Arie Vardi challenges Harmony Zhu to a 2-minute chess game. Guess who won? At age 12, Harmony played the Piano Concerto 2 of Beethoven with Vardi conducting the Israel Philharmonic. See below (April 2018).
How can a child get this good at the piano? It's a rare synthesis of talent, practice-practice-practice, excellent instruction, and circumstance (i.e., chance). Practice does not create talent or ability. It must already be there. Practice develops innate ability. To advance, talented students need the best teachers.
Harmony is one of the rare young talents in classical music today. But, how did she get that way? (Hint: She started at age 4.)
Alma
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The first Alma, not the second Mozart. Alma writes music as if she lived in the Classical era of the 18th Century. |
In 2015, Alma Deutscher (UK) was invited to Google's Zeitgeist conference. She was 10-years old. Alma explained how she composed music and that melodies float in her mind all the time. Sometimes, she can't stop them. She is also an accomplished violinist and pianist. Guess who came to her interview and presentation at Zeitgeist? Stephen Hawking! (See him in the background with the colored glasses as she plays Bach from memory with the host.) You don't get good at something unless you practice-practice-practice, then practice some more. Oh, did I say you need to practice?
"Alma Deutscher was playing piano and violin by the time she was 3 years old and wrote her first opera at 10. For her, making music seems as natural as breathing." (CBS)
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| Alma & Pelley CBS News
In early November 2017, Scott Pelley of CBS (60 Minutes) interviewed Alma at age 12. She is homeschooled, has a math tutor, takes composing lessons on Skype, has piano and violin lessons, and reads incessantly. She speaks the language of Mozart and other composers. She writes music in the style of Classical composers.
Alma is in her own world. During a break, she was outside dancing around and singing melodies that came to her. Making melodies is the easy part, she explains. The hard part is taking those melodies and putting them together in a coherent piece of music with an orchestra. She writes the orchestra parts, too. Composing an opera (age 10) or a piano concerto, or a violin concerto is difficult and takes a long time.
Alma tells Pelley, "For me, it's strange to walk around and not to have melodies popping into my head." Alma started to play her melodies on the piano at age 3 or 4. She envisions a world in her mind comprised of imaginary composers. She gave each composer a name and often asked them for guidance. And sometimes, her make-believe friends would come up with intriguing suggestions, she says. Alma has no idea how all this works, neither does science. She was born this way, I think.
Just as scientists don't know the origin of Dark Energy, which takes up about 68% of the universe, they do not have a clue about how Alma's mind works. Like Harmony (See Below), she's unique and singular. Our best minds cannot figure it out. We don't understand creativity that well. Why is one person more "creative" than another unless they are born that way. In education, I think we underestimate the role of nature and overstate nurture. Often, we believe that if we copy what highly creative people do (x, y, z, etc.), then we will become highly creative too. It is a false premise. You cannot copy what Alma or Harmony does--or even come close. They are singular. Click --> Watch Alma improvise and create (60 Minutes Overtime). Creativity like academic or musical ability varies widely.
Kevin Ashton writes, "We are not all equally creative." But, that doesn't mean that average people with ordinary thinking cannot create. "Creation is a result--a place thinking may lead us. For most people, before we can know how to create, we must know how to think." Having a bunch of ideas in our head is not the same as creating. Everyone has ideas. Creating is hard work, i.e., producing an extraordinary product. It is hard work to compose music. It's hard work to play music. Ask Alma. Ask Harmony.
Even though Alma adores Mozart, she doesn't want to be known as the second Mozart. She is the first Alma. She says she wants to counter the ugliness of the world by creating beautiful music with memorable melodies. Why would anyone want to listen to music that is not pleasing to the ear? If you want ugliness, don't come to my concerts, just turn on the TV news, she retorts.
Harmony Zhu At age 10... |
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| Ten-year-old Harmony Zhu in a Master Class with Arie Vardi at the Aspen Music Festival 2016 To advance, talented students need the best teachers. |
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| Harmony at 11: Ballade No. 1 |
Like Alma, she wants to play music that makes people happy. Both girls have engaging, outgoing personalities. You can't help but fall in love with these extraordinary, happy children. They are unique and exceptional. Harmony loves math, music, art, chess, history, singing, dancing, and much more. Watch her play Chopin at the Aspen Music Festival (2016) at age 10. Harmony lives in NJ and attends regular school, but, on Saturdays, she goes to Juilliard in NYC, where she is a student of Veda Kaplinsky in the Pre-College Division.
Oh, did I mention that Harmony was the World Youth Chess Champion for her age group (2013)? "You get to do battle with your opponent. It's so fun!"
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| It's so fun! |
Neuroscience Professor: I love music, but I don't play the piano or chess.
Pianist Harmony (Age 10): It's never too late to start learning!
Audience: Giggle!
Note1: Harmony is a typical 11-year-old. She was Wonder Woman at Halloween, does paragliding (She's a little crazy; you should see her dance, too), participates in sports at her school (Run, Harmony, Run), and much more. Oh, did I mention that she plays piano at Carnegie Hall and attends Juilliard? And, you don't get to Carnegie Hall unless you practice-practice-practice.
Note2: Students with high musical ability often excel in mathematics. But, being smart does not cause musical ability or excellence in math.
Updated on 1-2-18, 6-22-18
Send comments to LT: ThinkAlgebra@cox.net
©2017-2019 LT/ThinkAlgebra
Note1: Harmony is a typical 11-year-old. She was Wonder Woman at Halloween, does paragliding (She's a little crazy; you should see her dance, too), participates in sports at her school (Run, Harmony, Run), and much more. Oh, did I mention that she plays piano at Carnegie Hall and attends Juilliard? And, you don't get to Carnegie Hall unless you practice-practice-practice.
Note2: Students with high musical ability often excel in mathematics. But, being smart does not cause musical ability or excellence in math.
Updated on 1-2-18, 6-22-18
Send comments to LT: ThinkAlgebra@cox.net
©2017-2019 LT/ThinkAlgebra
© 2017 LT/ThinkAlgebra
