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Amazing. Dang. Just… wow.
And it’s so cute to watch them all bob their heads in time to the music!!
It’s cute–but does it change anything when you find out they are from North Korea? They’ve got armies of children playing music for visiting foreigners.
Ha, the instruments are as big as they are! So cute!
Fabulous! Can’t believe the skill and precision of these little baby faced cuties.
Amazing! So cute, too.
Korea! Amazing kids.
Amazing skills – but I can’t help wondering how many hours of daily drill and practise those children had to endure beforehand. I’m not too fond of producing “wunderkinder” and display them publicly WAY before they are old enough to decide for themselves.
Are they are North Korean? I recognized the writing as Korean but not sure whether it’s North or South. It doesn’t change much for me, besides perhaps feeling a bit sorry for them as I understand living conditions for most people in North Korea are poor, but the children are still talented regardless of their country of origin.
Wow, when I was that size I was in ballet class and we were so embarrassingly uncoordinated, even more so next to these adorable little ones!
It’s videos like this that make me wish someone had handed me a guitar when I was like, four or something….amazing!
I’m actually a little bit disturbed by this. Those children are so young, and obviously talented, but for that amount of rehearsal and precision from such young kids…I can’t help but think that the amount of practice and instruction required would be on the verge of child labour. We can’t know for sure, of course, but watching that just made me a bit sick to the stomach.
I sincerely hope that amidst the performances and practice, they still get to be just kids.
Amazing co-ordination, and very cute kids. The guitars are bigger than the little ones.
I sincerely hope that these kids actually enjoy playing music, and it is not a case of lost childhood. I know lot of small kids who simply loved playing instruments or sing at a very young age. Even though these kids are from N.Korea, there is no reason why they should not love music. But I don’t know what is going on.
OK, I am officially floored… those kids are great, whatever country they come from.
I am with Hannah and Amy on this – yes, amazingly talented, but as I watched I got more and more creeped out knowing how much work this would take on the part of very small children.
Just as a side note, after working with kids this age in this country and seeing parents allow them to do ‘whatever’ it may not be a bad idea to make a kid learn and instrument and to teach them time, dedication and focus at a young age.
I also vote for creeped out. Of course we can’t know for sure, but there are plenty of horror stories about how talented kids like this are worked for hours on end, and physically disciplined for mistakes. I worry about these kids. They may just be nervous by the crowd, but their smiles look forced.
On a side note, why the crap couldn’t they find some child sized guitars for them? That’s just weird.
I’m sorry if I sound sympathetic to North Korea when I say this (I understand of course that the nation has PLENTY of problems), but I just don’t see how having kids practice music is so detrimental to their well-being. I studied music, too, and LOVED it. Actually, the hours spent learning to listen, focus, and work with others has made me a far better person, I truly believe. It’s funny to me that a nation full of parents who’ll let their kids sit in front of the Nintendo for just as many (or more) hours a day, eating junk food and zoning out is so vehemently outspoken against hard work that leads to talent (and beautiful performances like this one). I think it’s a mistake to assume that these kids can’t appreciate the art they’re making.
Wow… just…wow! Those kids are great and I hope they have great futures.
There are so many negitive comments here. Why cant you be happy for the kids? Look at their eyes as they play and you can see that they are enjoying themselves. Whats wrong with that?
I’m glad I am not the only one! This made me sad. My impression is not that these are wonderfully talented kids (if it had been only one I might have thought that) but a little army regimented from a young age.
They do not seem to be enjoying themselves–they seem to have been coached on how to LOOK like they are enjoying themselves.
They are so cute! Certainly I would have some concerns about how much practice they had to do but there is no denying you must be talented to perform like that.
@Mike
I agree that learning music for children is a wonderful thing, but like all good things, it must be done in moderation. For these children to be so young, and yet so perfectly rehearsed, sugggests to me that they must spend many, many, hours a day and week to achieve this. What about other schooling? Or time for simple play?
Even the most enjoyable activities can be turned into torture when endlessly forced upon a child, with methods we can only guess at.
As I said, I sincerely hope this isn’t the case. I hope it’s just a group of kids who happen to be extraordinarily talented to be able to pick this up under a -healthy- schedule. Unfortunately, I don’t really believe this is the case.
Miss Jeanne is yet to moderate my previous post, but hopefully this one is allowed through:
@Mike, I agree that there are many gifts to be bestowed from learning music, but having worked in Asia for many years, I know that these kids do nothing BUT music, dawn to dusk, with accompanying physical and verbal punishment. No play, not enough sleep, no relaxation. Just practice.
@Kry, I am sure no-one here means to be negative just for the sake of it…we are just asking for people to view the world critically in an effort to show compassion and not unwittingly support cruel practices. I am heartened by most responses here and am sure these children would be too, were they a little older.
I watched this and thought it was cute, but also wondered about the drills they must have endured to produce this. When I was young, I was forced to learn 2 instruments but only did well in 1. It was fun at first, until my parents took the fun out of it. It was not just “hard work,” it was borderline abuse. They just loooooved to show off how “talented” I was, whatever the cost.
I agree that the children’s smiles are a little weird looking, but watch your local dance studio’s recital and you’ll see the same thing on the 6-year-old ballerinas. Dancers, musicians, performers in general, are taught to constantly smile while performing; later they will be taught other facial expressiveness, but smiling is a good place holder to make your face look interesting on stage. Children lack the ability and subtlety to make it look convincing. Little Muffkins down the street has the same unnatural smile on when she goes on stage, too — guaranteed.