This particular boy started learning the piano at age 5. So by age 11 he had already been playing for 6 years. You can get through medical school in 6 years. You can do a maths/physics/biochemistry etc. degree in 3-4 years. Are you going to tell me that piano playing is more complicated or more difficult than a medical degree? If you are in medical school how many hours a day do you devote to your studies? Do the same and in 4 – 5 years you will be at the top level in piano playing. But most people do not apply to their piano studies the same intensity that they apply to other areas of their lives where they excel.
Unfortunately there is a mass culture of mediocrity, and most people have never experienced excellence in any aspect of their lives. Hence the surprise.
3. If I can remember back to the days of biological dihybrid crosses, there's no direct evidence that what his mother can do on piano is "passed down" to him. Human genetics have limits, if your mom or dad learns how to speak a language through school or any type of tutoring (even if the language is native to your mom or dad) there is no way to prove that the child will somehow understand the language.
This is the single thread to ever grace the piano forum.
1. Don't compare playing the piano to obtaining a doctoral degree, because you can't.
2. I refuse to accept that these "prodigies"(a word extremely used in poor context!) understand why their "interpretations" (you can't even call them that because there is no way to understand how to sight read, play, and fully understand all the composer's intentions after of course reading that big ass history textbook.) make sense to the music world.
4. Yes his exposure to music is great. So great that his exposure to school work (or lack there of) suffers? We'll never know! But, I would like to know what hapens to all the "prodigies" we hear so much about. It seems as if they're discovered at a young age, then never heard of again.
5. And everything you said is completely factual? Where's the mythology in your post? Is it all mythology?
Thanks Faulty. Meaning? Yes, I can . I just did it in case you haven’t noticed. However I agree that the degree of difficulty is different. Obtaining a doctoral degree is far more difficult. Piano playing (not composing) is more similar to juggling.Yes… And?… The point was not that piano ability was genetically transmitted. The point was that by having a parent who is a piano teacher you have the benefit of a piano teacher in the home. You have the benefit of observing other students. You have the benefit of exposure not only to a variety of musical experiences as well as observing the process by which students learn music. Have you noticed that all Chinese children learn to speak Chinese? How come? Because they are exposed to an environment where Chinese is the prevalent language. Genetics has nothing to do with it. (Genetics determines that humans have the ability to learn a language – which one is down to the environment) And if your parents are bilingual, you will also be bilingual if they bother to communicate with you in both languages. Not because of genetics. And what do you mean there is no way to prove that the child will understands the language? Talk to him/her! Askhim/her questions, watch the answers. There is your proof.Kissin, Arrau, Yehudi Menuhim, Joseph Hoffmann, Mozart, Liszt, etc. etc. etc. All prodigies. What happened to them? They were heard again and again. Yes most of it is factual, from many years of experience. Best wishes,Bernhard.
work >worthy .f a Nobel