In 2017 America comedienne Ellen DeGeneres, along with well-known presenter Steve Harvey, created a wonderful new television program called “Little Big Shots”. This show feature an array of very talented children whose gifts range from music to sports. In the UK they have their own version of the show called “Little Big Shots with Dawn French”. This version of the show is hosted by popular British actress/ comedienne and writer Dawn French, and has proven extremely popular with it viewing audience.
In the clip below we meet a very gifted young man named Leo Bailey-Yang. This brilliant young pianist is just amazing to watch. I have never seen one so young master the piano like Leo has. At just eight-years –old, Leo plays his chosen instrument like a mature professional. Leo started learning the piano when he was six, and is obviously a natural.
This child “prodigy” is the youngest person ever to pass the “Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music” grade eight piano exam, not only with flying colors, but also with distinction. An amazing feat for a child who has only been studying for two short years. Leo’s first ever piano competition saw him come home with three gold-medals, he has also performed many international music festivals.
In his appearance on Little Big Shots, Leo shocked host French by placing a blindfold over his eyes, then performing one of music’s most difficult pieces to master. He had chosen “Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s” “Flight of the Bumblebee” and made it look like child’s-play. The look on Dawns face said it all, where-on-earth did this young man’s talents come from? He then played “Mozart’s” piano concerto no.11. To add his own style, young Leo added some jazzy components to the piece as well as standing and turning around whilst he was playing.
I have always been drawn to child-prodigies like Leo. It just astounds me where these young talented people get their talent from. I guess we all have a natural talent for something, in some people it is sport, in other’s academia is where there abilities lay, and in other people like myself…….well I’m still waiting for my natural abilities to show themselves……but that’s ok, I am in no hurry. Music has always been one of my loves, and I learnt to play the guitar when I was 13-years-old, but unfortunately today I seem to not have the time to pick it up and practice, it’s a shame really, I may have been a child-prodigy, I just never reached my full potential…………Yeah, right.
Click on the link below, and be amazed at this young man’s abilities. Leo Bailey-Yang, a name that I am sure we will all hear again as time passes and this remarkable young man matures into one of the world’s best exponent of the 88-keys he has chosen to make his own.
