Marie Daniels, Viola, Age 17

Marie Daniels, Viola, Age 17, The Woodlands, Texas

Marie Daniels, viola, is from The Woodlands, TX, and has been studying viola for 8 years. She has performed with the Texas All-State Symphony Orchestra and Texas State Solo and Ensemble since 2006, and the Houston Youth Symphony since 2004. She has studied at the Heifetz Institute, the NYU Steinhardt Quartet Camp, and the Baylor Invitational Quartet Camp. Past Young Artists Program participant (2009). (See Source)

This video is of one of my all-time favorite hymns, "Come Thou Fount." In addition to being a very accomplished classical violist, she had the opportunity to participate as a band member for a Robbie Seay at a Good Friday concert hosted by the Woodlands United Methodist Church. Check out this video! 

Abby Elder, Age 17, Viola & Voice

Abby Elder, Age 11, Viola & Soprano

I couldn't pass up these two videos. The first is of Abby Elder playing Elegie pour Alto for viola by Henri Vieuxtemps. The second is a song Abby Elder composed named, "Winter Skies." Both videos are absolutely beautiful! She has played with the Dearborn Symphony.

Elegie pour Alto

Henri Vieuxtemps

Winter Skies

Abby Elder: Composer, Viola, Voice
Jenine Lawson Brown: Piano

Yuja Wang, Age 11, Piano

Yuja Wang, Age 11, Piano, Beijing China

I am so impressed with her articulation and the fluidity of her piano technique. Wow! You will love her video. It is amazing impressive!

Biography:

Born in Beijing in 1987, Yuja began studying piano at age six, with her earliest public performances taking place in China, Australia and Germany, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing under Ling Yuan and Zhou Guangren. Following three years, from 1999 to 2001, at the Morningside Music summer program at Calgary’s Mount Royal College, an artistic and cultural exchange program between Canada and China, Yuja moved to Canada and began studying with Hung Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone at the Mount Royal College Conservatory. In 2002, when Yuja was 15, she won Aspen Music Festival’s concerto competition and moved to the U.S. to study with Gary Graffman at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she graduated in 2008. In 2006 Yuja received the Gilmore Young Artist Award.  In 2010 she was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.  Yuja is a Steinway Artist. Biography from http://www.yujawang.com/.

Tiffany Koo, Age 5, Piano

Tiffany Koo, Age 5, Piano, California

This background information is from the Capistrano Connections Academy website written three years after the taping of the video of Tiffany Koo playing Chopin's Nocturne #20 in c sharp minor shown below. I find it amazing that online school can be successful even at Tiffany's young age in allowing her the flexibility to continue her piano studies at her advanced level.

Tiffany is an eight-year-old second grader at Capistrano Connections Academy (CapoCA).  She lives in Redlands, California. She is a professional pianist who travels the world performing in concerts and competitions.
Tiffany is a quickly rising piano prodigy. She started playing piano at the age of two and amazingly played Chopin at just five years old. She has gone on to perform before large audiences, who don’t frighten the talented artist. 
The balancing act for Tiffany comes when trying to manage her love for piano and school.  After encountering issues with balancing her schedule between piano and academics, Tiffany was enrolled in Capistrano Connections Academy.  The program has allowed her to pursue her passion for performing in piano concerts and develop her academic education as well.  Her mother says...
“...Since joining CapoCA , Tiffany can access and review school work anytime from anywhere, this makes her study convenient and efficient, which results in more time available for her music. Now we are confident about her learning, especially the school’s intuitive online program which helped Tiffany to excel academically." (See Source)

Julie, Age 9, Trumpet

Julie, Age 9, Trumpet, Meridian Idaho

A little about Julie...She has been playing the trumpet at the point of this video for only two weeks. She had previously studied the cello with her mom for a year and a half and continues to study the piano. When she grew out of her 1/2 size cello her mom asked her if she wanted to get the next size cello or try out another instrument. She has listened to her brother play for four years now and quickly said that she wanted to learn the trumpet. Her older brother, Riley, and her love to play tumpet duets. Julie was a previous spotlight here on Amazing Kid Musicians playing "Lightly Row" on the cello. She loves to practice and really enjoys her lessons with Dennis Keck, a well-known trumpet performer and teacher.

Grace, Age 7, Fiddle

Grace, Age 7, Fiddle, Meridian ID

Grace has been playing violin/fiddle since she was two and a half. Her mom didn't plan on starting her that young but once her older sister gave her a fiddle she was hooked. This video is of her at the Idaho Open Fiddle Contest during the second round.

Robyn, Age 9, Fiddle

Robyn, Age 9, Fiddle, Meridian ID

Robyn has been playing the violin/fiddle since she was three and a half years old. She, her brother, and sister all love to play at community and church events. This video is from round two at the Idaho Open Fiddle Contest 2011.

