FOCUS - AUGUST 2017 27 God-given talent can propel you a great distance in any endeavour but raw ability requires a harness – namely discipline – to maximize its potential. For Marie-Therese Gummer, whose prodigious talent for the piano was rec- ognized at a tender age, that process began at home. “My mother was the musician, my father the engine,” she recalls. “I grew up hearing my mom play classical music on the piano, so it got into my blood early. My dad enforced practice times, gave structure to that part of my life, and pushed me. And of course, they both encouraged me.” Marie-Therese began playing at a mere three years old. “My mother didn’t want to be the one to teach me. Instead, she sent me to teachers she trusted.” The arrangement proved fruitful, and Marie-Therese’s exceptional ability was identified when she was just sev- en. That gift, in her opinion, surfaced for reasons beyond simply an innate talent. “I’m an emotional person, and that’s part of what cre- ates ‘artistry.’” She began competing nationally at age eight. By 10, her daily practice time stretched to 4-5 hours in pursuit of that elusive “next level.” “It required dedication, both by my parents and my- self,” she says. “April was ‘competition season,’ and I was either practising or playing in a competition.” There’s a tendency to assume, with a person of ex- traordinary talent, that competing comes naturally and easily, that a thirst for achievement overrules fear. But this was not at all the case for her, Marie-Therese remembers. “I had horrible stage-fright. I’d be shaking and some- times sick to my stomach. That’s where my father was so good calming those nerves. He’d have me psych myself, that I was a caveman preparing for battle, and encour- A Life in Music Brings ...................... Please turn to page 28 Marie-Therese has been teaching 6-year-old Charlotte Phillips, a grade one student from R.H. Cornish Public School, for over a year now. I am Spa r t i k u s .