Did anyone else watch this last night on Channel 5?
Link:
http://www.five.tv/programmes/extrao...musicalgenius/
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Channel 5
26-year-old Derek Paraviccini is completely blind and partly autistic; he can’t tell left from right or count to ten. Derek now lives in a RNIB home for the blind but despite his profound disabilities, his brain is a perfectly programmed musical computer.
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I thought it was astounding - his ability to play any tune perfectly after only hearing it once is amazing, even more so considering the guy is blind and has severe learning difficulties and the mental age of a toddler.
The only down side to the show was the feeling that the young American kid with similar disabilities and musical skills to Derek was being exploited. Whilst Derek seems to revel in playing his music to an audience, I didn't feel the same way about the young child... although maybe that will change as he grows older.
There's more info about Derek on his website:
http://www.derekparavicini.net/
Not sure if the show will be repeated again, it's definitely worth watching if it is and you missed it the first time around.