The Sad Waste of a Teenager’s Talent
Thank you so much for “Piano Is His Forte,” about Abel Perales July 31. Such talent is awe-inspiring.
Twenty-one years ago, in March 1977, I had the amazing opportunity to meet a boy [of similar innate musical ability]. He was only 13, and I watched in fascination as he had his first piano lesson. The music of Mozart touched his soul for the first time, and he played by ear the entire piece he had heard.
But we were at Central Juvenile Hall, where this child prodigy was incarcerated for a murder. I was a new young public defender, and as I walked away, I kept thinking what his case history would have been if he had met the piano before he met guns.
Seven years later, my husband and I founded City Hearts: Kids Say Yes to the Arts, a program of classes, workshops and performance experiences provided free to children in the downtown Los Angeles area. Over the years, City Hearts has received numerous awards and commendations from around the country.
But I will never forget that first boy and the dual tragedies of his young life.
SHERRY JASON
Co-Founder, City Hearts
Los Angeles
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