Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner How Does this Pianist/Guitarist Kid Rate

For my money he's looks to be the best combo pianist/guitarist I've ever come across. Course I can't say for certain cuz I don't play guitar but he looks pretty technically savvy to me. Anyone out there who does play guitar have any thoughts? He wants to come to the USA to pursue his music studies (he's just 17) so if anyone has any ideas about how to go about doing that please post so I can advise or, in the alternative, you can comment in his guestbook on his website:
http://jemboy.site.voila.fr
PS When you enter, click on his videos. He does Horowitz's Carmen Variations on there. Too bad he doesn't have a concert grand.

Not very highly.

yeah - I've seen this guy before (his site, not him) - I'd rank it as "just OK" - sure there is alot of speed, but I don't think it's very musical. especially the guitar, yeah he "shreds" alright, but it's barely listenable.

and his website is terrible as well

edit - ok, so I just went and relistened to some of this stuff.. I'll give him some credit.. he has achieved a high level of proficiency on guitar and piano, which takes alot of work.. some of his piano pieces aren't half bad either..

Hmmm.....see, I DO get fooled by those snazzy "licks" or whatever they call that "whooooo, whooo" glissandi up & down the sound spectrum. Could he make the cut in the highly competitive music business here in the USA, ala "American Idol" etc.?

Actually guitar is pretty easy to play if you can play piano well, shred is pretty simple really. The hard part isnt the speed its getting the right sound. (which I dont think he has IMO)

I'm sure he's too good for American Idol (seriously, what a joke that show is)

exactly.

-Paul'

Well.....he's got the looks.
17 you say?

Nice

Saw his chopin etude video. Gave me a headache. Technical savvy? maybe. Extremetly not musical at all. But who am i to judge? Looks- yeah. But hey, we have people here have them all. Check out the coffeeroom!

Heck, check out your photo album!

I'll admit, this kid has chops, but he's got a lot of cleaning up to do. I don't know if it was the sound quality, but it sounded extremely messy. His playing of the Carmen Variations made me want to break my moniter.

yuck. I play both instruments and I think he has some alright piano chops, but so sloppy.

And he is alright at guitar.

Honestly, I'm blown away by his technical skills, but that's just me. It's hard to tell how much musicality there is, because the recordings are poor, and the pieces he's playing are essentially just incredibly fancy exercises. However, I can't understand people's harsh criticism of him. He plays ridiculously fast, which is worth something, and there is a ton of precision and dexterity in his playing. The fact that he plays guitar and piano both as well as he does is also mind-boggling. What does it take to impress people around here, I wonder...?

I think he played the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody waaay too fast and sloppily. The Left Hand etude had virtually no dynamics. It wall all key banging. Those 2 were the ONLY ones I listened to, and I wasn't too impressed with either.

I adore Horowitz' Carmen Variations, but this guy butchers them. He can't maintain the tempo.

If anything, I just find his playing boring.

Why do you say this?

Yeah, why?

someone needs to tell him to either improve or stop, his horowizt carmen thing was horrible

I imagine he could be good, but he is trying to play pieces that are beyond him right now. The 6th Hungarian Rhapsody and the Carmen variations are two of my favorites, but his were terrible. Maybe I'm being too harsh. I have videos of Horowitz playing his variations, and Cziffra playing the rhapsody, and they are both unbelievable. So I was picturing that in my head while I was watching this guy butcher them both.

I think he's a little too worried about playing big, fancy, hard pieces to impress other people. I sometimes have the same problem. I want to play pieces that I'm not ready for yet. So every now and then, I have to remind myself to back off.

I think certain individuals misunderstood my original post. I was trying to get people's feel for how he rates as a "potential talent", not a finished artist, which I think some were unfairly judging him by. Remember he's only 17. There's lots of room for improvement, true. Fortunately he's got plenty of time to improve. The question was does he have what it takes to become a terrific rock keyboardist/guitarist along the lines of Keith Emerson, Rick Wakefield, Jimmy Hendricks etc. or is he just a kid w/ some talent, who's basically chasing an impossible dream (hmm...sounds like a good title for a song).

I agree with you Joe....I do think people misunderstood your intention, I think he does have talent, and he certainly can be a very potential concert pianist in the future. He certainly has things to improve, and have better interpertation about the pieces he plays....

However, a professional music career is really harsh, I believe finding an agent and sponsor and try to go to different compeitions will be a way to go to be discovered, meanwhile, apply to Peabody, Easman, Julia, or boston converstory in the States maybe good, he can sent in a video or tape as a 1st audition, and if they like it, then he can come in for a face-to-face audition, maybe he will be lucky enough to get a scholarship or something, if those school is too hard, then he can try either private or state music schools....I think he can get a scholarship from a state or private universities in the States....