Colin, Age 10, Fiddle

Colin, Age 10, Fiddle, Meridian ID

Colin has been taking fiddle lessons since he was 5 years old. He also plays the guitar and loves to play at church and community events. My favorite memory of Colin is when he walked around fiddling for all of us at a church pioneer activity. Nothing brought the spirit of pioneers better than that. The video below is from him playing his fiddle at the Idaho Open Fiddle Contest, 2011.

Richard, Age 3, Piano

Richard, Age 3, Piano, Pasadena California

I ran across a very intriguing piano teaching method for young children the other day and I am very excited to try it with my little girl, Addison, when she starts taking piano lessons with me. (She is only 12 months so it won't be for a little while yet.)

The method is named the "Rainbow Piano Technique." The creator is Annie Wang the mother of the young pianist Richard Hoffman. The LA Times wrote a story on him which included the following quote. "His shiny leather shoes dangled from the piano bench -- his legs too short to touch the ground. By the third piece of his first piano recital, one of his shoelaces had become untied." (See Source)

The following video is of Richard playing the piano when he was three years old. At that point he had been playing for approximately 9 months. Enjoy!

Lucas, Age 6, Violin

Lucas, Age 6, Violin, Germany

Lucas began taking private violin lessons when he was four years old. His violin teacher was the renowned Vladislav Goldfeld. When he was seven he won First Place at the Spanish television TVE, this time in Valencia. At age 8, he won the international violin competition "Gradus ad PARNASSUM" the first in Lithuania Price. (See Source)

Max, Age 9, Guitar

Max, Age 9, Guitar

In addition to playing the accoustic guitar and taking private guitar lessons, Max enjoys singing and writing his own music. Max is working to get noticed by a record label company and hopes someday to land a recording contract with one of them. In addition to the accoustic guitar, Max also play the electric guitar. Here is a video of Max playing Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven."

Olivia, Age 9, Piano

Olivia, Age 9, Piano, Meridian Idaho

This is Olivia age 9 at the school talent show May 2011.  She is playing Miniature Sonatina by Joseph Kuffner (adapted).  She has been playing on the piano since she was 2.  She has been taking lessons for 1 year.

Jacob, Age 7, Drums

Jacob, Age 7, Drums, Glendale Arizona

When asked when he started drums, Jacob answered "At 8 months old, my father held my hand and made me feel the pulse of the rhythm. I started to tap my hand to the downbeat of music. As my father explains to me, it would take 6 to 8 consecutive quarter beats for my timing to become shaky. At 18 months, my father had me sit behind a full 5-piece drum kit where he taught me how to play 2/4, 4/4, 6/8, 12/8, 5/4, 7/4, 9/4 and swing. I still feel a little weird watching myself play at that age in the video clips. If it weren't for my father, I probably would have not discovered drums at 8 months old or at any age for that matter. Since he is such an educated musician and an accomplished composer/keyboardist, I still have a lot to learn from him." (See Source) This video is of Jacob when he was seven years old.

Aimi, Age 4, Piano

Aimi, Age 4, Piano

Aimi Kobayashi is a 15-year-old pianist born on September 23. She started piano at the age of 3 and gave her first international debut recital at the age of 9. Her first debut CD came out January 2010 with EMI Classics. (See Source) This video of of her when she was four years old.

Jonathan, Age 3, Conducting

Jonathan, Age 3, Conducting

I couldn't take my eyes off this video.

"This is 3 year old Jonathan conducting to the 4th movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony. This piece was conducted by Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker, one of Jonathan's favorite conductors and orchestras. Jonathan's passion for classical music became apparent when he was only eight months old. Shortly after that he began conducting on his own." (See Source)

Benjamin, Age 5, Harp

Benjamin, Age 5, Harp

This video is of Benjamin playing in a Concert for Amnesty International.

Yeonsu, Age 11, Oboe

Yeonsu, Age 11, Oboe, Seoul Korea

Yeonsu has been playing the oboe since she was about nine years old.

Grande Fantaisie Concertante, Op. 47

by Charles Colin

Kanai, Age 7, Piano

Kanai, Age 7, Piano, Japan

This sweet little girl sure has something amazing to share! I couldn't find any information on how old she was when she started but from the sounds of it, she was pretty little. I hope you enjoy this video.

Gigue

by Bach

Julian, Age 4, Clarinet

Julian, Age 4, Clarinet, St. Albans England

Julian started playing clarinet at age 4, when he was given a plastic clarinet. This is unusual in the music world, where most students do not play wind instruments until age 11 or 12. (See Source)

The Holberg Suite

Edvard Grieg

&

Stranger on the Shore

Acker Bilk

Zachary, Age 10, Flute

Zachary, Age 10, Flute

Zach has been playing the flute since he was seven years old and is a flute student of Jim Walker.  Zachary has played flute masterclasses with: Adrienne Greenbaum, Jennifer Rhyne, Dr. Donna Shin, Dr. Ralph Guenther, Dr. Hal Ott and Ann Marie Yasinitsky. (See Source)

Flute Concerto in D - Rondo

by Amadeus Mozart

April 6, 2008