Comments on: Five Year Old Conducts The Rite of Spring

By: Lynn

Lynn — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:24:17 +0000

What a spectacular confirmation that talent is a genetic trait. Larry, you did a wonderful job of videographer as well as being an inspirational parent. I guess Hillary is not so excited as Charliet is.
Beautiful to watch and a glimmer of hope that rap music is not the only thing a child in this day and age will hear.

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:25:30 +0000

Larry–I love it!!! So, when you have two gigs at the same time, you must allow your son to take one! And don’t think the younger sibling walking by didn’t absorb everything on the way! My oldest son used to conduct the ‘Nutcracker’ at age 3, but he aspires to be a primary care physician and perhaps a cardio-thoracic surgeon! So, can I book a date in 2025 with your son?

By: Lawrence Loh

Lawrence Loh — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:11:17 +0000

Hi Brian! I’m the father and videographer of the child conducting in that video. I’m so excited and overwhelmed by the response that this video has had, and the great discussions that have ensued. I happen to be a professional conductor, which is why his outlet is conducting, but I think it could just as easily have been dancing or some other sort of physical outpouring of expression.

By: Darryl Brenzel

Darryl Brenzel — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:34:14 +0000

Awesome. In response to Erik, perhaps this is a way to deal with or even possibly prevent attention deficit disorder. What that kid was doing required no small amount of attention. Those that know me and where I used to work know that dealing with pieces over 5 minutes in length became a very hot issue for myself and others. But this is proof that people can and will accept it given the right exposure. Kudos to those parents for having that recording in their home.

By: Erik Spangler

Erik Spangler — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 05:00:03 +0000

That’s awesome! From my experience with my own kids (currently a 3yo and an 8mo) I definitely think that the rhythms and sounds of much “difficult” modern classical music can be experienced as physically immediate and understood by children who are exposed at a young age. Complex aural memories also seem to be formed and recalled easily at this age- for my daughter this includes exact wording of sentences in long stories that I read aloud and associations of melodic fragments with particular movies, etc. The boy in this video, while showing what may be particularly special gifts, is just an example of how children can process complexity in music as physical excitement. We just need to expose them to as much music as possible, paying attention to our own attitudes about orchestral music (for instance) and the associations that are formed. By age 5, a lot of kids would only associate music like this with a “scary” part of a movie, or think that it goes on too long because they only hear songs that are under 4 minutes.