus, Archie Shepp, Dexter Gordon.

He has only 3 fingers intact in his right hand.

Best Wishes,
Monk

[bernhard]

Russ Conway didn't have the tip of his little finger (he lost it in a machine accident) - I think it was the right hand.

[cziffra777]

Paul Wittgenstein lost his right arm in WWI. He is responsible for commissioning a lot of the repertoire for left hand alone, including Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.

[faulty_damper]

But did he lose any fingers?

[DarkWind]

I'm sure he lost a lot of respect from composers, if anything. He commisioned a piece from both Ravel AND Prokofiev, and he didn't like any of them. It took him months after the premiere of Ravel's Concerto for him to realize the true beauty in it. It's quite an amazing piece, really.

[rph108]

Your not the one who lost his finger at the cocktail party, are you?

[Spatula]

Well..perhaps I should have a listen to Ravel's LH concerto, sounds rather interesting.

[brewtality]

i'm pretty sure that Byron Janis had one of his fingers shortened to help him deal with arthritis

[thomas_williams]

Have any of you ever read the children's story Rosie and the Dance of the Dinosaurs by Betty Wren Wright?  It is about a girl who only had nine fingers and her struggle with mastering a piano piece called "The Dance of the Dinosaurs" for a recital performance in spite of her handicap.  I read it about two years ago when my younger sister checked it out from the library-- I just had to read it because the main character was a pianist!  It is a great story with a good message that you should all read if you have a chance.

[Spatula]

Have any of you ever read the children's story Rosie and the Dance of the Dinosaurs by Betty Wren Wright?  It is about a girl who only had nine fingers and her struggle with mastering a piano piece called "The Dance of the Dinosaurs" for a recital performance in spite of her handicap.  I read it about two years ago when my younger sister checked it out from the library-- I just had to read it because the main character was a pianist!  It is a great story with a good message that you should all read if you have a chance.

Yeah I'll check that out when time comes (I hear procastination!), but do you know of any other books of pianists who struggle with some sort of handicap? Or face adversity? I think those would be great motivators.