Art directly from the Cathedral of the Mind: Alma Deutcher

[Asher Kelman]

We have great ideas and then the work to exploit and form this to some physical expression that evokes emotion, entertains, draws us in, recruits followers and perhaps pushes boundaries begins.

However, great ideas are ten a penny. Most discover that even preliminary execution is an almost insurmountable challenge, so most attempts come short of creative promise.

How about the ability to hear music that's fully formed with progressions, variations, harmonies and playful surprises?

Daily Telegraph: Almy Deutcher​

That's the rare gift of the 21st Century bestowed on us in the innate talent of a young girl in the UK with her tree house, magic skipping rope and home schooling. When she is having a conversation, skipping or swirling her skipping rope, entire melodies arrive in her head and she has to write them down. she does not "compose" by thinking up the tune, rather the music, or in case of opera, the trained voices, are heard in almost finished form!

Extracted, I believe from home movie byGuy Deutcher: Almy Deutcher with her magic slipping rope
​

At age 4 she puzzled her parents by appearing to play at the piano songs by some classical composer they couldn't identify. To their surprise and bewilderment, they had come from her mind, fully formed. She just heard them in her head!

Look here for a glimpse of this exceptional talent. Her opera "Cinderella" composed and directed by Alma, now ten years old, in Vienna conducted by Zubin Mehta.

One can only marvel at what treasures there are hidden in the recesses of the mind!

Who in photography, poetry or art has such facility to fully
experience what's normally hidden in the Cathedral of the mind?​

We are blessed. Surely this phenomenon of an unconscious creativity delivering fully formed treasures can't be just limited to music. I know that writers can experience parts of a story appearing on the typewritten page that their fingers transmitted from their brain without any effort to compose or conjure up those new ideas. They just flow. That has happened to me.

Wouldn't such facility be present for other advanced skills? Now why can't we have an "Alma" who naturally understands how to persuade away hatreds and connivence and bring us peace?

Asher

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

...We are blessed. Now why can't we have an Alma who understands how to bring us peace?...

We may have many of them already. But knowing what to do and actually being able to do it are two different skill sets.

 

[Asher Kelman]

We may have many of them already. But knowing what to do and actually being able to do it are two different skill sets.

Cem,

I guess you are right. I hope not! I admit to you that getting a following is natural with a musical talent expressed by an Alma. Also a child "Dalai Lama", with all his wisdom is isolated.

I doubt "The wisdom to reach peace among nations" would ever come from an obedient child sitting through a school day of 40 minute lessons! But who has the devotion to home-school a talented child of exceptional potential?

Perhaps we should pay more attention to these rare gifts as for sure we waste a lot of resources with most schooling anyway!

With most of us being taught like parrots, we chirp what we've been taught. We need what's different! We need what's promising they have NOT been taught!

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

My only biological grandchild is my eldest daughter's daughter, born in 1994.

I was in my daughter's hospital room just shortly after the birth when a nurse brought the baby into the room. One of the friends or relatives that was there (likely a teacher - that was my daughter's profession) said, "Just think of all she will learn."

I said, "I suspect she knows already."

She was not (that we could discern) as prodigious as Alma, but in her early years (and of course since) there were many amazing abilities noted!

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

.........One of the friends or relatives that was there (likely a teacher - that was my daughter's profession) said, "Just think of all she will learn."

I said, "I suspect she knows already."

She was not (that we could discern) as prodigious as Alma, but in her early years (and of course since) there were many amazing abilities noted!

Doug,

So what special attributes appeared and did the family have the opportunity and means to nurture them?

I have come to think that most such gifted children should be home-schooled, (and connected with their local home school network for social activities), as these gifted children are some of the most valuable resources a nation can have and we should pay for all the expenses!

They need customized education and fresh air!

Whether the kids naturally can unlock a Rubrics cube, compose sonatas or do calculate in their head for amusement, we need to ensure these gifts are not squashed in schools that work for exams and the average child!

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

Doug,

So what special attributes appeared . . .

An early example, when Julia was perhaps 7 months old or so, was when her mother brought her to our home for a visit. We didn't have much in the way of toys, so I went into the garage and fetched a Western Electric telephone set (likely a 500D). Of course these had two plungers in the handset cradle to operate the switchhook. They both pressed on a common yoke inside, which operated the switch proper (so if the handset were improperly placed in the cradle, either plunger would serve to keep the phone in the "on-hook state).

Julia pressed one of the plungers down, and of course the other one went down as well. She giggled. She let up on the plunger, and the other one rose. She giggled. Then she pressed down on the other plunger, and its mate dropped. She giggled. Then she let up on that plunger, and the other one rose. She giggled.

Then she turned the telephone set upside down, almost certainly to see if she could see what made it work that way.

She had a wondrous sense of spatial relationships and of the movement of objects, about which I could tell many wondrous stories.

When she was a little older, her mother returned to teaching, and Julia would spend week days with us. Before she could talk (that is to say, speak English), she would often set up the collection of dolls ans stuffed animals that were at our house into a classroom arrangement (we have no idea how she then knew what a classroom was like). She would then lecture her "students" in a language she had made up.

. . . and did the family have the opportunity and means to nurture them?

Yes, from an intellectual standpoint. But her abilities were not such that, for example, the family had to expend great sums on professional training, as for a musical prodigy or a potential champion gymnast. She did, however, attend a very good private school until high school. It was church-affiliated, but there did not seem to be a lot of bad things happened from that, and that situation helped keep the cost from being astronomical.

I have come to think that most such gifted children should be home-schooled, (and connected with their local home school network for social activities), as these gifted children are some of the most valuable resources a nation can have and we should pay for all the expenses!

They need customized education and fresh air!

Whether the kids naturally can unlock a Rubrics cube, compose sonatas or do calculate in their head for amusement, we need to ensure these gifts are not squashed in schools that work for exams and the average child!

I understand your thoughts about home schooling, and many of the most capable children we know here in Alamogordo are in fact home-schooled.

Best regards,

Doug