Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner A Little Lang Lang

His name is Jonah Ho. This is probably how LL sounded when he was 5. Maybe LL couldn't play this well at 5. Anyway, the kid is an incredible talent. I have no doubt he'll fall into LL's sphere soon. There's another video of him playing La Campanella flawlessly at 9. Enjoy.

So, how is this possible?

Beats me. When I was five I thought a grand piano was this dinosaur that ate little kids. I wouldn't get near one. One person commented under the video, "When he was born he drove his mother to the hospital." After seeing this, I believe it.

There are prodigies that started at a very young age. Mozart and Saint-Saens come to mind. It is a mystery of the human mind. Theirs can work in different ways from most people's. I know a lot about music, I can play the piano after a fashion, but I am not a musician and could never be one, because my mind does not work that way. His obviously does, at least for the mechanics of music. He has great prioperception, and the ability to memorize a great amount of music very naturally. I do not have either of those traits, but I have others which have helped my career in music, but he may never develop those. It is hard to know how he will develop in the future. There have been many prodigies over the years. Very few of them develop into successful musicians.

I have to be honest here, I do hope for the child that he doesn't have to go through what Lang Lang has gone through. But an insane talent of course.

I have seen other vids of similar kids who can do the same at age 5. So it is not unique, even if it is extraordinary. I wish the best for that kid, but 10 years from now, he will be another very talented player out of many that can do pretty much the same. As sad as it can be, this talent does not garanty that he will have a successful carreer.

Lang Lang grew up in a family with a tradition Chinese outlook on life. His father GR Lang was trained as a musician (Chinese erhu) but had to work in a factory during the 1960s Cultural Revolution. There was an expectation the son would be a musician that the father couldn’t be.

During his 2001 debut at Carnegie Hall, LL ended the performance with a duet with his father playing erhu. Circumstance prevented his father from becoming a pro player. There were concerts LL would play duets with his father.

Jonah Ho was born into a different generation. He has an upright at a young age. Don’t think LL grew up with an upright at home. Think he had to use an out-of-tune public piano for practice. Fame & fortune came later. He was unknown to the world until after he studied music in the US. LL had to rely on the traditional media (CD recordings & radio broadcasts) and after winning the Tchaikovsky piano competition before becoming famous. J Ho has yet to perform with a renowned orchestra, sign contracts with record labels but is already an online hit.

Not sure if J Ho comes from a family of musicians? His parents got him into piano like many Asian parents? Or he chose music on his own?

He won the T competition as a young musician at age 13. He started to become renowned after his studies at Curtis in the US with Grafman.

I just hope this little boy is not practicing more than 2h/day at his age....

There is a lot more to the LL story about his childhood, music and parents than written here: an abusive father who told him if he was not accepted to the conservatory that he might as well jump off the roof. There are other stories about his father’s control. At one point, LL was asked how he would feel if he were not successful in music. The reply ‘it would have been a life not worth living’. You should watch the documentary on You Tube.

Well - as long as we're talking about the current crop of prodigies, here's another.....

https://youtu.be/xtJhZK3bJpo

this LL's wife Gina Alice Redlinger when she was 10Y old, but later......
This is not the unique case.

All of these are tame compared to this:

I've seen the BBC documentary : "Do or Die, the LL Story". Definitely the father wanted the son to succeed at any cost. More like making his son fulfill his dream of becoming a musician.

Another typical controlling Asian parent was none other than Tiger Mom Any Chua (the Yale Law prof.) who wrote the book "Battle Hymns of the Tiger Mother". Mom got her 2 daughters into Suzuki piano & violin. The younger Lulu wanted to play tennis. Mom wouldn't let her quit violin until she dropped the instrument on the floor in front of mom. The older daughter Sophie at age 16 became the youngest to have her solo recital at Carnegie Hall. Mom was tough on her too. The Suzuki piano teacher expected each student to go through 1 Book a year. Mom wanted Sophie to do 9 Suzuki Books in a year. Mom pushed her daughters to practice the pieces assigned by their teachers perfectly before having dinner... 1 wrong note, no dinner sort of thing. And vacation the same. Lulu would bring her violin from to US to wherever. And every hotel would have a piano for Sophie to practice. The family missed visiting museums because the kids needs to finish their music practice first.

You gotta wonder if those girls ended up hating their selfish Mom.

Can't say I did enjoy. Give him another 10 years. I don't see the point of giving kids stuff they've not got the technique for.

There are online uploads of kids playing music. Some have an ABRSM or RCM grade level on the heading. The title of the piece & the composer is important. The grade level is probably more so to show the child’s accomplishments.

Makes parents happy when the kids are playing pieces at the ABRSM level whatever. Not all parents have high expectations for kids. In some cases kids ended up hating playing music. Others who are high achievers enjoy playing more. Mastering difficult pieces boost self-esteem.

I don't think anybody clicking on the link expected a 5-year-old kid to play with the seasoned maturity of a 60-year-old Arthur Rubinstein. To just see someone that young get the keys pressed down at a reasonable tempo and without mistakes is miracle enough.

There's nothing miraculous and nothing musical about the performance. It's monkey see monkey do. At a very high level admittedly.

I don't expect that, but I expect to see a 5 years old kid is enjoying to play a piano, or he is sad to play a piano because he wants to do something else....
I cannot imagine his emotional development after 10 years. For me, the emotion is the most essential part for any art. Just for this, LL's case is completely different, he kept the emotional part.(I am not a fan of LL)
In many cases, a 5 years old kid can play in this way today, it is due to his parents decision: take the time for piano practice instead to play mud in the park. For me, this is very sad to see that.
Even worse, I saw similar cases in the real world....