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CNN News Sep 6th

Open discussion: What is your thoughts after watching this video?

1. I loath everything the interviewer say. "You could say he's a little Mozart, or Baby Beethoven". "He learned this Beethoven sonata in 3 weeks and doesn't even have to look at the music anymore"! etc

2. He wasn't all that great with his performance in that G sonatina (sonata, whatever)... And let me explain (cause it seems that I'm contradicting myself here, but I'm not): If he is to be presented as a prodigy, he better have an evolution according to THAT! Right now that's all there is to it: Promise. He's 5 year old and I'm ready to bet that very few would actually buy a recording of his... If he gets to 12, or 15 and goes on to a Rach concerto, at a great level and artistry then by all means... But until he does that, I don't care.

3. Even if his parents are not pushing him, I'm ready to bet that he must be really enjoying himself and the attention he's getting. At such age this is NOT good. I know too many prodigies (personally actually) who have an awful personality because of that!

And that's my pet peeve with prodigies in general.

I saw/heard nothing about being able play Beethoven symphonies from memory. Silly CNN.

It looks like he has a passionate interest for playing and learning. Let's hope the family - and eccentric teacher - foster it.

That video reminds me of another piece of soft news on our local TV station the other day, which went gewgaw over a kid who got an 1800 on the SAT. Some of these news segments are only as intelligent as the people who put it together.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the kid's enthusiasm and his parents' supportive inclination. I wish all of my young students could practice on a nice Yamaha grand at home. The clip does not provide enough musical example for me to determine if the kid is a "prodigy" or not.

He's actually not that wildly unusual for a bright Suzuki kid. Most good Suzuki teachers would not find that an acceptable rendition of that Beethoven (ours would go nuts). This piece is standard in the Suzuki repertoire. He's a strong aural learner with a lot of confidence. My kid was like this at 5 too, but his teacher was infinitely more picky about proper technique. He's cute and bright, but dang, must have been a slow news day. This is particularly less interesting if there's an adult playing piano in the home regularly.

And I agree that who've put the clip together did not know what they were talking about.

I hope he has a good teacher! Good luck kiddo!

Now, let's review here. CNN does a "staged" news piece. Fine.

How many "average" families have a grand piano sitting in their house that the kids might accidentally stumble and discover their musical talent(See other on-going threads for comments)? It strikes me that something is being omitted by the reporter. This wouldn't be the first time the media forgot to report something important, would it?

Could it be that one or both of the parents might have a strong background in music? Duh? The mom even intimates that the dad plays piano, and apparently well enough to justify a $40k or $50k piano. I'll bet there are other unreported "background" factors.

Of course, this doesn't diminish the boy's accomplishments, but a bit of background serves to put things into perspective.

Hey, I would go gaga over a score of 1800 on a test that had a 1600 maximum!

Then again, if they're including the writing score, the max was 2400, and a score of 1800 was actually rather boring and banal.

Attention is good. It is a potentially great motivator for some kids. On the other hand, too much attention can be a drug. Transitioning from washed up prodigy into real musician can be psychologically very difficult.

Where's the line? I think turning a kid into a carnival attraction crosses my line. As a one-shot event, this might be benign, but repeating the process can cross into exploitation with potentially very damaging results for the child.

Yes, that annoys me to no end. Ignorant people asking me, after hearing a symphony, "Can you play that?" My god. Get your facts straight, Mr. Reporter.

This kid is nothing special, by the way. Nothing special. If he were three and played like this, I'd take notice.

Yeah, it's like getting a 1200 on the old SAT. What's so good about that??

Don't blame the kid!

The mom refers to "the piece that Willy was playing at home." We can assume that Willy is her husband, and that he plays at other places than just at home. So at least the father has a strong background in music. If mother wonders if this is her husband playing, then her ear is strong enough to recognize a piece, but not strong enough to hear more - she probably is not a pianist.

A very insightful treatment of musical prodigies that I've seen recently is in Andrew Soloman's book "Far From the Tree". He interviewed many former prodigies (most of these people are adults or teenagers now) and their parents, and told many very interesting stories, some heart-warming, some heart-breaking. Some prodigies thoroughly enjoyed their childhood, some were miserable. Some grew up to be great musicians, some gave up. Some reconciled with parents who pushed them and truly appreciated it; some never got along with their parents. No two are alike. Things will run their own course.

But the public has always had a curiosity for the wunderkind, probably since or before Mozart's time. So the media (and sometimes the parents or even teachers) definitely won't stop trying.

+1
Give the poor little kid a break.

Actually...

This is not the case BUT: With any kid prodigy offering himself to the public, I find no sympathy, or am willing to give him a break! I don't see why. It's a commercial world, and if I'm to pay (even with my time) to watch a video, go to a concert, spend time watching commercials, etc, then any guy/gal is equal to anyone else.

Perhaps I'm opening a can of worms here, but when I found out about errors in my score of 'Sketch Music', already bought by many people (including many here) I corrected the errors, reprinted and sent out a second copy with apologies. It's THAT simple! If I don't do my job properly I expect to be hit by that, not to get a break!

Too harsh maybe?

I don't see how saying the child is not special is blaming the child. If anything, it's blaming the news station for making such a fuss.

keystring, I heard what the mother said differently: that she heard the piano, and was confused, wondering "is Willy home?" When unexpectedly hearing piano when there's only one piano player in the family that you know of, it's not surprising to think that it's the usual piano player playing in that first startled moment as you're trying to make sense of what you've heard. This has nothing to do with the quality of the music -- it just goes with which aspect of the unexpected event you try to grab hold of and make sense out of.

"I hear the song that Willy was playing the night before, and I thought 'Is Willy home?'"
Therefore she recognizes the piece, and it must resemble what her husband played enough that she thinks he is playing it. She also calls it a "song". So I think her husband plays the piano, possibly well, but that the wife doesn't.

Yes, I agree.

OK, I didn't hear all that.

I still don't agree that the piece need to have been played to the father's usual standard, even if the mother plays the piano, for her to make that statement. It's just that it was played so that it was recognizable. When presented with unexpected contradictory information as you try to make sense of it you don't necessarily take account of all the features. You might have the sense that something doesn't make sense, but you can't necessarily put your finger on it, even if normally you could.

The choice of "song" rather than "piece" that you point out is a telling linguistic clue, though. Unless perhaps the father regularly does play songs, with lyrics (whether or not he sings the lyrics). Or, my piano teacher called all my pieces songs, and think what you will of that piano teacher quirk, she does play the piano.

I also don't see that there's any implication that the father plays outside the home. (Nor any implication that he doesn't.)

I think that the main idea was that the child was able to hear the piano being played, and probably relatively well (otherwise what kind of model does he have to imitate, at an imitative age), and that he also had access to a very good piano. I just went through the biography of Pablo Picasso. His father was an artist, and young Pablo picked up a pencil as soon as he grasped one and tried to draw. Had he been exposed to something else, he would have imitated that, if he also had the inclination. It is a factor.

Yes, I agree with that.

I found it interesting that what the teacher seemed to be working with the student on was not notes but expression. Of course that's just one tiny clip; maybe expression is more telegenic. But I enjoyed watching that tiny bit.