This is my favourite part!!
November 9, 2010 4:33 PM Subscribe
My favorite part is the nose picking, btw
posted by empath at 4:41 PM on November 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by empath at 4:41 PM on November 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Here's that same three year old playing the goddamn violin.
posted by griphus at 4:47 PM on November 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by griphus at 4:47 PM on November 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Wow! He has everything down except the standard beat pattern - rhythm, dynamics, color, even some cuing. Also knows the piece forward and backward, clearly. Heck, he's better than some of my college Intro to Conducting classmates were at the end of the semester.
I think Beethoven is a great composer to introduce kids to - so dramatic, complicated without being confounding, full of hummable melodies. And so satisfyingly loud at times. This was one of my favorite pieces around that age.
Also - of COURSE the show must go on, even if you have a booger.
posted by Knicke at 4:47 PM on November 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
I think Beethoven is a great composer to introduce kids to - so dramatic, complicated without being confounding, full of hummable melodies. And so satisfyingly loud at times. This was one of my favorite pieces around that age.
Also - of COURSE the show must go on, even if you have a booger.
posted by Knicke at 4:47 PM on November 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
made my day, thanks.
posted by exlotuseater at 4:48 PM on November 9, 2010
posted by exlotuseater at 4:48 PM on November 9, 2010
You would have expected it to sound like Beethoven's 2nd Movement, but no.
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:49 PM on November 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:49 PM on November 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
I see he has a Gap endorsement contract.
posted by found missing at 4:54 PM on November 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by found missing at 4:54 PM on November 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
5-year-old conducts Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
posted by John Cohen at 4:59 PM on November 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by John Cohen at 4:59 PM on November 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
Also - of COURSE the show must go on, even if you have a booger.
Unpossible, you just made me giggle with glee more than that kid did.
posted by dabitch at 5:12 PM on November 9, 2010
Unpossible, you just made me giggle with glee more than that kid did.
posted by dabitch at 5:12 PM on November 9, 2010
MAESTRO!
posted by wherever, whatever at 5:18 PM on November 9, 2010
posted by wherever, whatever at 5:18 PM on November 9, 2010
My favorite part is the nose picking, btw
I don't know, I do all sorts of things while picking my nose. For me the best part is when he loses his baton and then falls over from happiness, and excitement, and laughter, and glee.
Squeeeee.
posted by Alex404 at 5:38 PM on November 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
I don't know, I do all sorts of things while picking my nose. For me the best part is when he loses his baton and then falls over from happiness, and excitement, and laughter, and glee.
Squeeeee.
posted by Alex404 at 5:38 PM on November 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
This is, like, prodigy-level stuff, right? I mean, he is obviously actually conducting, and it's so natural and beautiful - what do you even call this? It's not savantism, I don't think - I'm just so moved and baffled by this. Incredible.
posted by tristeza at 6:22 PM on November 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by tristeza at 6:22 PM on November 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
Man, do these people live near, like, a community symphony or a university orchestra? This kid needs a real orchestra to conduct! (Also? Fundraising event of the year!)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:53 PM on November 9, 2010
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:53 PM on November 9, 2010
That was fantastic--thank you for posting it! I actually laughed out loud with delight while watching it, especially at the end.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:11 PM on November 9, 2010
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:11 PM on November 9, 2010
Wowee, and the rollaround on the floor as the grand finale--little kids have truly got it down. Make no bout adout it!
Thanks.
posted by emhutchinson at 7:18 PM on November 9, 2010
Thanks.
posted by emhutchinson at 7:18 PM on November 9, 2010
(gasp) Leopold!
posted by erniepan at 7:25 PM on November 9, 2010 [6 favorites]
posted by erniepan at 7:25 PM on November 9, 2010 [6 favorites]
That made me cry. Reminds me to really LISTEN to classical, volume way up. It deserves so much more than where I've got it now -- snippets on the car radio in between grocery shopping and going to the bank. There's no room for THIS in such a dead scenario. Bravo, young maestro!
posted by missmary6 at 7:37 PM on November 9, 2010
posted by missmary6 at 7:37 PM on November 9, 2010
This is wonderful. Unlike so many other little-kids-conducting videos (I was inspired to do a quick survey), this kid frequently looks like he's really talking to an orchestra in front of him instead of just pounding out the beat. And the falling and rolling around with happiness at the end really is fabulous.
posted by colfax at 7:44 PM on November 9, 2010
posted by colfax at 7:44 PM on November 9, 2010
My emotional brain is clapping and jumping up and down.
