i am sitting in front of a sheet of paper. my right hand is bending over my left thumb. the first day i got out of my cast i could bend it by 15°. now i am already at 50° and that makes me happy. things are going uphill… as you can imagine, it is really bad news for a pianist when he gets diagnosed with a broken thumb. that day i was sitting in the emergency room, feeling rather dizzy while thinking of a zillion shows coming up and all the people involved around it. i realised in that moment how busy things have become. it is hard to turn down interesting projects and opportunities, since i surely love my work. it actually never felt like work. playing piano and playing it for wonderful people is the greatest joy i can imagine. for a couple of days i felt like this all could be over. how pathetic. but hey – also feeling sorry for yourself has its place somewhere. all of a sudden i had so much time, an unexpected holiday. i cancelled most of my schedule and found myself being a little bored. even though my doctor told me not to touch a piano for a while, i just couldn’t resist. i started playing a silent song with 4 fingers on my left and the remaining 5 on my right hand. i set up one microphone and recorded another tune every other night before falling asleep. the day i got rid of my cast i had recorded 9 little tunes. they have helped me feel less annoyed about my accident and reminded me that any good is something i can only achieve, when i am making the most out of what i’ve got. thank you all for listening! – NILS FRAHM
