![]() ![]() Kaplinsky says that conservatories should support early achievers only if they exhibit artistic potential as well. "As an artist, you have to have something to say, but you don't have anything to say if you've spent your life in a practice room." Armed with life experience and an artistic voice, Montero returned to the keyboard at 20. "The transition from child prodigy to adult artist is a very difficult one," says Montero, who made her concert debut at 8 but gave up playing the piano 10 years later. Mozart went on to have a pretty respectable career, and Barenboim-now also a conductor-remains a titan of the music world, as does Mutter. The proof of the real talent of prodigies is whether they'll blow audiences away with their performances in 20 years' time. "Child musicians delight audiences because it's fun seeing somebody so young doing so much, but some of them burn out." That may provide some consolation-or schadenfreude-to those 16-year-olds who've yet to play Carnegie Hall.įor those who lack artistic goals and have simply mastered the technique to wow parents, teachers and audiences, the fall from child star to teenager will cause anguish, along with anger at mums and dads who took their tiger parenting too seriously. "Early accomplishment means nothing in the long run," says Kaplinsky. In fact, childhood success has little impact on a musician's career. That's an extreme reaction, but prodigies don't always go on to great success as adult artists. In the 1996 film Shine, Geoffrey Rush plays David Helfgott, the British pianist who as a teen buckles under immense pressure to succeed and suffers a mental breakdown. Against such competition, a 10- or 11-year-old almost seems like a loser. On a recent visit to China, one leading impresario listened to several young virtuosos seeking European concert representation, among them a 9-year-old. "I see 16-year-olds who are lamenting the fact that they haven't performed at Carnegie Hall yet." But the age race is hardly surprising: It's much easier to measure years than artistry, and it makes for better headlines. "It's a worrisome trend because it highlights early achievement rather than substance and artistry," says Kaplinsky. Would Kevin be performing on the CBC, and Alma on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, if they were 15 or even 10 years old? "The danger is that we're creating machines that can play any piece at any speed," says Gabriela Montero, the celebrated Venezuelan pianist, who was herself a child prodigy. Today, by contrast, there are so many young star performers that age alone seems to mark their value. But they were true prodigies, young musicians who combined technical brilliance with promising artistry. Daniel Barenboim, the Argentinean-born pianist, performed in Vienna when he was 8, and Anne-Sophie Mutter, the German violinist, made her international debut at 13. Six-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dazzled 18th century dukes and monarchs with his skills on the keyboard and the violin, and already had several compositions under his belt. There have, of course, always been prodigies. An increasing number of Chinese prodigies attend European and American music schools and conservatories. But, says McLachlan, an acclaimed performer, Chinese children succeed at the keyboard because their families value the work ethic that piano playing demands. "They dominate music making at both the school and the conservatory level." With China reportedly having 30 million young pianists, the fact that a number of them are winning competitions may not be surprising. "Today most young musicians winning competitions are Asian," notes Murray McLachlan, a teacher at Manchester, England's famous Chetham's School of Music. The American Protégé competition already features a category for players from ages 6 to 10, and next year New York's Kaufman Music Center will hold its second International Youth Piano Competition, open to players ages 7 to 17. In a nod to the youthful trend, the prominent Van Cliburn piano competition recently announced that it will add contests for 13- to 17-year-olds. The trend is most obvious for the piano, though string players are also showing impressive skills at an ever-younger age. When I was young, nobody played them until they were adults." ![]() Today kids are recording the Chopin études at the age of 10. "It's the Olympics syndrome: Records exist in order to be broken. "Musicians are doing more advanced things at a younger age than ever before," says Yoheved Kaplinsky, a professor of piano at the Juilliard School in New York City and head of its pre-college division. Welcome to the awe-inspiring age of underage marvels who rattle off Chopin's tricky études as well as entire piano concertos. ![]()
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