Is my 2 years old baby somekind of a genius ?

[alextrp7]

Hi,

I hesitated quite a long time before talking about this. My son is 1 year and 8 months. I always played the piano but never got serious about it. When I knew I would have a baby soon, I told myself that it should be great to make the music part of his life. I had him first listen to the full Bach's Well Tempered Clavier mostly every day.

Quickly I had him listen to Liszt, Chopin's pieces then Tchaikovsky and Beethoven symphonies. I ws thinking let's not have him listen to baby's songs or easy pieces. He would listen to the most complicated and sophisticated ones.

I started to guess that something was happening when he was 4 or 5 months old because he would fall asleep during the most agitated symphonies.
Then I had him watch videos of the best piano players every days as long as he would ask for the next one. he became more and more crazy about that. He never stopped to ask about the next song and I need to put an end.

At the piano he plays random notes and chords but everything has a meaning. He tries to mimic professionals players. He plays with two hands and chooses his notes. He makes long sessions of left right chords jumps. He is so passionate and never awkward ...
He comes and opens the digital piano by himself every day, then he seats and start playing.

The most amazing point is that he understands musical language. He moves his body like an orchestra conductor and shouts at key points of very complicated pieces or movements. He can be captivated during all the 28 minutes length of the Chopin variations from Rachmaninoff. He perfectly knows where are the climax moments. He doesn't wait when the piano player plays these very tense moments : he set his body ready before they are played and starts to acts like a passionate musician when the time is coming.
Also he perfectly knows when many piano pieces and symphonies movement will end. He run at the TV just before and get ready to show his father that he wants the next one.

Well a very long post I know. Sorry about this.

Today I was showering him in the bathroom and the tv was playing Chopin Polonaise Heroic by Horowitz. I couldn't even hear it clearly because the sound of the shower. At one time he suddenly started to jump and shout aloud 6 times. It was perfectly synchronized with the 6 chords that come before the famous left hand Octavias run. That is just an example of so much amazing things than he does. I am more amazed the more he grows up.

What do you think about it. I don't want to press him in any way but he just loves classical music. Even when there is no music played, his body suddenly start to move like when he is listening to the music.

[lostinidlewonder]

I had him first listen to the full Bach's Well Tempered Clavier mostly every day.

Quickly I had him listen to Liszt, Chopin's pieces then Tchaikovsky and Beethoven symphonies. I ws thinking let's not have him listen to baby's songs or easy pieces. He would listen to the most complicated and sophisticated ones.

Are you implying that Bach's WTC is categorised as "easy" pieces?

I started to guess that something was happening when he was 4 or 5 months old because he would fall asleep during the most agitated symphonies.

I don't think this respresents anything special in terms of musical gift.

Then I had him watch videos of the best piano players every days as long as he would ask for the next one. he became more and more crazy about that. He never stopped to ask about the next song and I need to put an end.

Has he had a choice between what material he actually watches? Perhaps he just enjoys sitting with you watching videos and since you have exposed him first to the music selection you have that is what he has been shown to like. I am sure if you used kids programs or cartoons or something else it would hold his attention as well.

At the piano he plays random notes and chords but everything has a meaning. He tries to mimic professionals players. He plays with two hands and chooses his notes. He makes long sessions of left right chords jumps. He is so passionate and never awkward ...

The word "random" can't really imply meaning. Most of the music geniuses I've read about picked out melodies by ear when they were very very young and not really randomly play or mimic what they see, it is more what they have heard.

The most amazing point is that he understands musical language. He moves his body like an orchestra conductor and shouts at key points of very complicated pieces or movements. He can be captivated during all the 28 minutes length of the Chopin variations from Rachmaninoff. He perfectly knows where are the climax moments. He doesn't wait when the piano player plays these very tense moments : he set his body ready before they are played and starts to acts like a passionate musician when the time is coming.

As a parent you probably see the reality in a different light. I don't see how he can be captivated for 28 minutes, does a 1-2 year old have the attention span to do something for that long?? 1-2 minutes yes, but 28 minutes totally absorbed with a single activity? Severly weird would like to see proof.

Also he perfectly knows when many piano pieces and symphonies movement will end. He run at the TV just before and get ready to show his father that he wants the next one.

Piano pieces and symphonies on the TV? Is this like pay tv or something, youd think the internet would be the place to listen to everything.

What do you think about it. I don't want to press him in any way but he just loves classical music. Even when there is no music played, his body suddenly start to move like when he is listening to the music.

Parents are proud of their children and they should be, but what we think about it doesn't mean anything because we don't really know the situation besides a few things you described in terms of your own perspective. Start joining childrens group music lessons for his age group if he is so into the music.

