on 5 September 1867 in West Henniker, New Hampshire, just nine Months after her parents were married. The realization came early.Īmy Marcy Cheney was born between noon and 1 p.m. Clara ImogeneĬheney may have had all these thoughts and feelings when she realized that her child was a musical prodigy. If, in addition, the child is a female and born into a tradition that denies women freedom to develop their talents to the full, then the problems multiply-for both parent and child. If the parents' religious beliefs place the children's salvation ahead of earthly

Intensity, prompting urgent and imperious demands for satisfaction, then the parents worry that the child may be abnormal, untamable, even monstrous. If the child's musical perceptions are of great depth and If parents treat them as if they were normal, never admitting to anyone that their children are special, the children know better.

Even if gifted children do nothing but follow their bent and never challenge their parents' authority, their amazing displays However, these very gifts may make parents feel diminished in size, in authority, in competence. Watching them leap over barriers, telescope the learning process, and work with the intense concentration that is the mark of the gifted makes parents both proud and grateful for their children's PRODIGIES ARE AT ONCE A JOY and a trial to parents. The Life and Work of an American Composer 1867-1944

Rasing hope music prodigy song