3-year-old kid conducts Beethoven's Fifth impressively and, well, acts 3

The conductor as tyrannical eminence grise of the classical music world seems to be quickly becoming a thing of the past. Enter the young, fun-loving maestro with an infectious smile who makes classical music fun again.

But just how young is young? While Gustavo Dudamel, 29, is the informal poster boy of youthful baton beating, he appears positively ancient compared to "Jonathan," who has become a YouTube star for conducting Beethoven's Fifth Symphony at the age of 3.

In this video, little Jonathan conducts along to a recording of the fourth movement of the Fifth Symphony. Far from being a random arm-flailer, the tyke seems to know the difference between forte and piano, allegro and andante. At one point in the video, Jonathan picks his nose; being a consummate professional, he does not stop conducting to carry out the icky task.

NPR's Thomas Huizenga points out that little John's conducting style is similar to that of maestro Kristian Alexander conducting Canada's Kindred Spirits Orchestra of Markham, Ontario.

Little Jonathan is also a budding violinist. The person who posted his conducting video on YouTube has also uploaded a number of clips showing Jonathan, who is now 4 years old, playing classical pieces on the violin.

-- David Ng

 

Comments

[Humberto Capiro]

David,

Gustavo and Eloisa's son is not born YET! L.A. Times and other media will be there for the birth I'm sure! I get the feeling that before his butt or head comes out, you will see a baton!! After all he is a boy!

[Romeo Mandanas]

After our choir practice in Edmonton, AB, our choir conductor, organist, pianist composer, arranger told us about this wonderful three year old conducting Beethoven's fifth symphony. "Try to watch this kid conducts this classical piece of music and tell me what you think." Well, I think Jonathan is awesome! I want to see more of what he does with his talent. I congratulate his parents for giving him the best in life... love and care.

[Cheryl]

extraordinary...and The Gap must be pleased!

[uglyone]

The kid is half to a full beat late. he's re-acting, not leading. Still lots of fun.

[ObservantOne]

The "uglyone" should change the name to the "blind'n'deafone" or possibly to the "ignorantone" because anyone with functioning eyes and ears who knows about conducting can see and hear that the most astonishing thing about this video is that the boy is in fact LEADING much more than he is following.
At 0:30 he shows the beginning of the crescendo just before it starts happening in the recording. At 0:39 he shows the arrival of the C-major chord just before it actually arrives. At 1:28 he shows volume changes between loud and soft just ahead of them occurring in the music. At 2:29 he shows that the repeating pattern stops - just a fraction of a second before it does. At 3:18 - and this passage is rather difficult and requires real conducting skill - he shows the start of accelerando just before it actually begins in the orchestra and keeps leading it very impressively. At 3:44 he shows the abrupt change of rhythmical figure just before it happens.
In other words, he truly knows the piece by memory very well, and he instinctively feels how to demonstrate by conducting motions all important musical events in it - in most cases, exactly when they are about to happen and not a moment too late. Of course, he makes a few minor mistakes while doing this, but for his age the amount of things he does correctly is remarkable. His talent is outstanding.

[massageon]

This was amazing! I have a two year old, and I want to start playing classical music for him RIGHT AWAY!

When he says "this is my favorite part" with that huge smile on his face, I couldn't help but love him! What a special child!! Bravo to his parents!

[janet weaver]

Is there any reason why this little boy's last name is not given? I've been curious to know where he is from. It seems odd. If I had been an Austrian and heard about "Little Amadeus", years later I'd have loved to have remembered him as "Little Amadeus Mozart".