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Really cool musical savant

post #1 of 13
4/8/11 at 9:21pm
Thread Starter 
Usually I cry foul on these - as a conservatory trained pianist myself, it's amazing how often media darling "prodigies" are just well-marketed, below average kids with aggressive parents. This is not the case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak2jx...yer_detailpage Technically, nothing he's doing is that amazing - until you consider that he doesn't know which hand is his right and left hand. But creatively? Off the charts. Transposing on the fly with that organicism? Maybe .01% of pianists can do that. I'm not saying his music is among the greatest out there - it's not. But what he can do given his current situation...just wow. I mean, even his articulation is decent - I don't know how he does it (his hands even look crippled while he plays), but it's actually musical. __________________
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post #2 of 13
4/8/11 at 9:46pm
Link phail
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post #3 of 13
4/8/11 at 9:52pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks, fixed.
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post #4 of 13
4/8/11 at 10:11pm
great video. thanks for sharing
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post #5 of 13
4/8/11 at 10:19pm
Yeah, I actually saw this segment on TV. That part where he creates a piece of music from audience-selected notes was impressive; his ability to create variations on-the-fly shows a type of abstract thinking that goes beyond musical psitticism. I wonder how much instruction his teachers are truly able to give him on piano technique. When he plays Rhapsody in Blue, I guess he just listens to recording, and uses any technique he can to reproduce the performance sonically.
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post #6 of 13
4/8/11 at 10:36pm
amazing. im diggin' the specs too EDIT - While performing, Derek's face resembles John Mayers
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post #7 of 13
4/8/11 at 10:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NAMOR View Post
amazing. im diggin' the specs too
And the green trousers.
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post #8 of 13
4/8/11 at 11:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by computerpro3 View Post
Technically, nothing he's doing is that amazing - until you consider that he doesn't know which hand is his right and left hand. But creatively? Off the charts. Transposing on the fly with that organicism? Maybe .01% of pianists can do that.

I'm not saying his music is among the greatest out there - it's not. But what he can do given his current situation...just wow. I mean, even his articulation is decent - I don't know how he does it (his hands even look crippled while he plays), but it's actually musical.

I concur. You no doubt know the old saw about dancing elephants; it's not the quality of the dancing that's amazing, but the fact that they can do it at all. This is more like watching an elephant dance Odette in Swan Lake"”flawlessly.

I would guess that his "crippled" technique is an artifact of two things: first, learning piano with only touch cues rather than visual cues, and second, not having the faculties to accept traditional instruction. Whatever it is, it's working for him!
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post #9 of 13
4/9/11 at 12:59am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tagutcow View Post
Yeah, I actually saw this segment on TV. That part where he creates a piece of music from audience-selected notes was impressive; his ability to create variations on-the-fly shows a type of abstract thinking that goes beyond musical psitticism.

I wonder how much instruction his teachers are truly able to give him on piano technique. When he plays Rhapsody in Blue, I guess he just listens to recording, and uses any technique he can to reproduce the performance sonically.

As someone who has played Rhapsody in Blue, I have to be honest - he wasn't playing what is in the score in most cases. That being said, it seemed like the difficulty of his "re-composed" version was pretty equivalent. Realistically speaking, nobody is going to create a note-accurate performance if you can't read the score - I think it's pretty damn impressive he was even able to do what he did.
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post #10 of 13
4/9/11 at 4:08am
..
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post #11 of 13
4/10/11 at 5:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NAMOR View Post
EDIT - While performing, Derek's face resembles John Mayers
+1
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. White View Post
It's really a shame he was born so prematurely.
What are you saying - his fan base hasn't even been born yet?
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post #12 of 13
4/10/11 at 10:44am
Incredible. As someone who's played piano as a hobby off-and-on for 10-15 years, I cant even begin to grasp the ability to be able to transpose a piece so well on the fly like that. That's simply amazing. The human brain is an incredible thing... so much untapped potential.

Thanks for the link!
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post #13 of 13
4/10/11 at 4:06pm
This guy is legit I seen this piece awhile ago.
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