Jennifer Lin
Neil Yamamoto sent me several video links a while back, and there was one I didn't listen to until today.Much to my good fortune, it was mind-blowing.
The video is a performance by pianist Jennifer Lin, who was fourteen at the time this was filmed.
That's fourteen, as in eighth grade.
It's a performance at TED, and around the sixteen minute mark of the video, she has someone from the audience pick out five notes at random from a set of index cards. The notes are read out loud, Lin thinks for a few seconds, then improvs an absolutely astonishing piece of music.
The video is here, and in addition to playing three other pieces ("Bumble Boogie" at the end is incredible), she also speaks for a short while about the process of creativity and composition.
A note: if you want to move around in the video (there are no controls apparent), just move your cursor into the video--then you'll see a list of sections and you can move forward or back as you wish.
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