Music Musical prodigy, level not seen in 200yrs

[Ouabache]

The clip (see below) made in 2004, is about a young boy who writes classical music.
Some describe him as the greatest talent to come along in 200 years.
A prodigy at the level of the greatest in history; compared with Mozart,
Mendelssohn & Saint-Saëns.

His name is Jay Greenberg
He began teaching himself music at age 2. He says he doesn't know
where the music comes from, but it comes fully written, playing like an
orchestra in his head.

A talented composer may write 5 symphonies in a lifetime.
At 12, he has already completed five. He often hears more than one new
piece in his head at a time. He says this has been described as
using multiple channels, where his brain processes and can distinguish
more than one piece simultaneously, while other channels may be
processing walking or eating or watching birds. (talk about multi-tasking)

To see him writing in a music notation program, reminds me of someone with
eidetic memory. It looks like he is downloading a score directly from his mind.
(perhaps making a translation from music to notation). As you begin to appreciate
how his brain works, you may comprehend how Beethoven could compose beautiful
symphonies even after becoming deaf.

Try this. Think of some music in your mind. Notice how your brain
can 'hear' (process) it, without any sound coming through your ears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT94FGBj2FU
if this clip does not embed properly, here is the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT94FGBj2FU".

 

[nismaratwork]

Wow... that's one amazing kid!

 

[jtbell]

Sony issued a CD of his Symphony No. 5 in 2006, which you can find on amazon.com. It created a bit of a stir in the press back then, but I don't see any followups.

 

[nismaratwork]

Sony issued a CD of his Symphony No. 5 in 2006, which you can find on amazon.com. It created a bit of a stir in the press back then, but I don't see any followups.

Was it any good?

 

[FlexGunship]

Was it any good?

Better than any symphony you've written.

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

I never understood what theory is there to music, besides the beats which you can describe it with basic fractions.

 

[FlexGunship]

I never understood what theory is there to music, besides the beats which you can describe it with basic fractions.

Harmonics. It is possible to describe the differences between a pleasant passage and an unpleasant one with mathematics.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Fascinating, thanks, Ouabache!

 

[G01]

I never understood what theory is there to music, besides the beats which you can describe it with basic fractions.

There's quite a lot of theory to music. Do you play or sing? I realized there was more to music theory than I expected when I first started playing. I was really surprised at the complexity present in music theory.

In certain respects I'm still confused about music theory too. For example, I understand that an octave is the interval between two harmonics. So, I understand why two C notes sound good together. However, I do not know why the major and minor scales sound good to the human ear (the world over), when some other collections of notes do not?

For example, why, in the major scale, do G and F# sound good together, while G and G# do not? What is it about the interval pattern "Whole Whole Half Whole Whole Whole Half" that sounds so good that everyone agrees "This sounds good?"

 

[fourier jr]

how long before someone says he's mental ill? I mean that sort of thing is just not "normal" or "average" or "ordinary"

 

[FlexGunship]

how long before someone says he's mental ill? I mean that sort of thing is just not "normal" or "average" or "ordinary"

He's mentally ill.

(That was, like, 5 minutes.)

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Lucky chap - I wish music notation software had been available when I was young!

I wrote a short and simple piece for orchestra which won a couple of prizes when I was 11 (probably not because it was very good but just because most people couldn't have done it at all), but it took me a huge amount of time to write out the score by hand (including rough versions) and then to copy out all the parts so that the school orchestra could play it.

I attempted to start various other orchestral compositions, but always found it taking too much time and being too slow and laborious to capture my ideas.

I now have Sibelius 5 software on this machine, and some other previous stuff including Musicator, and I can write music almost in real time for each part (using a digital piano keyboard), but I have even less spare time nor the imagination to compose any more. However, it's very useful for quick arrangements, e.g. to transpose, simplify or otherwise rearrange some existing music, especially as it includes Neuratron Photoscore software which enables me to scan and convert existing printed music - taking care of course to observe copyright restrictions!

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Lucky chap - I wish music notation software had been available when I was young!

I wrote a short and simple piece for orchestra which won a couple of prizes when I was 11 (probably not because it was very good but just because most people couldn't have done it at all), but it took me a huge amount of time to write out the score by hand (including rough versions) and then to copy out all the parts so that the school orchestra could play it.

I attempted to start various other orchestral compositions, but always found it taking too much time and being too slow and laborious to capture my ideas.

Wow!

 

[FlexGunship]

I use Noteworthy Composer (free trial isn't really a "trial") and I think it's a great piece of software. It brings MIDI-based composition and playback closer to a "piano roll" style of writing. Frankly, it seems to offer more freedom than Sibelius (which is based on the old MusicTime software) although I haven't used 5, yet.

Was writing this for my ex. I was just playing on the piano, banged out something I called her's, and then had fun orchestrating it.

 

[JaredJames]

I use Noteworthy Composer (free trial isn't really a "trial") and I think it's a great piece of software. It brings MIDI-based composition and playback closer to a "piano roll" style of writing. Frankly, it seems to offer more freedom than Sibelius (which is based on the old MusicTime software) although I haven't used 5, yet.

