Blind Piano Prodigy From South Korea Only 5 Years Old, Can Play Any Song 'After Just One Listen' (VIDEO)

A blind five-year-old pianist from South Korea has stunned the music world after a video of her performance received more than 27million hits.

Yoo Ye-eun, who was born blind and adopted in 2002, has never had a formal piano lesson but can play any song after just one listen.

And now her remarkable talent is set to propel her to stardom as clips of her amazing performance have attracted millions of viewers to Korean website Pandora TV. A similar clip on YouTube has so far received two million hits.

Her display on 'Star King', a Korean talent show, earned the youngster £500 in prize money and moved the studio audience to tears.

Keep reading here.

Or

Watch a clip of Yoo Ye-eun.

Comments

[GV97]

A beautiful angel... with strong fingers...­. a strong voice and very much in pitch.
Very touching..­. and prayers for good people to guide and protect her.

[ebanks84]

Oh my goodness, how wonderful is that. I wonder who she was in her past life? I'm crying, laughing, and everything. I will be following her little career. Thanks Huffington for such a "good" story for a change. I needed that!

[ruffmama]

Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! (that is the sound of me crying)

She is so beautiful and that little voice singing that sweet song!

sigh. That made my day!

[Big0725]

Just wait and see how much better she gets when those little baby-girl fingers and hands grow up into woman's fingers and hands and she can manipulate that keyboard better. Let's just hope the parents don't turn into stage parents and try to make her a commodity instead of the treasure she is.

[zizyphus]

Kleenex time.

[Mort]

Wonderful! I hope her parents and promoters can help her learn love and passion for music & life rather than turn her into a machine to be exploited. A friend of mine was a blind piano prodigy. But in addition to his amazing gift, he had a rich life filled with family, friends, love, humor and meaning. Music was just one of the things that brought him joy.

[Paul]

The "Prodigy" label is more a curse than a blessing. Hope she persists but gets the right training. It isn't about technical skill, its about interpretation and she needs the time and space to grow and understand.

[DevilAdvocate]

once she gets the training she will be great... great start.... that how Stevie wonder was...

[AdamWykle]

oh wow, that was beautiful, i'm crying.

thanx for sharing, Huff-Post.

[RobinLandseadel]

I hope this doesn’t come off too snarky but Mozart she ain’t, least not yet. Hopefully she’ll be taken care of for the next decade or two in the sort of atmosphere conducive for a budding young musician.

Child prodigy Yehudi Menhuin had a long, productive career as virtuoso fiddler and conductor. On the other hand, Ervin Nyíregyházi was a train wreck, in no small part due to being pushed onto the stages of concert halls too soon and too aggressively.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ervin_Nyíregyházi

I had a long association with a woman who was a genuine child prodigy. The recordings I heard of her oboe playing as a girl of 13 were the sweetest and most in-tune I've ever heard from any oboist any time [anyone who tells you that the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan was the greatest orchestra of all time obviously ignored the woodwinds.­] She gave up the instrument at 18, unwilling to spend the rest of her life limited to a first chair position in a major orchestra. But do not despair: as a vocal artist specializing in the music of Bulgaria and Eastern Europe, she is a marvel.

If Yoo Ye-eun Is given half a chance she can turn into something. As of now [face it folks, we really don’t know how much coaching went into this “heartwarming” show, do we?] she can almost play the piano, but not quite.

[GeorgeKaplan]

You do sound a little snarky... the girl is 5 years old not 13. Not sure where she will end up, but she has a remarkable ear and she does incredibly well considering the size of her very little hands try to hit those very big keys. She at least deserves a few lessons and a good teacher. No, she is not Mozart, but maybe we have an Art Tatum.

[mathme]

Mozart was composing at this age. I wonder if this girl is autistic and if she'll ever compose.

[El]

I'm not sure that Art Tatum is a lesser talent than Mozart.

[RobinLandseadel]

. . . . or David Helfgott . . . .

[DevilAdvocate]

damn, you're cold. She blind and is 5! go away...

