One-Handed Violinist is an Inspiration to Others
Canadian violinist Adrian Anantawan just wants to make music. But when he performs, the audience isn’t just hearing the beautiful sounds from his violin, they are hearing the sounds of inclusion and inspiration. That’s because Anantawan was born without a right hand and most of his right forearm, a disability that could have been a major obstacle to his becoming a musician, but this has not stopped him from following his dreams.
“A lot of times, we let fear get in the way of trying anything,” Anantawan told Good Morning America (GMA). “For me, my story has always been a result of just trying something, being okay with failure, and then just seeing what the results are. In my case, it’s really just beautiful, expressive music.”
The road to becoming a musician
The road was not that easy, according to a blog on Violinist.com, it took a huge amount of determination, support from his family, as well as support from the medical community to get where Anantawan is today.
His family, especially his Chinese grandmother, did not accept the Chinese superstition that a disability is a curse on the family. They encouraged him and saw him as a complete person who only needed some adaptations. This was the encouragement that Anantawan needed to get where he is today.
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He went from being refused by music teachers who could not think out-of-the-box to studying with giants, like Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. But it did not happen overnight.
Finding the right instrument to play was difficult. In elementary school, his music teacher wanted him to play the recorder but he didn’t have enough fingers to do so. The trumpet was recommended but Anantawan wasn’t moved by the sound. He really wanted to play the violin.
After a lot of rejections, he finally found a teacher, Peggy Hills, and he learned to play with his left hand. But holding the bow was still an obstacle until a special adaption – a device that straps unto the then ten-year-olds right arm that holds the bow – was made for him at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto.
“From the very first note that I was playing, I was really attracted to the sound and the connection of my body to the instrument and being able to express my imagination,” Anantawan told GMA.
Inspiring Others
Now, Anantawan is working to provide inclusion for others, according to GMA. He is an associate professor at the Berklee College of Music and he founded the Music Inclusion Ensemble; a group of students with varying disabilities that provide accommodations for musicians according to their individual needs.
“The idea is that we’re all coming together upon a common human cause, and the results of what we do are very much an expression of our collective voices, as much as collective advocacy of what disability can be and how it can be perceived within society,” he said.
His goal is to ensure that people who have challenges feel like they have choices in finding ways to express themselves, like he did through music.
“My duty and job is to use this platform in some way to show folks what a person with a visible disability can do. And it’s always an honor to do that. And you never know who’s watching in the audience or who will be moved or inspired to be able to make a change in their lives,” he said.
