Musically gifted
Some might consider 15-year-old Jair Crawford to be a musical prodigy, following in the footsteps of Ludwig van Beethoven, because of his early training with classical piano.
Jair Crawford, a ninth-grader at Augusta Prep, recently won the piano championship in the Regional Literary competition at Augusta State University. He also has produced a self-titled CD.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
And those who know him say it's his musical accomplishments that seem to set him apart from his musical peers.
Recently, Jair won first place in a piano competition at the Region Literary competition held March 7 at Augusta State University. He was in a three-way tie for first place at Armstrong-Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga., on March 16.
"I'm pretty competitive," said Jair, who has studied piano for eight years. "When I learn a new piece, I think, 'How well would I do it if I played (that particular) piece in a competition.' I think about competing before hand."
Jair was awarded an Outstanding Performance in the Augusta Music Teachers Associations' Auditions on March 19 at Augusta State University. The award qualifies him to compete for the sixth time in a row in the Georgia Music Teachers Association's State Auditions at the University of Georgia in May.
That same month, he also will compete in the American College of Musicians' Piano Guild for the seventh time in a row.
Aside from his competitions, Jair has put his talent to use by producing a self-titled, nine-track CD.
"It's all instrumental," he said, adding that the CD includes several genres such as soft rock, ballads and hard rock. "I don't have the type of courage to sing."
He said his CD came out of random playing on his keyboard.
When he's not synthesizing his music, Jair can be found playing computer games, but he's quick to confess he's no master.
"I like to play computer games, but I excel more musically," he said.
Although it is still too early to tell what the future has in store, Jair said, he would like to have a career in either music, computer technology or science.
"I probably would like to do them all so I can go back and forth," he said.