母娘、二人三脚で世界に幸せを運ぶ

　イ・ヒアさんは先天性の障害でそれぞれの手に指が2本ずつしかありません。しかし持ち前の明るさと並々ならぬ努力によってピアニストとなり、母親のウ・カプソンさんと共に母国韓国のほか、世界を飛び回って演奏を続けています。時に激しくも、やさしく温かな彼女の音色に聴衆は魅了されます。

By Mayuko Tokita, Asahi Weekly

　A 100-centimeter tall woman, clad in a pink ruffle blouse and a frilly skirt, appears on stage and walks to the piano.

　She takes her shoes off and lines them up neatly, before sitting on a chair. She starts playing Beethoven’s "Ode to Joy" with all her heart. The music echoes throughout the room, sometimes furiously and occasionally emotively, enthralling the audience.

　Particularly impressive is that this pianist has only two fingers on each hand.

　South Korean pianist Lee Hee Ah, 22, has succeeded as a performer despite her disability, due to a congenital disorder. She played in late March at the Korean Residents Union in Japan (Mindan) headquarters in Tokyo to commemorate the publication in Japan of her book, "Nihonyubi no Pianist" (Two-Fingered Pianist), written by her mother, Woo Kap Sun.

　"She is the smallest pianist in the world," Woo said, introducing her daughter. "But my daughter has bushels of love for all of you. I hope her performance makes you happier and exhilarated."

　Lee said, "I hope my music gives you hope."

　Lee was born in Seoul in 1985 with deformed fingers, along with tiny legs under her kneecaps. She underwent amputations of both legs when she was 3. She lacks joints with her fingers, except with her right thumb, so she doesn’t have the grasping power to even hold a pencil.

　But her mother thought playing the piano was an appropriate way of improving her strength when Lee was 6. Her daughter had a low intelligence quotient at the same time, so Woo also thought using her fingers might raise her intelligence.

　After a six-month struggle to find a piano school, Lee eventually started to learn to play the piano, having to even be taught how to strike one note. Three months of intensive practice allowed her to play with one arm at a time. Nevertheless she never quite got the hang of carrying a separate melody with each hand. Her teacher gave up, thinking it was hopeless to teach her to play the piano.

二人で猛特訓

　But there was no quit in Lee or her mother, who started working vigorously together. They practiced together at home and in the hospital where Woo worked as a nurse. Finally Lee mastered the children’s favorite "Nabiya" (Butterfly).

　All the long hours and hard work paid off when Lee won the first prize for kindergartners in 1992 at a national music contest for her performance of Wyman’s "Silver Waves."

　She has received numerous awards since. In 1999, an article in the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper brought unprecedented attention to her from across South Korea.

　Performance offers began rolling in from across the country and the world, and since then, Lee has performed throughout South Korea and in Japan, Canada and the U.K., along with an appearance in 2000 at the Sydney Paralympics.

　During a visit to Japan in 2006, Lee asked Yamaha Music Trading Corp. to remodel the existing pedal extender made for children. The company redesigned a unit to fit her legs and to trim weight on it, and she now travels the world with it.

"Lee is a genuine ambassador to bring the world happiness," said a Yamaha official. "We are really happy to support her behind the curtain."

Now Chopin’s "Fantasie Impromptu" is Lee’s favorite tune. She spent 10 hours a day practicing the piece, taking more than five years to master it. Lee has overcome her physical difficulties, and the doubts of her first teacher and others in her life, with the relentless effort she gives, and her naturally cheerful and optimistic nature.

Woo said Lee is intellectually challenged, but has superior sensitivity.

"She has never lamented the want of three fingers. She is thankful and pleased with two fingers (on each hand)," Woo said at the recent Tokyo concert.

The mother-and-daughter journey continues, and concerts are scheduled in May in Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures.

• clad...skirt　ピンク色のフリルのついたブラウスとスカートに身を包んだ
• Beethoven’s...Joy"　ベートーベンの『歓喜の歌』
• due...disorder　先天性の異常で
• commemorate the publication　出版を記念する
• bushels of love　たくさんの愛情
• joint(s)　関節
• had...quotient　知能指数が低かった
• strike one note　鍵盤をたたいてひとつの音を出す
• never...hand　それぞれの手で別々のメロディを弾くことはできなかった
• brought...her　彼女にこれまでにない注目が集まった
• Performance...in　次々に公演依頼が来るようになった
• support...curtain　陰で彼女を支える
• Chopin’s...Impromptu"　ショパンの『幻想即興曲』
• naturally...nature　生まれながらの明るく前向きな性格
• intellectually challenged　知的障害のある
• has...fingers　3本指がないことを嘆いたことはない