Some good things and some bad -- he's working on it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBkFs_zzkA8

I certainly agree with that. His dynamics and overall expression seem to be there. As he's working on it, I would try to get him to "settle" a little more. When he tends to flub notes, he seems to be rushing through the beat. You can hear this quite well in the first 7 seconds, in the 5th-7th measures especially. He misses the note on the 2nd half of the 2nd beat, in favor of rushing into the grace notes that lead into the next downbeat.

I think he's on his way to getting this one under his belt, though, and the better he settles into it, the better this is going to sound.

Thanks for the advice last week, Derulux. Things are more settled and slower now. This recording is still missing those chords you mentioned but he's since corrected the problem. Take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BVFRGez5iQ

Anytime! You certainly have a gifted and talented youngster on your hands.

First thing I noticed is that this is remarkably better. Not just a little better, but incredibly better. He really took his time in this version, and you can hear him settle into the notes much better than the first take. Very promising for such a youngster. So, please keep in mind that I'm really nit-picking because I think he can take the performance from "good for a 7 year old" to "good for anybody" and beyond.

Second thing I noticed is that his hand can't quite reach an octave yet! haha I didn't even notice that in the first take. That made me start looking at fingering a little bit. When he plays thirds, he uses 13 for every third. Is that because his hand is small, or because he hasn't developed the technique yet to use 24, 35, and other combinations? If the hand is small, nothing can be done until he grows a bit. But if he can reach without straining, taking a look at some other combinations will help improve his technique.

At the start of the C section, it is especially noticable that he does not give the same dynamic value to every note. I don't really think he mashes notes here, more that he doesn't play every note as clearly as possible. Some don't sound loud enough to be heard over the other notes, so it sounds a little mashed. You can hear and see his hand in action at 1:18. Looks a little mashed, but not terribly so. A little slow practice here might not hurt.. should be easily correctable, given the miles and miles he's taken the piece since the first listen.

One last comment for this recording.. watch his right hand pinky. He's developing what I facetiously call "flying pinky syndrome." It's usually the result of a technique issue between the 3rd and 4th fingers, but see if you can get him to keep the pinky down without delving too deeply into technique or philosophy. If it's correctable that way, great. He'll be much better off down the road.

I'm looking forward to more good things.. please keep posting and updating progress and new pieces. I think we're watching the early development of a very talented youngster. Thank you for sharing!

I agree with this assessment. The tempo is rushed when he makes errors. Perhaps use a metronome to fix.

All in all, great stuff!

Very good! At seven years of age, I was picking my nose and watching The Simpsons. I wish I was as talented at seven. Keep up the great playing, mate!

Love it! He's going to be a great player later on! Keep nurturing!