Boy hits right keys with elan

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When he first laid his hands on a keyboard, Kemuel Christus was all of five years old. Since then, Kemuel has not looked back.

Having completed his first grade barely a year after he started to play the instrument, this 2nd standard student from Stanes A.I. Higher Secondary School in Coimbatore, is truly a cut above the rest.

Today, at the age of seven, his knowledge of music surpasses any child his age, and he is known for his ability to sing and play the keyboard at the same time.

His prodigious talent saw this little musician play at the prestigious Eco Awards 2012 held in the city recently.

Ms. Zenette J, little Kemuel’s mother, reminisces about how she discovered her son’s amazing talent. “We got him his first keyboard when he was around 5 and almost immediately, he displayed a great talent for it.

He repeatedly played back the demo songs loaded on the keyboard. He learnt to play the songs by finding each chord on the piano.

We were really amazed by his musical ability. He actually sat and learnt the notes by ear, and played it back.

When my late husband G Jeyaprakash, who was an avid guitarist, noticed this he immediately had him take private lessons.”

Zenette continued, “Hardly a year later, at the age of 6, he passed his first grade in music. His dad, who was his motivator and mentor, would spend a lot of time sitting with him, practicing.

In fact, they used to play together whenever they could. Our house would turn into a place of worship when they sat down to play — it was mostly gospel music, because my husband was strong in his faith.

An interesting point about Kemuel's musical career is that apart from playing the keyboard, he is also exceptionally talented at singing.”

The mother adds proudly, “Even though he has been playing only for two years now, he was given the chance to sing and play for two gospel music CDs - one was a Christmas CD and the other was for a child evangelical group.

But the highlight of his musical career would probably be playing ‘God is good’ at the recent Eco Awards, where he played the keyboard for the first time after his father passed away.

His father used to take him to compete in school contests whenever the opportunity came up; and of course, he always won.”

According to Zenette, Kemuel has an unerring ear for music. “Kemuel is particularly gifted with an ear for music, and he is always very particular about hitting that ‘perfect note or pitch’.

My husband never failed to mention this to me because even if a single note were off, he would notice it.

There were times when he would actually correct my late husband every time he went off tune when playing his guitar.”

So what does the future have in store for little Kemuel?

His mother says, “He was really attached to his father and sadly, my husband's passing has got to him.

He was supposed to complete his grade three in June this year, but we had to cancel it because he is not emotionally strong to take the exam.

But we know this will not stop him from playing music, because the Eco Awards really did give his weakened soul a good boost.”

“So hopefully, he will be prepared to take his grade 4 examinations by next year.”