8-fingered Piano Wonder

Missing fingers? Pianist never gives it a thought

Monday, 14 November 2005
By Kristen Holland
The Dallas Morning News

Mason Flink’s fingers flutter across the keyboard like raindrops on cement, his upper body arching toward the baby grand piano as the melodies of Chopin and Schumann fill the air.

The quick tempos would be challenging to play with 10 fingers, but the 17-year-old Highland Park High senior doesn’t have that option. Born with ulnar dysplasia, a condition also known as ulnar club hand, Mason’s right hand has only three fingers.

The National Merit semifinalist will show off his fast-moving digits during a concert today at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. Proceeds from his senior piano recital will benefit Scottish Rite, which treats patients for free.

Mason said he was destined to play an instrument. His mother, Paige Flink, is a pianist; his father, Randy, plays the trumpet. Several grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins are also musicians.

“It’s a big part of my religion and also a part of my emotional development,” said Mason, who attends University Park United Methodist Church with his family. “I feel that I was given these gifts to use, and I find that I’m able to express myself through music.”

Doctors don’t know why Mason developed ulnar club hand. He was born with a thumb and all his fingers adjoined on his right hand.

“We separated his fingers when he was a year old,” said Dr. Peter Carter, a pediatric orthopedic hand surgeon at Scottish Rite. “When he was about 10 we had to do another operation to relieve scars so he could play the piano better.”

Doctors considered adding two artificial fingers when he was a child but decided he would have better control and range of motion without them.

Mason can’t play five-fingered chords with his right hand, but that’s about his only physical limitation on the piano. For four-fingered chords, he uses his left thumb.

“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.”

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.”

Kelly Christensen, Scottish Rite’s vice president of public relations, said the hospital is tickled about Mason’s benefit concert.

“Nothing is more meaningful to us at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children than a child, especially a former patient, giving back to the hospital,” she said. “We are so proud of Mason’s incredible determination, musical talent and caring spirit.”

The high school senior has made some adaptations off the piano, though not as many as some might expect.

“When he played baseball, they placed finger toys in the glove so he could catch,” Mrs. Flink said while watching her son practice the piano.

He throws baseballs left-handed but he does everything else, including writing, with his right hand.

An award-winning trumpet player, Mason quit the school band last year so he could focus on the Bagpipe, Highland Park’s student newspaper. A former reporter and features editor, Mason has worked his way up to design editor of the monthly publication.

Seated on a cushy sofa before a recent piano lesson, Mason said his musical tastes are a bit random. A scroll through his iPod would uncover concertos by Beethoven and Mozart as well as tunes by Coldplay, the Beatles and Jars of Clay.

Ms. Cardinale said she always knew he would become a great pianist because he does more than just play the notes – he feels the music.

“When we first started doing jazz or even when we were doing concertos, we would spend 15 minutes on three bars not because we were fingering but because Mason wanted to do it right,” she said.

Mason said that his success is only partly because of his work ethic. “I have a lot of support from my parents and my piano teacher,” he said.

Though he’s leaning toward a career in psychology or law, Mason has no plans to give up music.

“As much as music is a way for me to bring joy to other people it’s also a good thing for me do to for myself,” he said. “It’s fun to be able to sit down at a piano and play.”