A young Honolulu piano player is one of just a handful of students accepted into the University of Hawaii piano program for the upcoming school year.
Nat Stanton won the spot through an audition. Nat's young musical career doesn't fit the mold of most prodigies.
Like so many pianists with exceptional ability Nat Stanton makes it look easy.
But things have never come easy for Nat, who has taken a most unusual tact to get where he has in his musical career.
Carolyn Stanton, Nat's mother says, "Until he got a little stuck and then he asked me to help him and I realized he had learned almost the whole thing on his own."
Nat had taught himself "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, pretty sophisticated for a self-taught beginner. Tim Stanton, Nat's father adds, "So it was a complete surprise to everybody when he suddenly dove head first into wanting to learn the piano."
A surprise because things haven't always come easy for Nat. "He was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome when he was about three. So he has had to overcome that. And it really has given him a lot of confidence," his mother adds.
Confidence is what he showed a few weeks ago at a state-wide competition.
The young man who spent his entire school life in special education programs is one of the most talented young pianists in the state.
Most of Nat's peers have been playing the piano for more than a decade, since kindergarten or preschool. But this 18-year-old doesn't fit that mold, he's only been playing four years. "All of us have the capacity to learn, expand, be creative," said his father.
Was it something deep inside Nat's brain that sparked his love of the piano.
No, it was something much more simple, Nat says, "I was kind inspired by my sister. She was getting in all these competitions and she was starting to win. So I guess I kind of wanted to be in the competitions too."
And now this competitive young pianist will double major at U.H., piano and the first instrument he learned to play, clarinet.
