My elder son, now 40, was born with only two fingers (the first two - index and middle) on his right hand. His chosen instrument for the past twenty-five years has been the English concertina, an instrument normally played with three fingers on each hand. Dave simply developed his own fingering patterns, using only two fingers on each hand. At a session up in Albany after a Ewan MacColl/Peggy Seeger concert, Peggy watched Dave play and said, "How does he do it?" Most people are unaware of the missing digits.

He also plays a bit of penny whistle, using two fingers on the right hand and four on the left. It works for him. His other instrument is the hammered dulcimer which only demands of the player the ability to hold the hammers.

Sandy