[alextrp7]

I absolutely don't mind to post so many videos. If you think he may just focus 1-2 minutes I would say that it is common at this age. But that is absolutely not the case.
I don't come here and proudly talk about my genius child. I come to have thought about the facts and advice about how to handle it without pushing it in any way.
I never force my son to watch and listen to this. His focus and attention about cartoons are a lot less than about music.
I never heard any story of anybody playing wright note before 2 years old. Not even Mozart would do this. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely not making a comparison between my son and Mozart, I am not that kind of people.
If you blame me to expose my child to classical music when he was young, I can't help and I  don't see what's wrong with that.

[adodd81802]

Honestly a piano forum is not the best place to discuss your child, so many of your points are open to interpretation or contextual.

Maybe he is a genius, regardless, your option is to get a professional piano teacher to give them lessons and make their own assessment.

[alextrp7]

As usual on forums, most people never intend to completely read a post and do it open minded. Most of the times they would take some quotes here and there and make the original post a new one.

I never meant or never asked if my son was the next Beethoven. I don't push him in any way, I just had him listen classical music since he was born. What's so wrong about it ?

If he would lost interest in it, I would never blame it or whatever, I just wish him happiness which whatever he will like in his life.

As for having him go to music school when he will get old enough, I will do it only if he still has interest in it. What's more wrong than pushing a child to do what he doesn't want to do.

Most particularly, I was making point that his understanding of the classical music seems stunning. But you make me be the ordinary parent dreamer. I think I have good judgement and certainly not the average close minded people.

Whatever someone make it right, a forum is not the place to discuss about a child (really, what a stupid idea), but only because of some people who just have negative judgement about what they don't even read and make quick conclusion.

I was never here to hear how great his my son and how much I am lucky. A open conversation about not specially my son, but any children who seems to have something more than usual about music could have take place.

Not the right place. Not the right place only about this. Not the right place to come with different idea about piano as I saw so many times people being flamed because they would not think the traditional way.

[bronnestam]

Don't want to scare you because I only know what you have written, but what you think could be signs of a genious, are also symptoms of authism. Authist children can focus longer than normal on certain things, and they can also be totally enchanted by certain videos and never get tired of watching them, for instance. My son has Asperger's syndrome and he also showed these early signs of being very "gifted" when he was that age. Unfortunately it also later tuned out that even if he was unusually good at noticing certain details, he missed the general overview. When he was 3-4 years old, he could not play with peers like "normal" children usually do.

I suggest that you just take it easy and let your son just do what he does, without trying to evaluate so much. What children needs in that age is, except physical safety of course, unconditional love and even more love from their parents. 

[mjames]

I mean yeah it was a snarky comment, but you literally made a post about your kid recognizing different pieces of music...like all kids do. They're supposed to respond to sounds they're conditioned to listen to. lol

[alextrp7]

I mean yeah it was a snarky comment, but you literally made a post about your kid recognizing different pieces of music...like all kids do. They're supposed to respond to sounds they're conditioned to listen to. lol

I don't blame you about it and I understand what you mean. I was not aware that every children could come as early so much aware of the music they are conditioned to listen to. If my son will still have interest in it when it will be time for him to go the music school, that is great because he will know and feel a lot already.

I am very concerned by what bronnestam said about a possible autism case and it makes sense. It is like he is always focusing on the music even when he does something completely different. I have so much to say about it.

His understanding for music is remarkable, I mean it. Without being an expert, I am a very long time classical music listener. If there is some mental heath disorder under, I will take it very seriously. I hope that it is not the case and that he is just another kid listening to music like mjames mentioned.

[ted]

Health, happiness and a loving environment are far more important than specific talents. If he enjoys music then give it to him, if he doesn’t then don’t worry about it. He has his whole life ahead of him, and there are thousands of experiences to come.

[indianajo]

