Musical NHL’s Shoo Fly

We recently discovered something about NHL.  He has a talent for music.  He began playing drums and bells (which I always just call xylophone) last year.  This year, though, he’s really hit his stride.

A few month’s back, while at B’s grandmother’s, NHL picked up a an electronic keyboard and began playing a song.  He had never actually played this instrument before so his ability to play a song astounded us.  Then, I realized what he was doing.  He took a song that he had learned on bells and mentally remapped the notes to the keyboard.  We later asked him to duplicate this feat on B’s parents’ piano and he was able to easily.

I help him out with band practice many times a week and I’ve seen the same thing happen with many songs.  He’ll play very slowly, struggling to find the right notes to hit.  Suddenly, a light will go off in his head and he’ll play the entire song perfectly without looking at a single note.  His teacher is impressed with his skill and we’re so proud of him.

And now, a special performance of Shoo Fly by NHL: