Derek Paravicini
affecTionaTely known as
The Human iPod
Derek Paravicini was born fifteen weeks prematurely in July 1979.
Due to his early delivery he was placed into a Neonatal Intensive
care Unit where he received oxygen therapy. this therapy was
blamed as the cause of his blindness and also for affecting his
developing brain resulting in severe learning difficulties.
He is the son of Nicolas Paravicini and Mary ann Parker bowles,
the former sister-in-law of camilla Parker bowles, who later, by
her marriage to the Prince of Wales became the Duchess of
cornwall. He is a great-grandson of author William Somerset
Maugham. His stepmother is Susan rose "Sukie" Phipps (born
1941), who was brought up by Fitzroy MacLean one of the models
for James bond. His cousins include the food writer
tom Parker bowles and the gallery manager, Laura
Lopes. this remarkable pedigree should have given
him a great start in life however it was not to be.
Derek is autistic.
His Nanny gave him a keyboard when he was two
years old and he began to show some signs of
accomplishment immediately. His parents later
enrolled him in the Linden Lodge School for the blind
in London. there was a young music teacher named
adam Ockleford that taught blind children to play
the piano at the school for the blind.
adam fondly tells the story of his first meeting with
Derek over twenty-five years ago. “I was teaching a
young girl to play the piano when I felt a thump on
my back. Derek’s family had brought him to the Linden Lodge
School for the blind that day, and when he entered the room, he
immediately rushed across the room and pushed me away from
the piano. He sat at the piano and began this series of karate chop
actions across the keyboard. after getting over the shock of being
beaten up by a four year old that I thought was a total madman,
I suddenly heard the very definite tune 'Don't play for me argentina.'
I was amazed as it became apparent to me that this little guy had
taught himself. “My diagnosis went from madman to potential
genius in seconds.” adam still smiles at the memory.
at nine years of age Derek played his first major concert as a guest
with the royal Philharmonic Pops Orchestra, and at ten was
presented with barnardo's children's champion award by Princess
Diana. adam recalls those moments with pleasure and great
detail but he is not so sure whether Derek's memories are so
detailed.
32 a DIStINctIVe StyLe . cOM
by Peter Mack
“autism wasn't known as well as it is today and we just thought
these kids were a little eccentric or quirky and Derek certainly fell
into that category,” adam said. From that moment on an amazing
relationship has developed between Derek and adam that is as
strong as ever and will continue for many years to come.
adam continues “ Derek has what is known as 'perfect' or
'absolute pitch' which allows him to hear a key once and it
becomes engrained in him forever. Once hears a note he
instinctively knows where it was on the keyboard. but before this
could be done I had to physically take his little hand and place it
on the key. Once I had done this for each key he knew precisely
where each key was. Derek can hear a car engine,
tumble dryer or an airplane and he can tell you
accurately what key it is in. People who speak in
tonal languages such as chinese or Vietnamese
tend to have better pitch recognition but Derek has
universal absolute pitch.”
People with autism tend to be perfectionists and
people with perfect pitch are often stressed by
music that is not precisely in the key that they feel
it should be. Derek has never had this potential
problem because adam's teaching method makes
his students play in all keys so they have heard it
before and it is not so stressful to them. again
unusually in autism Derek is a very powerful, ener-
getic and passionate pianist but when accompany-
ing a singer he has the innate ability to play sensitively
and seems to 'feel' the music; unlike his emotions towards every-
day life that elude him. Some musical Savants can play a variety
of instruments but Derek is wedded to his piano and he will look
at nothing else. He can neither read nor write music. He is now
thirty-one but academically he functions at pre school level.
autistic people often see life as black or white there is no grey in
their world. they can only concentrate on what is being said and
cannot 'read between the lines' and often life is all about them. an
example of this happened recently when Derek and adam
flew to Phoenix, arizona for Muhammad ali's celebrity Fight
Night. David Foster was the compere for Derek’s performance
and after his first number, tiger rag he suggested to Derek that
they ask for requests from the audience. Derek said, “yes! can I
request the Flight Of the bumble bee” and then commenced to
play it for himself.