Marc Soong Epitomizes Gifted and Talented Youth

Marc Soong with his family. – Photo by Alice Soong

By May S. Ruiz

The word “gifted” usually refers to someone who has innate intellectual or artistic abilities that surpass his or her age, while “talented” is often used to describe one who works hard and accomplishes feats exceptionally well. Based on those delineations, a gifted child doesn’t put in any work, while a talented kid makes some effort to achieve something spectacular.

Marc Soong, a recently graduated eighth grader from Barnhart, a K-eighth grade independent school in Arcadia, is both gifted and talented. Listening to his spirited and rousing rendition of “Grand Etude Paganini No. 3 La Campanella” by Franz Liszt on the piano transports you into another world and time. His amazing fingering also reveals a mastery of technique honed by hours of painstaking practice and a devotion to his craft.

This past June 28, Soong electrified as he performed the finale number at The 65^th Annual Redlands Bowl Young Artist Competition Winners where he interpreted Chopin, Rossini, and Ginzburg.

Valerie Peister, program director for the Redlands Community Music Association pronounces, “As a winner of the 2016 Redlands Bowl Young Artist Competition, Marc Soong thrilled Tuesday evening’s Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival audience with a virtuosic recital performance. His technical mastery was matched by a sensitivity and depth of expression well beyond his years, and showcased his remarkable ability to tell a musical story.”

And again on June 30, Soong impressed at the Isaac Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall in New York, where he played “Paraphrase of Figaro’s Aria” from the “Barber of Seville” by Ginzburg/Rossini.

Soong’s outstanding musical abilities have earned him awards from the Los Angeles Young Musician International Competition, San Jose International Piano Competition, American Protégé Piano and String Competition, among others.

Music, specifically, piano, is an important family activity for the Soongs. Soong’s mom, Alice, says “My husband and I attend all of our kids’ concerts, competitions, and performances. Both Marc and Melodey, Marc’s older sister, perform at senior homes, and volunteer as ushers for concerts held at the Pasadena Symphony and Pops”.

Love of music came to Soong early on, when he was three years old and heard Melodey playing the piano. He remembers that in first grade, he tagged along when his sister visited USC’s Thornton School of Music to meet with Daniel Pollack, a renowned professor there. When he was in third grade, he became one of Professor Pollack’s students.

Vladimir Khomyakov, who at age 32 is an accomplished concert pianist himself, is Professor Pollack’s assistant and has been Soong’s piano teacher since he was eight years old. From Khomyakov, Soong learns technique as well as general music knowledge – history, the background of each piece, composer, style, and theory.

“Marc is a brilliant student to teach because once he starts, he’s hungry for more. He learns a piece on his own, asks a lot of questions, and has great initiative. While he chooses his pieces based on his personal journey, I help him build a balanced repertoire to include various genres, styles, periods, and composers, and develop a solid program as an artist,” Khomyakov states.

“As a musician, Marc is very passionate about his music. He plays from the heart – a rare trait for someone at his age, most kids do it mechanically. He has excellent ears: when he hears a noise he knows what pitch it is; when he hears a computer tone, he can play it. He absorbs all sounds like a sponge. He has what it takes to be a successful concert pianist … although I wouldn’t recommend it. It is a challenging life, with countless hours spent practicing which may turn out to be time wasted on something that might not work. It is usually filled with disappointments and stress, especially at the age of 20 to 25 when one gets into serious competitions,” Khomyakov says.

And Khomyakov knows whereof he speaks. Like Professor Pollack, he himself has concertized internationally as a pianist, conductor, chamber musician, and a soloist with leading orchestras including Dresden Philharmonic and Houston Symphony. He says he holds 40 to 50 concerts a year and has been all over the world except Africa. In 2009 he was chosen to be the assistant to Professor Pollack; he teaches weekly master classes to all degree-level students.

Music is not the only thing that Soong is superior at. According to Tonya Beilstein, associate head of school and director of curriculum and instruction at Barnhart, Soong exhibited talent and creativity for a normal fourth grader. She relates, “I began working with Marc in fourth grade, supporting his social and emotional growth. At the end of his fifth grade here, we realized he was also ready for more academic challenges. I thought a solution was for him to go from fifth grade in June to seventh grade that fall, skipping sixth grade entirely.

“That decision didn’t come about haphazardly. We first asked his parents to get outside psychological evaluations (because we don’t have the resources on campus to do it). One of the things we do now, that we weren’t doing before, is use a tool called Iowa Acceleration Scale. It provides the rubric to help schools make effectual decisions relating to grade-skips. Besides psychological evaluation, we look at IQ, academic assessment – capacity and performance.

“We conferred with the whole team in Marc’s life – his parents; past, current, and future teachers; school administrators. The last step we took was talk to Marc himself. He was very excited about the idea – he very much wanted to move ahead,” Beilstein discloses further.

Soong says, “I was a little nervous about being in seventh grade and being with older students but I also wanted a more challenging curriculum. My classmates were very kind to me and I developed deeper and more meaningful friendships in seventh and eighth grade. I found it easy as well as enjoyable.”

As if all these weren’t enough, Soong has been accepted to attend Stanford Online High School (SOHS) in the fall. At 13 years old, he might be the youngest person to gain admission to this highly selective institution. Offering a distinctly innovative program, SOHS requires students to take core courses in science, math, English, and history. For academically advanced students, SOHS has numerous post-AP subjects, including university-level courses that typify most undergraduate programs.

“Stanford Online High School is the perfect fit for Marc,” declares Beilstein. “It’s a good choice for so many reasons – the challenge of the curriculum, the interaction he will have with like-minded students. I think, for the first time, he’s really going to be surrounded by his academic peers, which he will find engaging and exciting.

“For students like Marc, who have participated in the summer program at Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, a rigorous curriculum will give them peace and confidence. This model of learning is ideal because he can study at the pace that’s right for him and gives him the time to focus on his piano – it accommodates all his needs. He’s going to be in control of his destiny now,” Beilstein concludes.

Soong is surrounded by people who support him – from his parents who encourage him to follow his dreams and provide the means for him to do so, to school administrators who find the perfect environment to engage his mind, to his music teachers who dare him to play demanding piano pieces, to friends who supply him with equilibrium as he navigates life.

Through it all, Soong has remained sanguine and has retained his inner “kid-ness.” He thinks the coolest thing about going to an online high school is that he doesn’t have to eat cafeteria food.

More from Arcadia Weekly