So my question was, ‘Okay, who showed him how to do that? Somebody had to show Matthew how to– how to play this song.’ And nobody showed him.” “Matt was playing the chords and the melody of the song at the same He hadn’t had a lesson or anything. “He was playing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’ But he was playin’ it with both hands,” Moses Whitaker said. Moses and May Whitaker, Matthew’s parents His parents, Moses and May Whitaker, say Matthew had an ear for music before he could even talk. Whitaker grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey. “I heard like three notes and you already know what song it is? Lord,” Alfonsi said. ‘Just A Closer Walk with Thee,'” Whitaker said, identifying a song he heard. But as they walked around, Alfonsi noticed Whitaker was able to cut through the sensory assault and identify songs in seconds. Whitaker, Alfonsi and her crew negotiated their way through the thick roux of humidity, suffocating crowds and the 14 stages of music that often boil over into the fairgrounds. “But, you know, once I started playin’, I felt good.” “Honestly, I was a tiny bit nervous,” Whitaker said. But even with all his talent, Whitaker said he still feels some nerves before a big show. The sheer complexity and spontaneity of his sets make the most seasoned musicians sweat and jazz fans go wild. Whitaker plays with his shoes off so he can feel the pedals and his head turned so he can feel the crowd. Like, this is where jazz started,” Whitaker told 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi. This past spring, Whitaker made his first appearance at the New Orleans Jazz Festival. It’s acoustic acrobatics performed over 88 keys and it is not for the faint of heart. Twisting melodies, crafting complex harmonies and improvising at lightning speed. Whitaker doesn’t just play music, he plays with it. He’s been called a prodigy and his talent is so extraordinary he’s also caught the attention of scientists who are now studying his brain and trying to understand his vision of music. Matthew is a jazz pianist who is blind, and since the age of 11, he’s been performing around the world. He may be blind, but a neuroscientist has found Whitaker’s visual cortex goes into overdrive when he plays.Įvery so often, someone so young does something so amazing you can’t help but wonder, how do they do that? That’s what happened the first time we heard Matthew Whitaker play piano. He made it all the way to the quarterfinals.Matthew Whitaker has been rocking crowds with his improvisational piano playing for most of his short life. Of America's Got Talent his audition was the first one televised that season. At the age of 9, Adrian auditioned for the ninth season Adrian made a guest appearance on the German television show Superkids, and in 2016, won Child Genius on the Lifetime Network. To give me the opportunity to continue my education and my passion for the never-endingĪdrian has displayed his talent on the Ellen Degeneres Show and The Queen Latifah Show, performed with the Zac Brown Band at Fenway Park in Boston, and appeared in Anchorman 2 with Will Ferrell. With wonderful professors and great friends. “I am very lucky to be in an amazing school like Simon’s Rock, and to collaborate Knowledge and adherence to curiosity signified to Patty that “Adrian belongs here.” His first day in the lab, Patty recognized that Adrian was ready to engage. “OurĬonversations are some of the things I look most forward to during college.” Super helpful” and she really has a knack for putting things into perspective. Patty has provided Adrian the best advice. When he wasn’t doing homework or practicing his music, Adrian would stop Adrian studied chemistry his first year and loved his lab with Professor Patricia Dooley, who is now his academicĪdvisor.
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