This Is Iowa: 6-year-old maestro is kindergarten gold
Hang out in a kindergarten class and you'll find plenty of characters. But every once in a while, you'll find a 5- or 6-year-old with a surprising talent.
There is one Joshua Christian Academy mini-maestro who is kindergarten gold.
Six-year-old JaeMarc Shabazz’s secret came out the first day of kindergarten when he walked into chapel with the whole student body.
“This cannot be taught. This is talent,” teacher Marti Wojcik said.
JaeMarc began growing into the music prodigy he is today when he was in diapers.
“If it made noise, he would beat on it. Then we bought him a drum set and he broke it. Bought him another drum set, broke it. And then it continued,” said Toiane Johnson, JaeMarc’s mom.
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Now that he’s 6, he doesn’t just play drums every day for chapel. He also conducts his school’s choir and takes over the school’s concerts.
“He’s learned how to communicate with the choir non-verbally to make them sing what he wants them to sing,” Joshua Christian Academy Rev. Brandon Spriggs said.
He directs the school choir, injecting spirit into the music, just like he does with the adult church choir at Mt. Hebron Baptist every week.
“It's like they expect it from him to get up there and direct every Sunday,” Johnson said.
His teachers are convinced that if he can already do this much, “God’s got something big for him,” Wojcik said.
In a few weeks, JaeMarc's church choir is going on the road to perform in Indiana. While the real director will pick the songs, the mini-maestro's toothless smile will be one leading several of them.