Gifted teen not hindered by missing fingers

Mason Flink is a very gifted 17-year old pianist. To hear his dexterity as he plays Chopin and Schumann melodies, you would not realise that he has a condition called ulnar dysplasia, which means that he has just three fingers on his right hand.

That hasn’t stopped him playing since a young age. He comes from a musical family and he says he was destined to play an instrument.

Practically, he can’t play five-note chords with his right hand, and four-note chords he uses his left thumb to play the additional note.

“I don’t think he ever realized he didn’t have five fingers,” said Johnnie Cardinale, his piano teacher of a decade. “We’ve never not chosen something because we felt like he couldn’t handle it.”

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Mason said he doesn’t consider his missing fingers a limitation. “I don’t know how it would have been the other way,” he said. “I don’t have anything to compare it to.”

He’s now playing a benefit concert at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, where he was treated as a child.

Read more of this great story: Missing fingers? Pianist never gives it a thought (free registration required)