A few months ago, Jude Kofie, 11, discovered a piano in the family cellar and since he put his hands on it, he plays by ear and improvises with disconcerting ease. A prodigy who is invited everywhere and who has even been offered a grand piano by a stranger.
Jude Kofie, on his YouTube channel. (SCREENSHOT)
He lives in the United States, in Colorado, the youngest son of two parents who left Ghana to come to work in the city of Aurora, and for the past week, his story has been told absolutely everywhere, on all news sites. of the world, in all languages. His name is Jude Kofie, he is 11 years old, he is autistic and he found a way of expression in the piano without anyone prompting him, on his own, simply by sitting down in front of an old keyboard relegated to the cellar by his father.
One morning, he discreetly came downstairs, plugged in the instrument and, by ear, without ever having taken a lesson, he began to play. After a few days, the father, Isaiah, who thought that someone in the neighborhood had taken up the piano, understood that the melodies came from his own cellar, and he discovered his son, all smiles, in the process of chaining tunes as if he had years of practice. The father explains that Jude has come a long way. Born prematurely, he lived on life support until he was 8 years old, before being diagnosed with autism at the same age. So in front of these talents, he encouraged him, mounted the keyboard in the living room and then created a Youtube channel for him to record all his songs.
A tuner fascinated by the prodigy offers him a grand piano
Immediate success: the local church offered him to become its keyboardist for the Sunday service, the local press arrived at his home, then the story took on a national dimension, Jude was invited to the TV sets to deploy his talents, until until one day a man comes to his doorbell. His name is Bill Magnusson, he is a piano tuner and he asks the father if he would agree to him giving his son a piano, a real piano, a grand piano. To CBS journalists who ask him why such a gesture, he replies that “he is a prodigy of the Mozart genre, still above even, he is beyond all comparison, he must be supported”.
It was a month ago. Since then, the grand piano has arrived at Jude, an instrument that Bill Magnusson bought with the inheritance left to him by his father, 15,000 dollars. The tuner did not ask for anything in return. He just offered to teach the child to read music. And we finally understand why the story fascinates so much, because it speaks of prodigy, of generosity, but above all of the importance of giving a chance to the unexpected, to the unsuspected, to improvisation quite simply. .