alxtrp, your kid reminds me of me.  I have memories of being two, which many do not.
They said on PBS in the Human Body show last month that infants with great rhythm talk early, understand language early, and generally excel in that dimension.  You child sounds as if rhythm is important to him/her.  The music is just a side show to what we are designed to do, talk to each other. I was doing Hello/goodby babbles to Dad before & after lunch when I was 6 months, was doing whole sentences age 1 and told a joke (Mother's story) at 15 months.
I was enjoying 78 rpm records of Tschaikovsky at age 3 on my Bozo the Clown record player. I'm no genius, but I've had an easy time with school and am passionate about music 65 years later.  I was too short to climb up on the piano bench until age 8 when a school teacher encouraged me (I was 42 lb age eight), but took to it like I was made for that and made rapid progress.  
So while your child is listening, give him lots of language.  The brain covets words at that age, teach him 50000 or 200000 words or so. Not as some sort of contest, but in the stories and explanations you give him/her of the world.   In two or three languages if you can manage, learning language is something that comes easy to children that age.  My parents neither had a foreign language, so I was started on a second language age 8 at school which is a bit late.  I'm not too bad at my second language, but it would have been so much easier if my parents had used one.  
While you're at it, expose your kid to lots of faces and names.  My parents lived in a rural location with few friends and my brain pruned all the facial recognition cells,  so I'm terrible at that.  See the PBS show about how the child brain prunes the brain cells for the skills it doesn't use.  
By all means expose your child to fine motor skills like drawing, carving, or playing an instrument.  Also large motor skills like playing ball, which I was never exposed to.  
And most important, talk to and read to your child.  I didn't learn to read until age 6 at school, but I learned in about 2 weeks I was so prepared by my parent's language lessons. I skipped kindergarden & pre-school, it cost money we didn't have.  All this focus on early education, I think is funny.  I had my Mother's reading & arts & crafts, my Dad's home repair projects before first grade.  I had a two book a week library habit by the 2nd month of first grade, and expanded to 6 books a week by fifth grade.  Education not even planned by any pedagog - just taking books off the shelves.   Kids are like knowledge sponges, some of them, and they never get full.  I never did.  
Further advice.  Back off when you child is succeeding, maybe age 10.  Controlling parents can cause resentment.  My parents quit telling me what to do about age 10.  I didn't ever go through that hating your parents thing.  I enjoyed their stories about old times as a teenager, while we were cooking dinner or digging a ditch or roofing or whatever chores, but there were no orders as long as I was bringing the A's on the report card.  I really enjoyed my freedom.  I had plenty of moral guidance from the church sermons & Sunday school, I wasn't a lost soul blowing in the wind. That was enough prep to deal with the predators or haters out in the world.  With a bike or on foot or on the city bus, and money I earned (I started cleaning gutters for money age 8, a lesson from my Mother, cleaned a boat shop age 10, mowed lawns from age 11) I got around.  the parents weren't controlling or hyper-fearful like many modern parents of high performance children.    
Have fun with your child, sharing a hobby like music.  

[emill]

alxtrp, your kid reminds me of me.  I have memories of being two, which many do not.
They said on PBS in the Human Body show last month that infants with great rhythm talk early, understand language early, and generally excel in that dimension.  You child sounds as if rhythm is important to him/her.  The music is just a side show to what we are designed to do, talk to each other. I was doing Hello/goodby babbles to Dad before & after lunch when I was 6 months, was doing whole sentences age 1 and told a joke (Mother's story) at 15 months.
I was enjoying 78 rpm records of Tschaikovsky at age 3 on my Bozo the Clown record player. I'm no genius, but I've had an easy time with school and am passionate about music 65 years later.  I was too short to climb up on the piano bench until age 8 when a school teacher encouraged me (I was 42 lb age eight), but took to it like I was made for that and made rapid progress.   
So while your child is listening, give him lots of language.  The brain covets words at that age, teach him 50000 or 200000 words or so. Not as some sort of contest, but in the stories and explanations you give him/her of the world.   In two or three languages if you can manage, learning language is something that comes easy to children that age.  My parents neither had a foreign language, so I was started on a second language age 8 at school which is a bit late.  I'm not too bad at my second language, but it would have been so much easier if my parents had used one. 
While you're at it, expose your kid to lots of faces and names.  My parents lived in a rural location with few friends and my brain pruned all the facial recognition cells,  so I'm terrible at that.  See the PBS show about how the child brain prunes the brain cells for the skills it doesn't use. 
By all means expose your child to fine motor skills like drawing, carving, or playing an instrument.  Also large motor skills like playing ball, which I was never exposed to. 
And most important, talk to and read to your child.  I didn't learn to read until age 6 at school, but I learned in about 2 weeks I was so prepared by my parent's language lessons. I skipped kindergarden & pre-school, it cost money we didn't have.  All this focus on early education, I think is funny.  I had my Mother's reading & arts & crafts, my Dad's home repair projects before first grade.  I had a two book a week library habit by the 2nd month of first grade, and expanded to 6 books a week by fifth grade.  Education not even planned by any pedagog - just taking books off the shelves.   Kids are like knowledge sponges, some of them, and they never get full.  I never did. 
Further advice.  Back off when you child is succeeding, maybe age 10.  Controlling parents can cause resentment.  My parents quit telling me what to do about age 10.  I didn't ever go through that hating your parents thing.  I enjoyed their stories about old times as a teenager, while we were cooking dinner or digging a ditch or roofing or whatever chores, but there were no orders as long as I was bringing the A's on the report card.  I really enjoyed my freedom.  I had plenty of moral guidance from the church sermons & Sunday school, I wasn't a lost soul blowing in the wind. That was enough prep to deal with the predators or haters out in the world.  With a bike or on foot or on the city bus, and money I earned (I started cleaning gutters for money age 8, a lesson from my Mother, cleaned a boat shop age 10, mowed lawns from age 11) I got around.  the parents weren't controlling or hyper-fearful like many modern parents of high performance children.   
Have fun with your child, sharing a hobby like music.

