IF YOUR CHILD IS A PIANO PRODIGY
Many parents wonder if their child will be that one in a million, greatest pianist in the world.
Or, maybe, with not so lofty an aim, will your child be a good pianist? Do they have what it takes to be a professional? Or will they be a gifted amateur who plays for themself, that happiest of all outcomes?
As an answer, I might go back a step and ask, “Why on earth would you want your child to be a professional musician?” From my experience, it is one of the most dismal and disappointing futures possible for a child or any human being. Not music itself, but the profession of music is in a terrible state these days.
But parents like to fantasize that their child will play the piano well, and that to me is an acceptable, attainable goal. Not Horowitz at Carnegie Hall, but a good player.
RECOGNIZING TALENT
If your teacher has talent and knows what it is, it will take no more than a few encounters for the teacher to discover what the child’s potential abilities are.
Piano talent usually expresses itself as an ability to take the myriad of problems in a piano piece and somehow simply piece them together and make music out of it, rather than a series of stumbles and fumbles.
For some, this is impossible, for others, it is almost instantly attainable. Talented kids know what to leave out, what they can do and not do, and tailor the piece to their abilities. They know what perfection is, but are not caught up in it because they want to PLAY.
This means that a talented child “makes music,” that is, simply plays the song with a sense of ease, and does not appear to struggle too much with any of it.
The danger zones for recognizing talent are age and temperament.
- AGE: At younger ages, it is almost impossible to see if the child will be able to piece the bits together. Yes, genius stands out, but the average younger child has so many physical and mental issues that it is best to assume talent and proceed accordingly.
- TEMPERAMENT: I have many late bloomer kids, who seem to sit there for years and then suddenly figure it out and start playing in their own way, if they are allowed such room by their teacher and parents. It’s the piano teacher’s job to occupy the late bloomer with palatable activity until they unlock the keys to their own advancement. There are more late bloomer kids out there than any other type.
EXTREME TALENT
If a child is extremely talented it is a danger in itself. How will you handle it?
In my own case, I was an extreme prodigy and my parents had to decide if I was to move to the East Coast at the age of seven (a big move for a kid) to go to a major conservatory. My father wisely opted for me to have a normal childhood.
Some kids are farmed out to teachers if they show extreme talent, such as the Chinese methods of feeding the current madness for piano now sweeping mainland China and the entire Orient.
In any case, if your child has real talent, the teacher will know it very quickly, for, unfortunately, it is very, very rare.
The best case is that, no matter how much talent your child shows, you as a parent find a piano teacher patient enough to nurture the late-blooming pianist hiding inside just about everyone.
If your kid is the next Vladimir Horowitz, it will be a force from nature you won’t be able to stop.
If he’s a normal kid, let him find the piano in his own way, in his own time.
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PIANO IS EASY (ISBN # 0-9718936-1-6) Sturdily bound, durable, colorful 120 page illustrated song book with 50 songs such as Jingle Bells and London Bridge, Play Along Audio CD and removable numbered stickers.
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