AKARSH SHEKHAR
Score Stars- Juniors What Makes a Prodigy
Classical music ’ s original wunderkind Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is about to turn 265 years old soon . Before his sudden demise at the age of 35 , Mozart composed 61 sym-phonies , 49 concertos , 23 operas , and 17 masses . His life has been chronicled through many biographies , as well as the Oscar winning 1984 movie Amadeus . The things that have captivated people the most , are Mozart ' s childhood accomplishments . There is something magical about a prodigy . Let ’ s find out how prodigies come to be .
» Age
Shourya Ranawat
Most music prodigies tend to get inspired from a very young age and start working to-wards it from a time when the rest of us are just learning to speak our parents ’ names clearly . This is true in fields outside music as well . Tiger Woods ’ father for example , intro-duced him to golf at the age of two . Our very own Sshivin was infatuated by his uncle ’ s guitar at the age of three and started playing on a baby guitar from that time itself . Fast forward to today and the 12 year old is shredding tunes like Racer X ’ s Technical Difficulties on his guitar . Our other prodigies also started around the same time as Sshivin . Megan started at four , Joy started at three , while Joey and Shaurya started when they were just two .
Megan Rakesh
Shivin Shirodkar
» Guidance and Support
While there is no substitute for innate aptitude and genetic predisposition , a prodigy ’ s skill development can be accelerated by the right environment . With sufficient energy and dedication from the parents ’ part , and the right teacher , prodigies can accelerate their growth . Growing up in a musical environment certainly helps . Megan has been singing with her father ’ s band “ Out of Office ” since she was four . Joy started taking structured classical music training and that accelerated his already prodigious growth as a singer . After starting guitar at 3 , Sshivin met his first true mentor at the age of 10 and completed Grade 8 Trinity Rock and Pop within 1.5 years of starting lessons with him . While Joey started showing an aptitude towards drumming from the age of two , he joined a music school at 3 and studied there till the pandemic brought everything to a halt . Shourya also witnessed exponential growth in his skill after getting some structured training .
Jainil ( Joy )
» Commitment
A trait that all musical prodigies share , is the incredible commitment to their domain . It has also been called a “ rage to master ” by some developmental psychologists . It ’ s very difficult to get these children away from activities in their area of giftedness , whether that area involves an instrument , a computer , a sketch pad , a ball , or a maths book . These children have a powerful interest in the domain in which they have high ability , and they can focus so intently on work in this domain that they lose sense of the outside world . This single-mindedness is a part of innate talent rather than a cause of it — a convergence of genetically-influenced aptitude , interest , and drive that predisposes a person to obses-sively engage in some activity . Take Mozart ’ s case , by the time he turned six , his sole ab-sorbing interest was in music , and even the games he played had some musical ele-ments . Our prodigies share this same “ rage to master ” and are truly committed to their craft , even though they are so young . Joey and Megan practice for at least half an hour every day . Joy and Shourya are engrossed in their craft for over an hour every day while Sshivin spends a staggering four hours on his guitar every day .
As you can see from the story of Joy , Megan , Shourya , Joey and Sshivin , musical prodigies are born , then made . Watch out for these rising stars in the future to come .
Prayaan
The Score Magazine
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