Chapter 1. Savant Musical Skills
1.1 Savant Musical Skills
Short Description
Rex is an 8 year old musical savant. He demonstrates extraordinary skill in playing the piano but, at the same time, he cannot dress himself, carry on a basic conversation, or understand basic concepts like shapes.
Long Description
Rex is an 8 year old musical savant. He demonstrates extraordinary skill in playing the piano but, at the same time, he cannot dress himself, carry on a basic conversation, or understand basic concepts like shapes.
Rex was born with a huge cyst in his brain, and at 4 months his doctors discovered he was blind. He didn’t learn to walk or talk and developed autistic-like symptoms. It seemed there was little hope for Rex until his father gave him a keyboard for his birthday. Rex immediately immersed himself in the keyboard, often playing until he fell asleep at night.
Rex started music lessons at age five. His first music teacher claimed that Rex’s “musical software was already in place” because of the astonishing rate that Rex was able to learn. Rex is capable of naming notes or combinations of notes that he hears, and can play a piece of music after hearing it once. His current music teacher claims that Rex is 100 times more musical than him and more musical than anyone he has ever met.