ALBERT’S ACCIDENTAL ACQUISITION

ALBERT’S ACCIDENTAL ACQUISITION
I’d like to tell you about a friend of mine who had a very difficult time in the 5th grade. When his parents went to a parent-teacher conference they were told to take Albert out of school because he did not have to tools to succeed there. Albert’s mother insisted that her child was bright and deserved to be in school. The teacher showed her Albert’s papers which barely had his name written at the top of the page and very few answers. His mother asked if he was causing a disturbance and paying attention. The teacher admitted that he was causing no problem and seemed to be paying attention, and yet he could not seem to retain any information, and failed nearly every test he took. Albert’s parents insisted that he stay in school. Concurrent with that meeting, Albert’s father bought him a violin. Albert began to practice regularly. He never became a concert violinist, and played principally for his own enjoyment, but he started being a better student, in fact many people believe he was the brightest student in world history. You may know him, his name is Albert Einstein. Is there some connection between Einstein’s intellectual prowess and his playing the violin? Einstein said there was as he is quoted in his biography by G.J. Withrow. In speaking of the power music had in helping him with theories such as relativity he said: “It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception.”