[Dixielandjazz] Child Prodigies - was - A plethora of 10 year old jazz musicians?

[Steve barbone]

Perhaps we will never know what "success" or "happiness" really means in the
mind of a so-called child prodigy. And who among us regular folks is really
happy or successful?

Couple of things I do know, about Jonathan Russell and his parents.

1) He is not a "child prodigy" as one would normally define a person who has
this enormous gift for performing at super star level out of the box, with
minimal training or practice. And he is not narrowly focused on playing the
violin to the exclusion of the rest of a normal (if we can define that)
childhood life. He is a regular kid with his head screwed on straight and he
does all the regular kid things.

2) He picked up the violin on his own, not at the urging of his parents.

3) He was then taught to play by ear by his mom who teaches Suzuki method.

4) He was then taught to read music. And while he studies with Andy Stein
and others, he does not do so fanatically, nor does he focus as much as a
lot of people do, on music. He has many other interests.

5) His parents do not push him. While they encourage him, they are very
aware of the problems of "stage" parents and vicariously living one's life
through one's children. If anything, they protect him from performing too
much and from becoming narrowly focused.

6) At the same time, they recognize that he has some talent for jazz and so
they encourage it.

7) And not being stupid people, if his parents were going to "push' a
musical career on "J", they sure as hell wouldn't push him to OKOM. ;-) VBG


That being said, IMO performing artists are, well, sort of different. As
those performing artists on the DJML well know. Like this quote from David
Michalek, newly married to prima ballerina Wendy Whelan:

"The woman I married is not the woman I see dancing, "I've had to resign
myself to this disconnect. There's a woman on stage whom I obviously
recognize, but it is not someone I entirely know. It's not the woman I make
eggs with in the morning. It's not the woman I encounter backstage even two
or three minutes after a performance. No matter how close I can get to
Wendy, there's a change of context that is so subtle and profound. I used to
try and figure it out, and now I realize I can't, it's the X factor that
makes her an artist."

Wendy's view? In answer to the question posed by a journalist; "Is being a
ballerina joyful or tragic?", she replied;

"Both. Every life is a death."

Cheers to David for understanding the complexities of being the significant
other of a performing artist. Cheers to Wendy for seeing both sides of
performing. Bless them both for being able to adjust to each other and
thrive in their marriage. Like playing jazz, it isn't easy unless you
commit, have ears, and listen.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone