Marc Yu Born Genius
>> Saturday, February 21, 2009
Marc Yu is a seven year old like no other. While his friends are putting on their pyjamas to get ready for bed, Marc gets dressed for a classical concert, but not to watch, he's going to play. Marc can play more than forty classical pieces from memory.
What is it that makes gifted children so special? Do they just work harder than others or are they born with brilliant brains?
Marc has been invited to play an audition for Vassily Sinaisky, a world-famous conductor, at the LA Philharmonic. Maestro Sinaisky has seen talent come and go, getting the man's ear for ten minutes is a rare privilege for anyone, let alone a little boy.
What is it that makes gifted children so special? Do they just work harder than others or are they born with brilliant brains?
Marc has been invited to play an audition for Vassily Sinaisky, a world-famous conductor, at the LA Philharmonic. Maestro Sinaisky has seen talent come and go, getting the man's ear for ten minutes is a rare privilege for anyone, let alone a little boy.
Professor Ellen Winner, a developmental psychologist, has spent the last fifteen years studying gifted children. When she asks Chloe, Marc's mother, when she discovered his musical talent, she is told t6hat Marc had been at a birthday party when he heard "Mary Had a Little Lamb". He came home and played it on the piano. He was two years old and had never had a piano lesson.
Stories like Marc's seem to defy logic, but science is beginning to shed light on the enigma of God-given talent.
Gottfried Schlaug started playing piano when he was seven years old. He could have had a career in music but, decided to become a neuroscientist instead. Gottfried has scanned the brains of dozens of professional musicians to work out how they produce the brain-power that music demands. He explains: "There's hardly any other skill, any other activity, that would involve this much brain real-estate. The right question would be: which parts of the brain are not active when playing a musical instrument?".
Stories like Marc's seem to defy logic, but science is beginning to shed light on the enigma of God-given talent.
Gottfried Schlaug started playing piano when he was seven years old. He could have had a career in music but, decided to become a neuroscientist instead. Gottfried has scanned the brains of dozens of professional musicians to work out how they produce the brain-power that music demands. He explains: "There's hardly any other skill, any other activity, that would involve this much brain real-estate. The right question would be: which parts of the brain are not active when playing a musical instrument?".
Musician's brains look like they're built for this job; several areas of the brain are bigger than normal. One of them is the cerebellum which takes up only 10% of brain volume but contains more nerve cells than the rest of the brain. This tiny organ works harder and faster than any other part of the brain as it orchestrates thousands of muscle fibres in the body.
Another area of brain that is bigger in musicians is the corpus callosum, a strip of tissue connecting the two hemispheres. It's a mission-critical organ in a pianist who needs to precisely synchronise the movements of the left and the right hand sides of the body. But why are musician's brains different? Are they born or made?
Gottfried has teamed up with Ellen Winner to investigate whether the brain shapes music or music shapes the brain. It is a question that has baffled scientists for a very long time. Is it nature or nurture that makes a genius?
Genie Wiley was kept in isolation for many years, as a child. She was rescued at the age of thirteen but never gained the proper power of speech. This taught scientists that once a critical window of brain development had passed, there was no going back.
A growing brain is both vulnerable and extremely malleable. Marc's mother expoited this quality to teach him one of the most complex languages in the world; Cantonese. Stimulation is essential for a growing brain, by the time as baby is born it has already done 12 weeks worth of listening. Very often, a child's first memory is a melody. Chloe recalls: "By the time Marc started talking, he would hum the same symphonies I had been playing while I was pregnant". Chloe certainly didn't waste any time with Marc's education, but is there any point in starting this early?
Another area of brain that is bigger in musicians is the corpus callosum, a strip of tissue connecting the two hemispheres. It's a mission-critical organ in a pianist who needs to precisely synchronise the movements of the left and the right hand sides of the body. But why are musician's brains different? Are they born or made?
Gottfried has teamed up with Ellen Winner to investigate whether the brain shapes music or music shapes the brain. It is a question that has baffled scientists for a very long time. Is it nature or nurture that makes a genius?
Genie Wiley was kept in isolation for many years, as a child. She was rescued at the age of thirteen but never gained the proper power of speech. This taught scientists that once a critical window of brain development had passed, there was no going back.
A growing brain is both vulnerable and extremely malleable. Marc's mother expoited this quality to teach him one of the most complex languages in the world; Cantonese. Stimulation is essential for a growing brain, by the time as baby is born it has already done 12 weeks worth of listening. Very often, a child's first memory is a melody. Chloe recalls: "By the time Marc started talking, he would hum the same symphonies I had been playing while I was pregnant". Chloe certainly didn't waste any time with Marc's education, but is there any point in starting this early?
In the late 1960s, America was a divided country seething with tension. In the long hot summer of 67 the ghettos of several major cities erupted into violence. Many African-Americans felt excluded from society; denied access to the American Dream. Politicians tried to stem the tide by pouring money into schooling and social programs. It didn't work, disadvantaged children were still being left behind.
A group of psychologists in North Carolina had an idea that they hoped might solve the problem. Joe Sparling and his team wanted to reach children far younger than they had ever done before. The team went out into deprived neighbourhoods and hand-picked 111 new-born babies for a unique experiment. They called it the Abecederian Project.
A group of psychologists in North Carolina had an idea that they hoped might solve the problem. Joe Sparling and his team wanted to reach children far younger than they had ever done before. The team went out into deprived neighbourhoods and hand-picked 111 new-born babies for a unique experiment. They called it the Abecederian Project.
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