Self Improvement Blogs

Professional violinist /fiddler Ryan Thomson – Captain Fiddle, lost his ability to play violin right handed after developing focal dystonia. He had an impressive resume – Northeastern Regional USA champion of the National Fiddle Contest, the author of The Fiddler’s Almanac, a popular book about fiddling, and an an active performer in a number of different styles of music. After he was diagnosed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston with the incurable genetic disease of focal dystonia, he took on the challenging task of completely relearning to play violin left handed. He now plays violin professionally left handed. This is the story of his cure for focal dystonia. He hopes that his own personal treatment and therapy for focal dystonia will inspire other people with disability to move in a positive life direction and find more joy in their lives. All of the videos of Ryan playing violin right handed in his You Tube channel were made before 1989. All left handed playing videos were made after that. His efforts to learn violin have made it possible for him to perform along with his 12 year old violinist son, Brennish, in their duo – The Fiddling Thomsons. www.captainfiddle.com