Musical Savant

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Here is an example of a savant. This guy is brilliant. What do you guys think?[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HAuLGsY6r4[/youtube]

Unless you can do something like only needing to listen to a song once to memorize, then IMHO, you shouldn't be considered "unusual". I know that disabled people having talent astonishes people enough that there are technically lower levels of savantism (splinter skills and talented savants), but I think we should reserve a diagnosis for people who are unusually talented. We don't know how much work Charlie Askew put into singing.

Here's a nice article on splinter skills and how they should be encouraged =)

http://autism.about.com/b/2008/11/03/wh ... brated.htm

I'm not sure about savant, but that kid nailed those crazy intervals over key changes without the backing chords. Super impressive and I know I couldn't do it.

I'd say he's definitely naturally gifted and that some people, even with years and years of practice, wouldn't have such an innate awareness of pitch. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he had perfect pitch. I'd have to say, 99% born with that ability, or at least, the unusual aptitude to learn it obscenely fast. I totally agree that he's a special vocalist. I think the only reason I refrain from calling him a savant
(even though I agree that he is insanely talented) is because when I hear that word, I think of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6HCXx8U6Ko But my understanding of the word is probably too narrow-minded, ha.

He was a good singer and does have talent (I can't really comment on his pitch, as some others have, because I'm not a musician and I don't know much about pitch), but IMO I wouldn't really consider that a savant ability. If you want to to see an awesome savant, go to YouTube and search "Stephen Wiltshire draws"; Stephen is an autistic man who has traveled to various cities around the world to look at the city lanscape. He flies over the city in a helicopter and looks at the entire city landscape, and then on a large canvas he can draw the entire city landscape (every exact tiny detail) ONLY from memory In my opinion, that's amazing!

Here's one of his videos:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVqRT_kCOLI[/youtube]

I don't know if Charlie is a musical savant or not, but he definitely has something special going for him that draws me into his performances. He's fascinating to watch. The judges were very rough on him last night and said some things that, in my opinion, were hurtful and humiliating. I think his toughest competitor among the ten "guys" is / will be Devin Velez who sang "It’s Impossible" by Perry Como last night. Both Devin and Charlie held me spellbound, while I was not so impressed with the others who seemed mediocre by comparison. Oddly, Charlie's decision to sing "Mama" by Genesis, seemed to play into the criticisms and comments that came from Nicki Minaj who seemed to be aghast by the change in his physical appearance and mourned his departure from "her cuddly little boy". Charlie explained the song and his change in appearance as a "need to vent". While I believe Nicki is the best current IDOL judge, and I respect her spontaneous, witty, direct and truthful critiques of the contestants, I think her comments to Charlie last night were unnecessarily cruel. He seemed visibly gutted by what she said. In fact, I believe that Charlie's song choice and image reconstruction last night was a direct response and protest to Nicki's previous "mothering" comments.

However, having said all that, I still believe that Charlie has what it takes to rise above the humiliation. He's init 2 winit.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNYF7hSOEKI[/youtube]

As others have said, that video isn't a clear indication whether or not he has savant skills.

Also, good gravy, I thought the show was bad before, but whoever that pink haired person is is fairly intolerable. Gives me the heebie jeebies

I am like this guy.

Music is just a fundamental part of me. I don't know how to explain it. I relate very much to him. Do I think we are savants? I'm not, and based on one video, I don't think he is, either. Is it innate gift or did it come with a lifetime of practice? I don't know the answer to that. I was singing since I was an infant. I cannot imagine not being able to do it effortlessly and it blows my mind that other people can't. It's like the first time I discovered that most people don't think in images. I was very shocked because it's natural to me and it's all I know.

It's a powerful concept that I can't explain with my limited verbal skills.