 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: BlockEyeDan
Date: 2005-10-24 20:15
Hello all,
I happened to sit by a TV yesterday evening when 60 Minutes was on, and part of their program focused on two blind and developmentally disabled musical savants: a 10-year-old boy named Rex, and a 24-year-old named Derek Paravincini. Both of them possessed perfect pitch, and that was just the beginning. Derek truly amazed me. Developmentally, his intelligence is at the level of a 2-year-old. He can't do much of anything. But the clips they showed of him playing jazz piano were simply astounding! He was not aware, per se, of the emotional nuances of his playing, but his music came across as highly thought-out and felt-through as any pianist I've ever heard. The producers asked him to play Beethoven's Fur Elise. No problem (he remembers EVERY SONG HE'S EVER PLAYED). Then they asked him to play Fur Elise as if Mozart had written it. As a Russian Dance. Bang, bang. They played highly dissonant 10-tone chords. Derek, please repeat. No problem.
The issue of musical savants has been studied extensively. Nobody has been able to come up with any real answers. Some think that this ability is innate within all of us. I don't claim to know any of the answers, but watching this report last night was simply amazing. It is hard to believe that some people who can't carry on a conversation, can't button a button or tie their shoes, can produce music that is beyond the realm of 99.999% of us.....
Did anybody else see this last night? I'd be interested to hear about everybody's reactions....
Thanks all,
Dan
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-10-24 20:25
I saw that piece when it was originally broadcast about six months ago. The kid is amazing.
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Author: ajhogan
Date: 2005-10-24 20:26
I'm sorry to say I missed it, because the subject fascinates me too. I just recently purchased two books on "idiot" savants, which are really interesting. There are a lot of interesting theories out there as to why they can do this. If you are interested I'd be happy to recommend a book. One of th books gives several cases of musical savants, as well as other types of savants, calender calculators and so forth.
Austin
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Author: Gandalfe
Date: 2005-10-24 21:03
A couple of things struck me.
That these kids would find music and then be nurtured/supported so that they become great musicians is a testament to the power of a caring parent. In this case it was a Mom who gave up everything to make her kid a success even with this debilitating handicap.
60 minutes reduced the ads for this special show. It was fabulous. You only saw ads at the beginning, middle and end of the show. The staff had more time to explore the issues. BTW, CBS Sunday at 7:30 AM always seems to have good segments on musicians. I've gotten most of my family hooked on it now.
Lesie Stahl plays piano, now that's cool. :o)
Jim and Suzy
Pacifica Big Band
Seattle, Washington
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Author: William
Date: 2005-10-24 21:30
I saw it too--and it probably explains why I am cronically unable to acomplish any of the household tasks assigned to my "honeydew" list but can tell dates and time and--without error--find my way to the gig and sometimes make Mozart sound like John Cage.
Seriously, those savant musicians were amazing, but perhaps only in relation to their other unfortunate disabilities. We must be careful to appalud their accomplishments without being condescending or unrealistic in elevating them to musical genious status. Years ago, the grandmother of a former girlfriend could--without ever having had a music lesson in her life--correctly name any pitch and accurately play back any tune on the piano after only hearing in one time. Given the kind of disabilities described on last evenings program, she could easily have been one of last nights featured individuals. Please do not take offense as none is intended--I was amazed at what the savant aritsts could do, but I'm just trying to be realistic.
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Author: BlockEyeDan
Date: 2005-10-24 22:09
William,
I'm not offended at all by what you're saying. The fact of the matter is, though, that had Derek been a normal person, one would still be blown away by his musical ability. The fact that he's severly disabled in all other areas of his life makes his ability all the more astounding. He took years of lessons with special teachers who were able to teach him sound technical fundamentals. He is not merely slapping away at notes. His runs/scales/fingerings and feel of the keyboard were technically PERFECT. Add that to his incredible innate musicality, and you have a person whose abilities seem practically impossible given his mental state.
Dan
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Author: SomethingCopland
Date: 2005-10-25 00:10
BlockEyeDan wrote:
>>He is not merely slapping away at notes. His runs/scales/fingerings and >>feel of the keyboard were technically PERFECT. Add that to his incredible >>innate musicality, and you have a person whose abilities seem practically >>impossible given his mental state.
One must consider that though having synapses and connections in the brain that allow one to read and converse with others and having synapses and connections in the brain which allow for impeccable aural perception and expression are both related to the brain, they are not the same thing. The brain works. It is not practically or even conceivably impossible what Derek does, not simply because he does it, but because we don't know that much about our own brains let alone his. Our measurements are for a standard base of neural operations. Innate musical sense is not present in all, and is not so easily measurable as, say, "IQ". We will learn about the brain. I'm very happy for savants, they are so very interesting, mainly for the reason that their abilities are not understood.
Stanley, Sydney, Russ, Michelle, David, Deborah, Chuck, Jon, Ricardo, Marc, Sabine, Elsa, Laura, John, Larry, Robert, Paul---They all know Copland.
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Author: Tim2
Date: 2005-10-25 00:15
Add that Rex could play piano before he said "mama" for the first time. They talked about how music was his first way of communication . But now, well, Rex was really a little chatterbox on the show! He is currently 10 years old.
This show was great and Leslie must practice to keep up her skill level like that. Her playing is not mediocre (sp)!!
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Author: Rhythmacres
Date: 2005-10-25 03:56
I didn't see the show, but I remember a piece by Walter Cronkite, who told about a 12 year old autistic artist. Her art was breathtaking, especially her pictures of horses. They sent her to school, where she was "socialized" , and there was a direct correlation over time between her degree of socialization, and her inability to produce art. I think her artwork looked about what a girl her age would have drawn. This was many years ago. But my question is, if Derek were normal, would he lose his skill?
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