Art Tatum was born in 1909 in Toledo, Ohio. He was African American and born partially blind. As an adolescent, he was beaten by other kids and became totally blind. He had perhaps the most exuberant love of music of any child. He wanted desperately to play the piano.
But he faced two problems.
First, he couldn’t see.
Second, although Art had learned some violin at music school, his family lacked the money for a private piano teacher. So Art learned to play the piano the only way he could – in the honky-tonk saloons of Toledo in the early 1920s.
Even on the days when he was tired from schoolwork and part-time jobs, he would make at least a little time for what he loved. He would get a friend or family member to walk with him to one of the honky tonks nearby, on Indiana Street, and he would ask to sit at the player piano while it played. By placing his fingers lightly on the keys, every time the player piano pumped and the keys dropped, Art could follow the motions.
It was complicated – yet he loved it. There were so many keys involved, at times it felt nearly impossible to follow them with his fingers. But his passion kept encouraging him to try. Far into the night, song after song, his heart willed his hands to master this art. In this way, he learned to play.
But what Art Tatum didn’t know – because he didn’t have a piano teacher to tell him it wasn’t possible – was that when the player piano manufacturers of the late 1800s and early 1900s made player pianos and made the rolls of paper music to play them, they used two pianists, not one.
Because he didn’t know what he tried was impossible, Art Tatum did it anyway. He became the first pianist in history to play four hands of piano music with his two hands.
The most motivational, inspirational blog on the web! Robert Gilbert, Ph.D., is a professor of sports psychology at Montclair State University and is a public speaker, motivational coach, sports coach and author. He has developed workshops on success, a success hotline and an online success newsletter.
