Meet Musical Savant Rex

Lesley Stahl Checks In On A Boy With An Extraordinary Musical Talent

(CBS)  Derek was born extremely premature, weighing just a pound and a half. Like Rex, he started playing the piano at age two, and began lessons at age five. His teacher was Adam Ockelford, who worked with Derek daily for more than ten years.

Ockelford compares Derek’s intelligence to that of a two-and-a-half-year-old. Derek does not dress himself, cannot do a button and needs assistance going to the bathroom.

With all his disabilities, though, Derek remembers every song he’s ever heard. He’s like a living iPod. He retains popular songs as easily as classical masterpieces, playing "The Girl From Ipanema" and Beethoven’s "Für Elise" upon Stahl’s request.

And he doesn't just remember the music – he can transform it instantly and seemingly without conscious thought.

Stahl asked Derek if he could play "Für Elise" as if Mozart had written it and Derek performed the piece "a la Mozart" with a smile.

When asked how he knows how to do that, Derek replied, “I can’t remember.”

"Do you think that we will ever really understand how they do it?" Stahl asks Ockelford.

"No," he replies. "I don't think so. We don't understand how any of us enjoys music or can play, let alone a Derek or a Rex who have such outstanding abilities."

Just imagine what Rex’s life would be without music. This little boy was flown with his mother halfway around the world to Tokyo last year for his first paid concert before an international audience of 3,000.

If Rex keeps at it the way Derek has, with lessons and practicing every day, though he may never be a virtuoso classical soloist, he may well be headed toward a career in music that will outlive the childish charm.

"People can sense a sweetness from the stage don't they?" Stahl asks David Pinto.

"Oh yes. Later on, though, aside from his disability, aside from that he's an adorable kid, when he's a grown up, can he compete in the world of music? I think so," he says.