Hi .... ENJOYED your story when you were a child ....  and it only goes to show that exposing the brain early tends to mold that brain to be better at that particular area of exposure.  So one's child may end up as a good chess player of grandmaster potential, or a brilliant math kid, or a precocious piano player. Your advice is sound ....  expose the young brain early to the arts, math, languages,  and the child will likely have a better than average chance of excelling in such fields.

There is one thing though that also requires some mention ....  GENETICS.  Except in cases of mutation, the capacity of the brain or the physique to develop is already embedded in the genes and varies from child to child. Ancestry therefore is a major determinant of one's capacity, mentally and physically. A child of a family of good musicians, if exposed early to music in an atmosphere of love and encouragement, has very high potential to become a musical great. The making of a genius in a particular field is easier if the ancestry has already outstanding members of that field.

[pianoplunker]

Hi .... ENJOYED your story when you were a child ....  and it only goes to show that exposing the brain early tends to mold that brain to be better at that particular area of exposure.  So one's child may end up as a good chess player of grandmaster potential, or a brilliant math kid, or a precocious piano player. Your advice is sound ....  expose the young brain early to the arts, math, languages,  and the child will likely have a better than average chance of excelling in such fields.

There is one thing though that also requires some mention ....  GENETICS.  Except in cases of mutation, the capacity of the brain or the physique to develop is already embedded in the genes and varies from child to child. Ancestry therefore is a major determinant of one's capacity, mentally and physically. A child of a family of good musicians, if exposed early to music in an atmosphere of love and encouragement, has very high potential to become a musical great. The making of a genius in a particular field is easier if the ancestry has already outstanding members of that field.

That is a great point !  Many great musicians were born in musical families. It is shown throughout history.  I wouldnt call it genetics though, I would call it environment. 

[pianoplunker]

Hi,

I hesitated quite a long time before talking about this. My son is 1 year and 8 months. I always played the piano but never got serious about it. When I knew I would have a baby soon, I told myself that it should be great to make the music part of his life. I had him first listen to the full Bach's Well Tempered Clavier mostly every day.

Quickly I had him listen to Liszt, Chopin's pieces then Tchaikovsky and Beethoven symphonies. I ws thinking let's not have him listen to baby's songs or easy pieces. He would listen to the most complicated and sophisticated ones.

I started to guess that something was happening when he was 4 or 5 months old because he would fall asleep during the most agitated symphonies.
Then I had him watch videos of the best piano players every days as long as he would ask for the next one. he became more and more crazy about that. He never stopped to ask about the next song and I need to put an end.

At the piano he plays random notes and chords but everything has a meaning. He tries to mimic professionals players. He plays with two hands and chooses his notes. He makes long sessions of left right chords jumps. He is so passionate and never awkward ...
He comes and opens the digital piano by himself every day, then he seats and start playing.

The most amazing point is that he understands musical language. He moves his body like an orchestra conductor and shouts at key points of very complicated pieces or movements. He can be captivated during all the 28 minutes length of the Chopin variations from Rachmaninoff. He perfectly knows where are the climax moments. He doesn't wait when the piano player plays these very tense moments : he set his body ready before they are played and starts to acts like a passionate musician when the time is coming.
Also he perfectly knows when many piano pieces and symphonies movement will end. He run at the TV just before and get ready to show his father that he wants the next one.

Well a very long post I know. Sorry about this.

Today I was showering him in the bathroom and the tv was playing Chopin Polonaise Heroic by Horowitz. I couldn't even hear it clearly because the sound of the shower. At one time he suddenly started to jump and shout aloud 6 times. It was perfectly synchronized with the 6 chords that come before the famous left hand Octavias run. That is just an example of so much amazing things than he does. I am more amazed the more he grows up.

What do you think about it. I don't want to press him in any way but he just loves classical music. Even when there is no music played, his body suddenly start to move like when he is listening to the music.

From what you describe you are already "pressing" him by  having him listen to WTC every day. Not a bad choice but dont discount "easy" pieces to listen to. Some great music happens to be considered "easy".  Air on a G String, Minuet, Canon in D, and many more. Also, dont forget about Jazz. My 3 month old granddaughter was utterly mesmerized when I played some Jazz recordings. Unintended side effect she went right to sleep. Just let your kid keep listening , listening and listening. It is the most important part of music. Whether you play an instrument or not.