Beethoven's Childhood Beethoven's grandfather and father were both court singers. For most of their lives, his father drank heavily, was never kind to the family, and never even asked if the family had enough to eat or wear. At first the kindly grandfather managed to save the family from too much suffering; and, in turn, the musical talents of his oldest grandson were a great comfort to the old man. But when young Beethoven was only four years old, the grandfather died. Beethoven's father used to drag the boy to the keyboard and make him practice there for many grueling hours, slapping him whenever he made a mistake. The neighbors often heard the little child sobbing himself to sleep from exhaustion and pain. Soon a traveling musician of little level, Faivre, came to the town and was brought to Beethoven's house. He and old Beethoven used to drink outside in a tavern until midnight, and then go home and drag young Ludwig out of bed to begin a lesson that sometimes lasted until dawn. To make him look like a child prodigy, his father lied about his age and took him out to concerts as a six-year-old when he was eight. But there is no such thing as a child prodigy, and in spite of all the trouble he went through, Beethoven the Elder was never able to make his son into another young Mozart. Beethoven's childhood was unfortunate compared to Mozart's. Mozart was well educated in his childhood. Mozart was well educated in his childhood, his practice time was pleasant and quiet, with a loving father and a beloved sister; Beethoven is not, although his playing won the respect of the people in his hometown, but the world travel performance is far from the Mozart as the cause of the world's admiration
Chopin was three years old, one night, the family held a party, the other children are in the The other children were all dancing, but Chopin was watching his mother's fingers move as she played the piano. When the party was over, he sat down at his mom's piano and played a beautiful tune. His mother was so surprised that she hired a piano teacher for him the next day. Little Chopin was very serious about learning to play the piano, but, because of his young age and small hands, it affected the keys. He then put corks in the cracks of his fingers before he went to bed every night, and it was the intervals between his fingers that were bigger. After five years of hard practice, Chopin, at the age of eight, went on the big stage to play the piano. Thousands of listeners, intoxicated by the beautiful sound of the piano, the theater constantly ringing thunderous applause. Chopin loved to play the piano, and was not afraid of suffering, practicing hard, and finally became a world-class pianist. If a person wants to accomplish something, he has to put in extraordinary efforts
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