1 . At first sight, Alma Deutscher, a sixteen-year-old girl from England appears to be like any other typical teenager. She loves to skip rope, read and play with her younger sister. But this modest youngster, who composed her first musical work at age six, first short opera at age seven, and first full-length opera based on Cinderella at age ten, is anything but average. Though her parents downplayed(淡化)her extraordinary talent, young Alma is being described as “little Mozart” by the music world.

Alma’s opera based on the classic fairy tale, which she began writing at age eight, has a slight twist. Her Cinderella is a musician who meets her Prince Charming, a poet through a song. “In my Cinderella, she sings the beginning of a ballad—but at midnight she flees. Eventually, the prince finds her after asking all the girls of the country to sing the end of the ballad.”

The opera was first performed in Vienna, Austria on December 29, 2016, where the then eleven-year-old skillfully switched between the piano and the violin and received enthusiastic reviews. The young genius has since performed two new piano works, one in Australia and the other in China.

While this may appear to be a lot for someone so young, Alma is not worried. She says, “Of course I have to work hard. But all children have to work hard for exams, and at least when I work hard, I work hard for something incredibly exciting, like seeing my whole opera put on.”

Alma’s musical talent first came to light before she could even talk. Her parents recall that as an 18-month-old toddler, she was able to hum a perfect version of the children’s rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

However, Alma’s abilities only gained international attention in 2012, after a family friend posted a video online comparing her to Mozart. The family was suddenly swamped with media and Alma became an overnight star, dubbed “little Mozart”. This nickname makes her parents unhappy because they believe it puts added pressure on the young girl. They would instead prefer her to be called “a composer and musician”.

Alma does not want to be compared to the famous artist either, saying “There was only one Mozart, and I prefer to be little Alma.” Regardless of what she calls herself, the sixteen-year-old is changing the world of music forever!

6 . Listening to new music is hard. Not hard compared to going to space or war, but hard compared to listening to music we already know.

There is a physiological explanation in our desire to seek comfort in the familiar. It can help us understand why listening to new music is so hard, and why it can make us feel uneasy, angry, or even riotous. It has to do with the plasticity of our brains.

When it comes to hearing music, a network of nerves in the auditory cortex called the corticofugal network helps classify the different patterns of music. When a specific sound maps onto a pattern, our brains release an amount of dopamine, the main chemical source of some of our most intense emotions. This is the essential reason why music triggers such powerful emotional reactions.

Take the chorus of a song by Adele or Bruce Springsteen, many of which have very recognizable melody. The majority of our brains have memorized these melodies and know exactly what to expect when each comes around. When the corticofugal network registers that Springsteen chorus, our brains release just the right amount of dopamine.

But when we hear something that hasn't already been mapped onto the brain, the corticofugal network goes a bit out of control, and our brains release too much dopamine as a response. When there is no map or pattern to attach to, music can register as unpleasant or bad.

That’s what happened one night in Paris in 1913. The piece that was shown at the Théatre des Champs- élysées for the first time that night was Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. As described in the daily newspaper Le Figaro, many members of the audience could not understand this new music. After the failure of that evening, however, the ballet continued running at the theater for many months. At the second, there was noise only during the latter part of the ballet; at the third, “thunderous applause” and little protest. At a concert performance of Rite one year later, “excitement and adoration” swept over the crowd, and admirers surrounded Stravinsky in the street afterward, in a riot of delight.

We are built to avoid the uncertainty of newness and our brains actually fight against the unfamiliarity of life. The act of listening to new music is hard, but it's necessary. Our brains change as they recognize new patterns in the world, which is what makes brains useful.