As you said in your post, it's amazing to recognize some exceptional yound minds when you meet them.

I had at least one such person, a girl named Egle in our National M.K. Ciurlionis School of Art where I was her ear training teacher since the 7th grade.

One of my first experiences with her was during musical dictation assignment when I would play on the paino a melody some 9 times and the students would have to write it down in their notebooks.

This pianist girl, Egle, was usually done after 4 or so repetitions and later would stand up and walk around the class helping out other students who were either not as bright or not as fast as her.

The very first time she did it it was a shock to me - I felt like she was mocking me or making fun of me and almost wanted to order her to sit down. Almost... While in reality she was actually being my assistant.

Fast forward a few years and she would start to learn playing pipe organ with me. I've never had a better student - she could gladly do any task, assignment or experiment appointed to her. Yes, even while singing one part and playing on the organ the other 3 parts at the same time.

Now she studies organ playing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater and is clearly the star student there.

I wish her continued bravery in following her dreams every day.

Thanks for your post which ignited these nice memories in me. I hope as an educator you will have many many stories to share here on Steemit.