Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner 7 year old gets performance diploma :S

Poor kid.

Now he's publicly branded as freakishly gifted (for no very good reason, IMO), and that's not necessarily a good place to be. It is especially problematic when you are at an age where you don't have any perspective on what it can do to you in the long run.

I don't see it as a terrible thing at all. Plenty of kids have really crap childhoods with no expectations or needs placed on them at all. A huge amount of kids are born into homes with alcoholic parents (or parent or worse) where the kid is mainly seen as a benefit to get more govt money.

It's quite insulting to presume the parents of these kids are doing a poor job parenting. If there's evidence of it by all means call it out, but success by itself is not a good enough enough reason for it to be ok to look down at people.

Also presuming this should be attributed to the teachers and not the kid is ridiculous. Teaching is a necessary part of the equation but anyone can see this talent is remarkable, far beyond anything that could be attributed to teaching. Sure, it's probably not that helpful to tell a 6 year old they're an amazing prodigy, but that doesn't mean it's not true and somehow I don't think he'll read this thread so we should call it as it is.

Leo-Bailey would be wise to see what would be happening to Curtis in the future. There's where he will get his perspective.

Actually he was 10... So he had already been playing for quite a few years.

In his music studies, Shuan Hern achieved the 8th grade of the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) piano exam with honours ‘A’ at the age of 7. At the age of 9, Shuan Hern obtained the Associate of the Trinity College (ATCL) of London piano performance recital diploma and in both exams, he is the youngest in the world to obtain these results. At the age of 10, Shuan Hern obtained both the DipABRSM piano performance recital diploma and the Licentiate Diploma in Music for piano performance of the Australian Music Examinations Board with Distinction (L.Mus.A. Dist) and also the AMEB L.Mus. Prize.

Yes, but not all child prodigies live in the same environment (even if they are in the same country), receive the same kind of support or have the same emotional stability, so it is difficult to know for sure.

Now the young ones making headlines, I am looking to see if there will ever be a headline about the oldest person who ever pass these exams. Such as those people who started learning piano at their 50s, 60, 70s or even 80s year of age. Hehehe

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/how-to-tell-if-your-kid-is-a-prodigy-129363999012.html

Just happened to drop in my newsfeed... heh...

From the youtube video narrative:

Most viewed British pianist, child prodigy, Simon Cowell's "Little Superhero", Leo Bailey-Yang just broke another world record by gaining his ATCL Performance Diploma (a university-level piano exam) at 7 years old!

6 months ago, In March 2015, as 7 years 4 month old, Leo became the world youngest to pass ABRSM Grade 8 piano exam with a very high distinction 144 out of 150, after learning piano for only 16 months!

In August 2015, Leo just became the world youngest to gain ATCL diploma, the previous world record holder was 9 years old.


Yes - Leo is a sweet, remarkably talented child - but his playing is not fully mature. If I were his parent, I'd be incredibly thrilled and proud of him. However, I doubt I'd be plastering his accomplishments all over youtube in this manner - using such empty rhetoric as "super-hero," "world record," "144 out of 150," etc.). I sincerely hope Leo will have some semblance of a normal childhood while he continues to cultivate his amazing gifts.

Leopold M. unfortunately didn't follow your advice, and look what happened to his son......

25th August, 2019. Gladys Enoch, age 125, from Stratford-upon-something, became the oldest person to pass the Trinity ATCL exams. She had been studying the piano for the last 120 years. She gave a 40-minute recital that comprise the final works of great composers before they died: Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Scarlatti, Schubert and Tchaikovsky.

After the recital, Ms Enoch was in much pain and was dizzy. She had to be rushed to the nearest hospital where she was found to have sprained both wrists and shoulders and fractured her right ankle due to continuous pedaling. Her blood pressure had also risen to dangerous level. She was placed in an ankle cast and at the time of writing, she is undergoing physiotherapy for both her wrists and shoulders and was advised for strict bed rest by her doctor.

She was quite cheerful and said, "This was better than the time after I passed my grade 8 exam at age 115 when I had stroke and myocardial infarct after I finished my exams."

"She had been studying piano for the last 120 years"

For some reason that had me laughing out loud.

That is a Shakespearean tragedy called All's Unwell that Doesn't End Well.

I know it is Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare is from. Just wanted to add the -something to show that this is a fake news article, in case some people decided to google Gladys Enoch.

Yes - look what happened !!

https://www.mentalhelp.net/blogs/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart-personality-disorder-or-bipolar-disorder/

I think part of that is lost in translation. In some Asian circles, it's completely "normal" (and even expected) to speak in those terms about one's children. It's all about boasting and bragging about accomplishments, but, deep down, these parents know that they are just being stupid. And their stupidity will fizzle out as they get past age 43.

Note, it's "some" Asian circles.

So "43" is the magic number?

Glad you said "some" Asian circles !!

Yeah, 43. I'm still a few years away from that number, but even I start to see the stupidity of the whole bragging thing.

And, no, I don't bother with those Asian circles. I know they exist because of several members of my extended family. The bragging thing is more of a habit than an innate desire. They say these stupid things because it's expected.

For those who are completely foreign to this idea, read The Joy Luck Club. The setting might be a bit outdated, but the basic idea is still there.

Maybe it's because by the time they turn 43 their children are adults (or at least older) and their accomplishments will be seen in a more realistic way...

im new here so Im a little ignorant about the classes and what it takes to pass a certain grade or how good you have to be, although I think this kid is really good I always thought there are lots of kids around this age with similar or more ability than this kid. Am I completely wrong about this, is he truly unique? what about this little 9 year old I think this is by far much harder than anything this kid played and she executes it with the poise of a seasoned professional and perhaps even better than that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVlkoeNF9wU

The girl in the video is 2 years older and may well have been playing much longer than the little boy. Of course, she does play much better and far more advanced pieces.

It would be interesting if there was a video of Haochen Zhang playing at 7. By the time he was 10 he played the entire first book of Chopin Etudes very well.