Injured piano player back tinkling the ivory

When boogie woogie piano player Jan Preston tripped over, she was initially worried her glasses had broken.

Sprawled face first on the ground, Preston then noticed her right wrist was at a strange angle, while her left wrist didn’t feel all that good either. And then the pain kicked in.

‘‘I had done what medics call a ‘forward fall’ over an unmarked speed bump in a neighbour’s driveway. My feet stayed stuck on one side of the speed bump and I put my hands out to stop the fall.’’

X-rays confirmed both wrists were broken and the professional ivory tinkler permitted herself a moment of panic.

Operations and six months of therapy followed, and the Greymouth-born, Sydney-based musician is now on her comeback tour of New Zealand.

Jan Preston’s Boogie Circus stops off to play at Palmerston North’s Globe Theatre on Friday night.

The bones may have fractured, but the nerves and tendons were unaffected.

The traumatic fall did have a silver lining. Preston reckons she is playing and singing better than ever thanks to the Taubman Approach, a technique devised last century by American teacher Dorothy Taubman to assist players with injuries or suffering from carpel tunnel.

‘‘Michael Houstoun, I think, used this approach. It means I now sit higher to play.’’

Preston is joined on Friday night by her husband, drummer Mike Pullman, and acoustic bass player Nigel Masters from Tauranga jazz combo Kokomo.