My rational brain wants to go back and look for the cg artifacts in this Gap ad.
posted by CaseyB at 8:12 PM on November 9, 2010
My rational brain wants to go back and look for the cg artifacts in this Gap ad.
posted by CaseyB at 8:12 PM on November 9, 2010
LOVE this. Tears of joy at the end when he loses the baton and collapses in happy giggles. So much happiness in this kid.
griphus: "Here's that same three year old playing the goddamn violin. "
All right, my favorite part of this one is his little sister wandering in the frame behind him, playing air violin (with his conducting wand, I believe).
posted by stennieville at 8:59 PM on November 9, 2010
griphus: "Here's that same three year old playing the goddamn violin. "
All right, my favorite part of this one is his little sister wandering in the frame behind him, playing air violin (with his conducting wand, I believe).
posted by stennieville at 8:59 PM on November 9, 2010
griphus: "Here's that same three year old playing the goddamn violin. "
goddamn cutest little violin I ever seen, too.
posted by palacewalls at 11:13 PM on November 9, 2010
goddamn cutest little violin I ever seen, too.
posted by palacewalls at 11:13 PM on November 9, 2010
This is right up there with some of the finest conductor-related comedy, a larger category than you might expect. For example: Comedy Shuffle, Mr. Bean and Rowan Atkinson, Cirque Du Soleil , Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Jack Black, Scotty Watson, Howard Parker, Ernie Kovacs, etc.
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:26 AM on November 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:26 AM on November 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
Man, I was also way impressed and overjoyed by this. It has supplanted cat + baby as my new Prozac.
What's amazing is how the stuff he must have learned from watching conductors (he's got that flowy bendy wrist thing down!) is totally mashed up with what seems to be purely improvised exuberance. It's like conducting and interpretive dance all at once. In some cases his made-up vocabulary is way more expressive than the standard gestures.
Compare this video, in which he's now four years old. It's still astounding, but the gestures are much more formalized, more "normal" already. Geez, do we really get the pure lifeforce sucked out of us so early?
posted by speicus at 3:25 AM on November 10, 2010
What's amazing is how the stuff he must have learned from watching conductors (he's got that flowy bendy wrist thing down!) is totally mashed up with what seems to be purely improvised exuberance. It's like conducting and interpretive dance all at once. In some cases his made-up vocabulary is way more expressive than the standard gestures.
Compare this video, in which he's now four years old. It's still astounding, but the gestures are much more formalized, more "normal" already. Geez, do we really get the pure lifeforce sucked out of us so early?
posted by speicus at 3:25 AM on November 10, 2010
Apparently I fell in love with Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade when I was 18 months old and that's not in the least unusual. I've seen kids the same age spellbound by live classical music when the orchestra my husband plays in does outreach concerts in shopping malls. Of course there's a place for nursery rhymes and silly, fun songs, but even very young children can enjoy great music and it's a shame we don't give more of them the opportunity to experience it.
Lots of things amazing about this little guy's conducting, but the best part is his utter joy in the music.
posted by angiep at 7:29 AM on November 10, 2010
Lots of things amazing about this little guy's conducting, but the best part is his utter joy in the music.
posted by angiep at 7:29 AM on November 10, 2010
Wow, the imaginative stuff kids will do when they're forced to sleep in a tent in the dining room.
posted by melloscope at 10:51 AM on November 10, 2010
posted by melloscope at 10:51 AM on November 10, 2010
Awesome!
Also, watching his arm movements has finally clued me in to what exactly my fetus is doing in there. Clearly, he's conducting my pancreas.
posted by sonika at 11:54 AM on November 10, 2010 [3 favorites]
Also, watching his arm movements has finally clued me in to what exactly my fetus is doing in there. Clearly, he's conducting my pancreas.
posted by sonika at 11:54 AM on November 10, 2010 [3 favorites]
I wish they didn't make all the cuts -- I could have watched the whole movement.
posted by of strange foe at 12:05 PM on November 10, 2010
posted by of strange foe at 12:05 PM on November 10, 2010
. . . even very young children can enjoy great music and it's a shame we don't give more of them the opportunity to experience it.
Seriously! Children love classical pieces (and broccoli) if they don't know they aren't supposed to. My theoretical kids are not going to own any "children's music." When I was little, my life was full of music -- classic rock, country greats, Irish and American folk -- and I sang every day (by request, too). I had one (1) piece of kids' music, and it was the theme from Fraggle Rock. It never occurred to me to want any more. Kids need kid-sized beds and chairs, not kid-sized songs.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:37 PM on November 10, 2010
Seriously! Children love classical pieces (and broccoli) if they don't know they aren't supposed to. My theoretical kids are not going to own any "children's music." When I was little, my life was full of music -- classic rock, country greats, Irish and American folk -- and I sang every day (by request, too). I had one (1) piece of kids' music, and it was the theme from Fraggle Rock. It never occurred to me to want any more. Kids need kid-sized beds and chairs, not kid-sized songs.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:37 PM on November 10, 2010
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posted by empath at 4:41 PM on November 9, 2010