The lights dim. The audience quickly finishes the last few words of their conversation and latecomers whisper for forgiveness while moving to their seats. The stage door opens and applause welcomes the performer into the hall. A hush falls over the crowd. The music begins with a flurry of notes. The audience is awestruck by the uncanny technical ability possessed by such small hands. The performer concludes and takes a bow to thunderous applause. But is the audience really showing their approval of the performance, or are they clapping for the exceptionally young performer’s “mysterious” and amazing musical abilities? The concept of a young person showing such aptitude in the musical realm is nothing new. Children have been taught from a very young age for hundreds of years. But, the notion that some children have an uncanny ability is a reflection of the ideals of only a few centuries ago. Though child prodigies of the 18^th and 19^th centuries had a talent for music, they gained so much popularity and recognition primarily because of the growing belief in individuality, while earlier composers who showed promise from a young age were simply expected to continue to work towards adulthood. For example, the early works of prodigies such as Mozart, Paganini, and Mendelssohn were very simple, but they gained recognition - not because of the perfect compositions they created, but rather because they composed at such a young age.

Social ideals of musicians and their class status began to change in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. With the swing from the Baroque to the Enlightenment, and then the Enlightenment to the Romantic period, Western society began to take on a new perspective. The concept of the individual began to grow as the focus of these centuries. While the Enlightenment focused on logic and symmetry, the Romantic period from about 1820 through the end of the 19^th century was primarily concerned with raw emotions, imagination, and the supernatural to go along with the importance of individual rights and intellectual property.⁴ The term “child prodigy” sprouted from these Romantic period roots. Society began to be fascinated with young people who had abilities equal to or greater than adults in the field.⁵ To people of that day, this “natural” ability seemed to be unexplainable and almost supernatural, and thus child sensations were born.⁶

It is time for the glasses to come off. People are blinded by the image of a prodigy and forget about the music itself. The focus should be on the music itself while “prodigies” should be seen as performers with great skill and potential who should be rated based on their skill level without age as a factor. A rebuttal to these claims would argue that age is the most important aspect of a performer. It is often found that with age comes skill, but a prodigy defies this expectation. This naturally results in the young performer being given the title and all praises. Today’s society continues to prize the individual above all else, so why not give the prodigy all the attention and acclaim? Separating the music from the context in this way – the context being the composer or performer, is usually frowned upon in scholarly circles. Why is it of such importance in this case? The fact of the matter is not that the music and performer should be separate. A young performer should be applauded for possessing amazing skill at a young age. In the modern day, prodigies such as Joey Alexander are still making waves around their respective musical genres. Though they possess capabilities beyond their years, there should be a return to focus on the learned skill of music. Being a musical “prodigy” should become a springboard onto bigger and better accomplishments. Because some prodigies are stunted by the society-given label, the prodigy label should be de-throned in our modern day to make way for a greater appreciation of learned skill and technique. These young artists have more potential to become great than a majority of other composers. If the focus shifts from the present to their potential in the future, all prodigies would have the drive and the societal backing to become as great as humanly possible from years of hard work and training. For the future, audiences should continue to give great respect to “natural talent,” but instead of limiting the young performers, they should push them towards the future and true greatness.

1. "Art and Music," The Smithsonian: National Museum of Natural History (March 01, 2010).
2. Pengcheng Su, "A Graduate Vocal Performance Recital." Master's thesis, Pittsburg State University, 2016 (July 15, 2016).
3. Donald Jay Grout, J. Peter Burkholder, and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music, 9th ed., New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014, 435-449, 623.
4. See note 3 above.
5. D. H. Feldman, and M. J. Morelock, "Extreme Precocity: Prodigies, Savants, and Children of Extraordinarily High IQ," Davidson Institute (2003).
6. Yvonne Amthor, ""Wunderkinder": Musical Prodigies in European Concert Life Between 1791 and 1860," The University of Leeds, 2012 (December 17, 2013), 12-13.
7. Sadie Stanley, "Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus." Britannica Biographies (March 2012): History Reference Center.
8. See note 6 above.

Bibliography

Amthor, Yvonne. ""Wunderkinder": Musical Prodigies in European Concert Life Between 1791 and 1860." The University of Leeds, 2012 (December 17, 2013). Accessed April 26, 2017.

"Art and Music." The Smithsonian: National Museum of Natural History (March 01, 2010). Accessed April 26, 2017.

Feldman, D. H., and M. J. Morelock. "Extreme Precocity: Prodigies, Savants, and Children of Extraordinarily High IQ." Davidson Institute (2003). Accessed April 26, 2017.

Grout, Donald Jay, J. Peter Burkholder, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music. 9th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014.

Stanley, Sadie. "Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus." Britannica Biographies (March 2012): 1. History Reference Center. Accessed February 8, 2017.

Su, Pengcheng. "A Graduate Vocal Performance Recital." Master's thesis, Pittsburg State University, 2016 (July 15, 2016). Accessed March 10, 2017.