Child Prodigees

On the matter of child prodigees. Firstly, what does it mean to be a prodigee? Who's doing the measuring? What are the criteria? Those are thick questions that are rarely addressed.

On the first: What does it mean to be a prodigee? It usually means that somewhere someone has recongnised a child to be (I hate the word) 'gifted' in some domain. They are passionate in some capacity and have been allowed to explore it fully. Sometimes the passion is not their own. Sometimes a child can be pushed by parents or family or coaches to such a degree as to have developed their skill by extension. Maybe they have incredible technical aptitude for painting. Maybe they have incredible technical aptitude on an instrument. Does it really matter? The key is that someone has given them the label. Without it they are just another child with a passion.

On the second: Who's doing the measuring? Is it the general population? If so, then any child who can outperform an average adult would certainly be labelled a prodigee. Is it their arts community? This is rare, but if so then one has to question the community's aim. Do they want to protect the individual? Do they want to attach themselves to the fame? Is it out of kindness or goodness? Is it the child's family or teacher? If so, then one must certainly question the motives. In any case I despair that the child should get so wrapped up in the praise, the pressure, or the responsibility that they stagnate, cease to experience their childhood, or burn out.

On the third: What are the criteria? I have often heard of emerging or young artists who can 'draw as well as Leonardo' or who is 'more technically advanced than Louis Armstrong' or who 'writes with more eloquence than Shakespeare.' Under what criteria? Technical skill - with the visual arts this usually means realism, and with music it means their capacity to play difficult pieces quickly. Does that make an individual an incredible artist or an incredible machine? Endearingly innocent - they're children, they should be. Deeply moving/Emotional - but with no experiences to invoke, doesn't this smack of irrational? How many are balanced, thought-provoking, enduring innovators, sensitive and delicate, daring, profoundly influential...

Are all artists these things? No. Are all great artists these things? No. Are these ideals that serve to drive on many artists? Yes. And they are certainly more meaningful than a label: less constraining, more personal, more enduring.

What do I think of the latest child prodigee? Ask me again in twenty years.