Child prodigies have a truly inspiring gift. One young girl is an absolute musical genius – she can improvise an entire song in just minutes. Four random notes are pulled out of a hat, and the magic begins.
Alma Deutscher is only 13 years old, but she has already made a big name for herself in the world of music. The English girl is a composer, pianist, and violinist. At only six years old Alma composed a piano sonata. Then at seven she accomplished an even greater feat – she wrote an entire opera, The Sweeper of Dreams.
Now, Alma has amazed us in a whole new way. She agreed to perform on 60 Minutes, but this was no rehearsed recital. Host Scott Pelley visited her in her home and watched her compose a song on the piano. There was an additional challenge to this task: the young girl could only play four notes, the notes Scott pulled out of a hat.
The host drew four notes and showed them to Alma. The young star sang each note as it was placed on the piano before her, then she played each one on the instrument. Then, it was thinking time.
“For me, the most important thing in music is the melodies,” the prodigy explained, “it’s not that everything has to be very complex and very serious – but, so that people actually want to listen to it and enjoy it.”
Alma swayed her head back and forth as she composed the music in her mind. Her eyes dashed back and forth as she moved to an imaginary melody.
“Sometimes when I get the melodies I hear just sound, or I hear a melody for orchestra,” Alma shared. “But then, actually sitting down and developing the melodies – that’s really the difficult part. Having to tell a real story with the music.”
After only a couple of minutes, the pianist’s work was complete. She was ready to play her song. After rehearsing the four notes a few more times, she began.
Alma didn’t create just any song – her work was a beautiful masterpiece. She definitely achieved her goal of telling a story in her composition. This music gracefully flowed through highs and lows, quick pieces and slower ones. Scott himself was amazed at the ingenious creativity happening before his eyes.
After her marvelous piano performance, the young artist returned to the room around her. When her host asked if she could recreate the piece, she responded that she could not.
“I can’t remember everything that I did in this improvisation,” Alma told him. “I can never remember. Maybe I’ll write down the melody because it was quite a nice melody, I think. I can write it down in my notebook, maybe for when I am writing a piece. But I can’t remember the whole improvisation. No, I can never ever remember.”
This song was certainly inspired, and the child prodigy has many more awe-invoking videos. Her violin concerto is simply astounding. Her recital of Mozart’s piano concerto K.246 is as beautiful as it is impressive. This young artist will continue to amaze us as she follows her dreams.
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