Neighbor's invention helps pianist play again after muscle disease sidelines him

For six years, pianist Stephan Forkelid could not play a note. A rare congenital muscle disease, Welanders distal myopathy, meant he could no longer lift his fingers. "It's very impractical not to be able to extend your fingers when you are a pianist," Forkelid told Dagens Nyheter. "It's been over for many years."

“

It's very impractical not to be able to extend your fingers when you are a pianist. It's been over for many years.

Forkelid, who had a career accompanying artists like Peter LeMarc and serving as a bandleader on television, had to pause his musical pursuits. He transitioned to teaching mathematics, but the loss of his ability to play piano was a "slowly growing grief." He eventually accepted that he would never play again, focusing on gratitude for his past career.

Relocating to the small village of Vallösa near Ystad, Forkelid found an unexpected solution just 280 meters away. His new neighbor, retired development engineer Jan Andersson, learned of Forkelid's plight. "It's terrible that such a good pianist has to stop playing," Andersson said. "I thought maybe it could be solved with simple mechanics."

“

It's terrible that such a good pianist has to stop playing. I thought maybe it could be solved with simple mechanics.

Andersson experimented with designs, initially creating a complex Lego model that proved unusable. He then simplified his approach, studying Forkelid's finger joints during breaks from choir practice. The result was a "strange contraption" delivered in a shoebox: a device that, while initially crude, allowed Forkelid to lift his fingers and play again, marking a miraculous return to his lifelong passion.

“

It looked like a mousetrap with a guillotine made of steel wire. The finger was lifted up but snapped back.