Customer Reviews

In the Key of Genius: The Extraordinary Life of Derek Paravicini

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The story of Derek Paravicini was a fascinating read with regard to his development as a person, a pianist and a performer. His teacher's sensitivity and attention to detail draws you and in and makes you feel like you know the people in the story personally. And it is inspiring to anyone who wants to further develop skills and creativity in the arts! Read it and pass it on to another lover of music and stories of human triumph over adversity!

Derek was featured on "60 Minutes", and I was so intrigued by his life story that I bought the book. It is the story of a young English man who has several handicaps,including being blind since birth. But he is a musical genius. He became inspired by the piano when he was a very young child, and he developed the talent to play practically any music that he heard, even if it was only once. Not only can he play complicated pieces of music with no practice, but he can re-arrange the music on the fly. He is also an excellent composer.

The other great story here is the role of Derek's teacher. He is a leader and an inspiration on how to develop children--with handicaps or not.

This is an astonishing account of a young man who is without doubt a musical Genius and should be read by everyone with a child who is any way handicapped.

I hit upon a YouTube video of a 60 Minutes ineterview about Derek Paravicini. It was so facinating I had to know more. I chose to order the book from a dealer in the U.K. I could have gotten it quicker from the US but got it about a week before they said I would. I guess the next thing will be to buy the CD! I wish that there were updates about Derek that could be kept with the book since it was published in 2007.
The book was very good and so was the service.

I purchased this book for a friend who absolutely loved it. We are both music teachers and found the story quite amazing.