6/5/07

little drummer baby- julian pavone

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This kid can't play...what a farce...the press releases his parents put out are sickening.

Anonymous said...

‘Three-Year-Old Julian Pavone, the World’s Youngest Drummer, Is Invited To Study at Prestigious Berklee Music School in Boston’
Source: Bernardino Pavone
Here we have adoring parents who are so enthralled by their toddling son’s ability to bang on drums that they’ve made a strange little family business out of selling him as a prodigy. Their newest release reports that an instructor from the Berklee College of Music has taken note of their tiny son’s advanced development and invited him to study there this summer.

Having watched Julian’s videos, I can report this much: the child is placed in front of a drum kit and he proceeds to bang on it, sometimes haltingly, sometimes abstractly and occasionally, for seconds at a time, almost in some kind of rhythm. It’s definitely an adorable display of miniature showmanship, but the absurdly serious tone of the press release makes me more than a little bit uneasy. It’s a whirlwind recap of endorsement deals, TV appearances, and grandiose claims culminating in the Berklee invitation — all for a kid who’s way too young to comprehend his career choice.

Most telling bit: the parents say that their son is “considered the Tiger Woods of the music industry.” In other words, they’re delusional.

Although I’m loath to dis a little kid, I’m not sure I’m buying the prodigy business. He’s definitely a child with the physical ability to hit drums with drumsticks, but if you ignore the fact that he’s three, he’s just a shitty drummer. Maybe his early start will make him perform at the level of a 15-year-old drummer when he’s 12, but in the meantime, let’s not worry too much about the little drummer boy’s denying some hardworking virtuoso a spot at Berklee. My editor, being an actual journalist, took the time to contact Berklee:

“The press release about Julian Pavone attending a Berklee program at the age of three appears to be the result of some miscommunication,” says Rob Hayes, Berklee’s assistant vice-president for public information. “We simply aren’t in the business of educating children that young. I expect our Summer Performance Program for high-school students will still be going strong 10 years from now, and perhaps Julian will join us at that point.”