Boy Wonder - five-year-old classical pianist - Brief Article

Ebony, Sept, 2000 by Kelly Starling

Jordan Adams brings new excitement to classical music

JORDAN Adams, who began piano lessons at age 3, and who has progressed in just six months from "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to Bach and Beethoven, has become the new "it" child, appearing on Inside Edition, Good Morning America, The Early Show and American Dream with Dan Rather. And the calls keep coming from, among others, Rosie and Sesame Street.

Jordan's talent and commitment to classical piano--a field with few Black icons--drive the media excitement. But to his parents, Jordan's success is no surprise. They say he has always been an exceptional child, who walked at 8 months, could trace his ABCs and his name at 2. "He seemed to be one of those special kinds of kids," says father Kenneth Adams, an education and training manager for the Washington, D.C., International Guard. "We recognized he picked up things fast from the time he took his first steps."

The Laurel, Md., father was especially intrigued when the boy showed unusual interest in a Casio keyboard he brought home one Christmas. Unlike some children whose attention wanders, Jordan would play for hours.

"He would sit down and say, `Daddy, look at this song I made,'" recalls Kenneth. "It struck me how this instrument held his attention. He wasn't just banging, he was pressing each finger on the keys and trying to compose songs."

Kenneth and his wife Crystal called local piano schools, trying to find a teacher to nurture Jordan's talent. Six instructors turned them down. They said the boy was too young and his focus would stray. Lucky seven turned out to be Dr. Bella Oster, a teacher at the European Academy of Music and Art in Burtonsville, Md.

"She noticed Jordan was a fast learner," Kenneth says. "He had to be able to count to 88 because the piano has 88 keys. Jordan could count past 100. I think she appreciated his intellectual ability."

That skill may have motivated Dr. Oster (who no longer gives interviews) to move Jordan to classical music when he mastered childhood jingles. Today, he plays everything from romantic to Baroque. "He took to it right away," says his father, who says he and his wife had no real familiarity with classical music before Jordan's lessons. "She brought out pieces that fit his character and he responded."

Jordan quickly became one of the standouts at the school, joining an elite group of children who gave performances this year for two Washington embassies and the governor of Maryland. The family went without trips to the movies and restaurant dinners to replace Jordan's Casio with a $2,300 upright piano. His weekly 30-minute lessons cost them $25 a pop.

"It's quite a pinch on one income," says Crystal, a homemaker. "But we want our children to experience as much as they can."

Each of their four children (Jordan is the oldest) is encouraged to find their passion. Bria, 4, began violin lessons in March. The parents are watching the babies--2-year-old Nyah and 1-year-old Jason --for signs of their gifts. Crystal tutors the children at home in classroom basics to give them a jump on their peers.

Jordan, who just entered kindergarten, can already read and write at a first- and second-grade level. He practices piano for two hours each day with his father at his side. Kenneth, who attends each of Jordan's weekly lessons, says he's learning too. Words like crescendo and pianissimo, fortissimo and staccato--once as foreign as a new language--have become part of his speech.

"I'd like to show people if they invest some time in their kids, they can do amazing things," he says. "You show it to them and they absorb it and give it back to you."

Jordan's piano prowess may belie his age, but he is an ordinary child in many ways. He loves to draw. Peas gross him out. He's a basketball junkie who must make 10 shots on the living-room hoop before he sits down to play.

"I always beat my dad in basketball," says Jordan, who counts Michael Jordan among his idols.

Crystal says Jordan has days when he gets unruly--"giving nonsense" she calls it. But that's to be expected, she says. He is a child, not a machine.

"We try to keep it real," she says. "He's still a 5-year-old child. We don't want him to feel programmed. [One teacher] told him to stop sucking in his cheeks when he plays and to smile. But we want him to do what comes naturally. Maybe that will become his trademark just as Jordan ran across the court with his tongue sticking out."