[boycottrightwingthings]

Were any of the afore mentioned people who you named as prodigies BLIND? How quickly you make light of another's talent, and I wonder why. This kid is 5, not 13, and there is a world of difference. She sounded better than most adults that I have heard, and by the way, the adults were not blind!! I bet you can't play as well, and maybe are a little jealous.

[RobinLandseadel]

No, I'm not jealous, I've managed to have many wonderful musical experiences without ever having been a prodigy and continue to develop as a throughly amature musician.

"Reality TV", in such forms as "American Idol" creates a certain kind of melodrama and spectacle out of performances such as these.

Think of Charlotte Church. As a recording engineer I've managed to record singers with well deserved international reputations. Charlotte got where she got to initially basically on the basis of hype. At the time she was a huge star she had a tiny voice with major league vocal control issues. Since then she's had a career trajectory nearly as interesting as Britney Spears.

I hope Yoo Ye-eun doesn't have to go through that kind of experience.

[ebanks84]

For shame you should come off like that. This is a baby and one who can't even see. How old was Mozart?

Talent should never be compared especially when it's brand spanking new in the world.

[buddhistMonkey]

Mozart could play the piano at four, and the violin (with perfect intonation, it is said) at age five. He also started composing at five, and wrote his first symphony when he was eight. That's what you're up against when you call someone the "new Mozart." It's an extremely tall order to fill.

That said, although I agree with everything that Robin wrote, I also agree with you that art shouldn't be judged. In this case, particularly, Mozart had the advantage of a father who was a (relatively) famous musician and composer himself -- and of course, he could actually see the instrument he was playing. It's hardly a fair comparison, but unfortunately, the "new Mozart" tag has already been attached to this little girl, so comparisons are going to be made regardless.

Yoo Ye-eun has an exceptional talent that hopefully will expand greatly as she gets older, but she's too young and inexperienced right now for this type of a roll-out. Robin's point was that there is frequently an enormous amount of pressure brought to bear on so-called prodigies that is too great for a typical child to handle. I tend to agree.

I wish Yoo Ye-eun the very best, and I hope she gets some musical instruction before too long, so that she can truly realize her potential. I look forward to hearing her again once she's mastered her craft.

[Gma11]

Oh, my . . .

And that last song she plays and sings . . . God bless this little one.

[tasukibeth1]

This is news WHY?

Oh, I'm kidding. She's beautiful. And as aceholiday pointed out, it is really difficult to jump those type of octives with such little hands. Having to physically lift the hand off of the keyboard and then hope they land in the right place while being blind(!!!) is crazy difficult.

I hope she doesn't end up getting exploited. Hopefully the Korean paparazzi has more class than ours does.

[TheRealMacDaddy]

So very heart warming.

As the husband of a Korean for the last 32 wonderful years, I can bring an additional revelation to this. In actuality this young child is in fact only 4 years old, that's right only 4. In the Korean culture when a baby is 60 days old they have their 1st birthday, not one year after birth. This goes back to the Moon Calendar and the recognition of being pregnant when the 1st menses is missed.

Hopefully in the years to come we may all enjoy this little girl's extraordinary talent. She definitely has been given a gift to make up for what has been taken from her.

[rationalthought1]

Its worth seeing to realize other countries have television that's just as stupid and smarmy as American tv.

[ChristopheHugo]

It's a fake, and it's so obvious. Even Iran's photoshopped missile pics don't look as fake.

[TexasNewsHound]

ChristopheHugo, you're an idiot. Plain and simple. This little girl is indeed an angel. May God continue to bless her as she obviously blesses so many others.

[bosshogg]

i think i'm a tough guy but that little girl got to me........­..........­..........­......

[felinetta]

Sweet beautiful child.. A very emotional moment for me.

[jjasonham]

Beautiful respite from the weeks' chaotic news cycle.

[oscarp]

just another proof that this world is worth living in, and that God is in the most unexpected places. Congrats Huffo for a very human post, way beyond all the crazyness happening these days. If we just look at this beautiful child, we can understand how life can be even without one of the most precious things we have: our eyes.