Sibelius 6 is out now.

I haven't used it since Sibelius 3 though. Used it when I'd listen to songs I like and wanted the sheet music, I would transcribe them. Never perfect, but that kept them unique.

My playback on the piano was never as good as the software's perfect rendition.

Currently using linux so not sure if there's any software like this out there for it. Would be nice to have.

 

[fourier jr]

He's mentally ill.

(That was, like, 5 minutes.)

yeah, must be asperger's or something. whatever it is, he's not one of us

 

[qspeechc]

Yes, being able to compose at his age is incredible, especially in our age when the Arts are so neglected, but comparisons with Mozart, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saens are rash. Of course he has an amazing talent, but Mozart and the others had genius as was as amazing talent. This boy may indeed be as great as those composers, but it is too early to say. There have been many child prodigies over the centuries who never amounted to much, or at least never acheived what Mozart and others acheived.

 

[Proton Soup]

Yes, being able to compose at his age is incredible, especially in our age when the Arts are so neglected, but comparisons with Mozart, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saens are rash. Of course he has an amazing talent, but Mozart and the others had genius as was as amazing talent. This boy may indeed be as great as those composers, but it is too early to say. There have been many child prodigies over the centuries who never amounted to much, or at least never acheived what Mozart and others acheived.

this is where i am. so far, I'm not hearing anything that really blows me away. which may be as much about taste as anything (i like mozart, but not much bach)..

 

[jtbell]

Sony issued a CD of his Symphony No. 5 in 2006, which you can find on amazon.com. It created a bit of a stir in the press back then, but I don't see any followups.

Was it any good?

I've never heard it myself. I do remember reading reviews of it in classical-music review magazines at the time (Fanfare, American Record Guide). My possibly faulty recollection five years later is that they they basically said, "very impressive technically, but more indicative of future promise rather than a current masterpiece."

It figures... after all, Mozart was a very facile composer as a teenager, but hardly anybody would listen to his early symphonies today, if they weren't by him. His late symphonies on the other hand... aaah! (Although I'm more of a Haydn person myself.)

It will be interesting to see what Greenberg writes when he gets into his mid-30s.

 

[nismaratwork]

I've never heard it myself. I do remember reading reviews of it in classical-music review magazines at the time (Fanfare, American Record Guide). My possibly faulty recollection five years later is that they they basically said, "very impressive technically, but more indicative of future promise rather than a current masterpiece."

It figures... after all, Mozart was a very facile composer as a teenager, but hardly anybody would listen to his early symphonies today, if they weren't by him. His late symphonies on the other hand... aaah! (Although I'm more of a Haydn person myself.)

It will be interesting to see what Greenberg writes when he gets into his mid-30s.

Good point... it's pleasant to have a modern composer's work to look forward to.

@Flexgunship: I doubt it's better than my, "Cacophony in B-flat."

 

[Jonathan Scott]

New classical music still turns up occasionally. I play in the Havant Symphony Orchestra, who recently performed the world premiere of a symphony by Maurice Blower, written in the 1930s, which was found by his son in a pile of papers after he died.

I think it's an excellent symphony, and we really enjoyed playing it (although we are not exactly world class). You can hear a few short excerpts from our CD of it from our web site; I think the excerpt of the fourth movement is the best, but they are all interesting:

http://www.havantorchestras.hampshire.org.uk/cd.php#extracts"

 

[mugaliens]

I think there are a lot of folks like Jay. Just not a lot of outlets such as to which he has access.

College roommate, freshman year, unbelievable guitar prodigy. Girlfriend, junior year, unbelievably gifted violinist.

I'm sorry, but I'm not buying this guy's (his teacher's) crap. Rings like an opportunist. "200 years?" Please.

As for software, FL!

 

[Ouabache]

New classical music still turns up occasionally. I play in the Havant Symphony Orchestra, who recently performed the world premiere of a symphony by Maurice Blower, written in the 1930s, which was found by his son in a pile of papers after he died.

That's a beautiful symphony Jon. Thanks for sharing those clips !

If you'd like to trade notes with Jay, he is presently just up the road
from you at Peterhouse, Cambridge and may be up for a good chat.

Jay didn't have any music notation software until 2001 (age 10).
Before that, he was writing out all his scores and parts longhand.

Another example of the level at which Jay composes was described
by his composition teacher. He recalls when Jay was 8 yrs old,
he composed and fully notated half a movement of a magnificent
piano sonata in the style of Beethoven, before his very eyes
and without a piano, in less than an hour.

I play in community wind ensemble & also brass quintets.
I've used Noteworthy composer myself but switched to Finale.
I haven't tried to write my own. Just extracting parts from a score or
transposing parts is a tedious enough effort. I try making sure it
sounds and plays correctly before handing out parts.

 

[qspeechc]

A few months ago I heard one of Mozart's earliest compositions on the radio, I can't remember the name, but I thought it was quite pleasing, and surprisingly good. The programme presenter also thought it was a good piece. From what I have heard from this Jay, his compositions are not that pleasing.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Thanks for sharing the music, Jonathan. It is beautiful!