00:00 Graduating uni with an honours degree is an achievement worth celebrating for any student,
00:07 but particularly when you're just 13.
00:10 It's another stepping stone toward my goal of getting a PhD in music.
00:14 The youngest student in the ANU's 77-year history, Nathaniel's extraordinary talent in maths and music
00:21 defies a diagnosis of global developmental delay at 12 months old,
00:26 and doctors advise he'd never function independently.
00:30 I had to stay in the intensive care unit for 10 days after I was born,
00:37 and then my parents were crying at home, hoping that their son would survive.
00:43 Three years later, Nathaniel started primary schooling at home,
00:48 and within four years was on to high school subjects.
00:51 Piano lessons from 96-year-old musician Eli Gray-Smith inspired an interest in musical theory and composition,
00:58 and at 11, Nathaniel enrolled in a Bachelor of Music.
01:02 He wanted me to take music theory because my fingers were too weak for piano,
01:06 and then he realised that I was actually good at it.
01:10 It probably appealed to my logical brain when I was seven,
01:13 especially the act of composing music, that's why I'm a composer.
01:18 Nathaniel's since added the clarinet, saxophone and cello to his repertoire,
01:22 and has had several compositions professionally performed,
01:26 while rejection from an honours program in Singapore last year proved a blessing in disguise.
01:31 I thought my future was going to end there, but then ANU enlightened my future,
01:37 and hopefully is going to grant me a PhD.
01:40 I think that academic merit must be the most important thing,
01:43 but I think also in Nat's case, he was really suitable for this level of study.
01:47 The teenager considers support from his parents, classmates and teachers critical to his recent success,
01:53 not to mention...
01:54 Thomas Edison also said, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration."
02:01 An attitude hitting all the right notes.
02:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments