Music is medicine for aspiring doctor

Paul H. Williams, Gleaner Writer

PRIORY, St Ann:

THE FLUTE, the melodica, the keyboard, the guitar, the drum, the recorder, and the harmonica are instruments that some people wish they could play.

But for Abijah Wallace of Priory, St Ann, it is not a dream. He plays them all, but he also wants to "master" all the other musical instruments in the world.

This is really an extraordinary ambition for this 13-year-old Rastafarian. In fact, there is nothing ordinary about this St Ann's Bay High School second-former who is very hyperactive and gets bored easily.

In primary school, he wasn't challenged enough, it seems, as he said, "I wanted to find something that would test my brain, so when I saw some children playing, I say, 'Hey! I wanna learn music.'"

He sought advice from his parents, who readily supported him.

Abijah started with the flute. "It wasn't that difficult. It was very easy!" he exclaimed confidently. From the flute, he gradually moved to other instruments. The guitar, he said, is the most challenging because "you have to turn your fingers on the guitar firmly to make the right pitch of sound. When you are strumming, you have to listen keenly ... ."

Watching the "finger works" and listening to melodies, he said, are the ways in which he learns. Abijah doesn't use music sheets; he simply listens to chords, notes, etc, memorises them quickly, and then plays - just like that. "Once I found the chord, I can find the song," he said.

On Tuesday when Rural Xpress chatted with him, to demonstrate his mastery, his mother, Ionie Matthews-Wallace, sang a line from Bob Marley's Old Pirate, after which Abijah told those who were looking on all the notes for that particular line. Even if he hears a song for the very first time, he said, he can play music to it by listening to the melody and the tempo.

As the rain poured, Abijah and his music teacher, Richard Christie, he on melodica, and Abijah on keyboard, put on a jam session of sorts. Side by side, teacher and student played, and the student had no reservations in showing off his skills. But, what will Abijah do with all of this talent and training?

The aspiring songwriter and singer said he wants to teach music and play it professionally, preferably the harmonica and the keyboard. "Those are very easy for me to learn. When I am playing those, I don't have any problems. It's easy, very, very easy for me," he said. He has already been playing at church, and even performed at his own primary school graduation.

Frankenstein brain

Yet, he also wants to be a doctor, a doctor who plays and teaches music, which, he said, calms him, especially when his schoolmates, who don't understand him, call him names and get on his nerves.

His hyperactivity, the subject matters and songs that he's interested in, set him apart from his peers, some of whom doubt his musical acumen and who are not in a position to discuss concepts such as 'Doomsday' and genetic fusion, which he explained to Rural Xpress.

Autopsies and finding medical cures, too, are some of the areas he's interested in. "I am going to become a Frankenstein. I have a Frankenstein brain," he declared.

Yes, he's bordering on genius, excelling in many subjects, but he has a little challenge with a particular subject, mathematics, surprisingly. "I am not that good at math, but I getting to that point. I am still trying to master math," the youngster who swims, runs, plays cricket, football, and table tennis declared. And from what Rural Xpress has seen and heard, there is absolutely no doubt that he will.

"Well, he's a young, talented youth. He learns so fast. He's gonna reach far," his music teacher concurred.

rural@gleanerjm.com