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Beyond Limits
The Return of a Bassoonist After Losing a Finger
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click to enlarge the photos
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If you had only 4
fingers ou your hand, would you still be willing or believe you
would be able to play the bassoon? Well, that's what happened to the
bassoonist "G.P.S" (a fictitious acronym and name to preserve his
privacity).
Due to strok of bad
luck, the wedding ring on his rig finger got caughy in a grid, so
the weight of his body caused him a fatal injury that required
amputating that finger.
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G.P.S. didn't want to
give up playing the bassoon (the instrument he loves and for he has
a special fondness), so he decided to call Hary Schweizer,
responsible from "the bassoon atelier", in order to know whether
there would be a solution for his problem.
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In short, a solution
would be twofold if at all possible:
a) to implant an
orthopedic finger prosthesis on his hand, a procedure that was
unfeasible in his case, or
b) if his middle
finger could work double, acting as both the middle and ring fingers
simultaneously. So that's what has been done at
Schweizer's atelier...
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Whit a new type of
mechanism, the middle E can be played without altering the
usual fingering.
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The middle D
becomes relatively easy to play whit this adaptation; differently
from the previous note, instead of closing the tone open hole with
the finger, this hole is closed trough a spatula/platform aplied by
Schweizer.
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The middle C
requires an additional effort from the middle finger, which has the
task of simultaneously activating the applied two spatulas - the
upper one, which covers the D note, and the lower one, which cover
the C hole
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With this technical
solution, G.P.S. is now able and will restart the bassoon suties,
meaning rebuilding his muscle memory and, above all, reworking his
skills to the many passages in the bassoon literature that will no
longer playable the same way. It is also true the choice of
appropriate repertoire now allows G.P.S. to empowering himself and
dnot giveng up his instrument anymore.
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TESTIMONY from G.P.S. |
I
have been a bassoonist for 11 years. Ihave dedeicated a good
part of my time to the study of the bassoon. On June 1st.
2025 I suffered a serious accident to my left hand, to the
point that amputation of my ring finger was necessary. Still
on the day of the accident, I thought: "Would it be possible
to play again?". My answer at that moment was: "it will no
labger be possible".
When contacting professor and luthier HARY SCHWEIZER explaining the
situation I was in and still wanting to continue playing the bassoon, I
had the hope of finding a possible solution for my new condition. I sent
the bassoon to Brasília without hesitation. I was sure that an
adaptation of the instrument would be invented and installed on the
instrument.
During the process, Professor Hary kept me informed of
every step and, at a certain point, told me that the adaptation could
really work. On July 18th, 2025, I received a photo and an audio
recording by Hary Schweizer with the already adapted instrument, along
with a message that filled my heart with joy and answered that initial
question: “Yes, it is possible to play again”, said Schweizer.
I received my instrument back on July 24th, 2025 adapted
for me to play again. The first contact with the new instrument was very
special—I managed to play a few notes. It is true that it will require
effort to relearn how to play, since with the adaptation, my middle
finger has taken on functions that it never had before.
I
would like to specially express my gratitude and admiration
to Prof. Hary Schweizer for giving me the chance to study
the bassoon aga
Sincerely,
G.P.S.
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