My friend Kim sent this awesome piece. More inspiration, more adorable, more things to ponder… Thanks Kimchi!
Frank ‘Sugar Chile’ Robinson was eight years old when he performed Caldonia in the 1946 MGM Film No Leave No Love. His pure boogie-woogie is notable not only because he is so young, but because of his unique playing style, where he uses fists and slams to create his fabulous sound. Neither of his parents were musicians and by age two he was playing the piano by ear, formulating his own style based on “what worked”. View the video here.
Soon after we found it, we happened to be watching a video of the great jazz pianist Thelonius Monk playing the piano in the 50′s. He, too, plays in a unique, very personal style, bundled fingers seeming to slam the keys to make stunningly clear sounds, and often playing with one hand crossed over the other instead of following the usual divided down the middle piano style: left plays left of middle, right plays right of middle. He started playing the piano when he was six years old and was said to be self-taught. View his video here.
These guys just PLAY; they figured it out themselves. The message to us: formal schooling and traditional methods are NOT necessarily the best route to creating something true. Nor necessarily essential.
I really love the ending. It is indeed true. I am a self taught violinist. I only got 2 years of lessons when I was I think 5. I picked up fiddle when I was 7… and really have only been doing that since then. (Well, besides what we are required to play in my school’s symphony orchestra) And quite frankly, I love it. Thanks for the post. It brightened my day.
Dude. I wrote an entire paper re: formal schooling and traditional methods not necessarily being the best path last December. Speaking of which, I’m about to email you about something.