Rex: A Musical Savant's Remarkable Strides

60 Minutes Catches Up With A Musical Savant Who's Making Great Strides Against All Odds

(CBS)  But then, an unexpected breakthrough happened, when Rex’s father brought him a keyboard for his second birthday.

"He pulled his hands back up at first. And I thought, 'Oh, now what am I'm gonna have to trick him into putting them back.' All of a sudden, he overcame his own sensitivity because he was so intrigued," Cathleen remembers.

Rex was hooked. The keyboard was all he wanted to do, even when his body couldn't do it anymore - he'd literally fall asleep on the keyboard.

As his skill at the piano grew, so came other skills. Rex learned to walk, and talk, even run - all things he was never expected to do. Two years later, Rex was spelling, skiing, and today, exchanging e-mails with a Swedish pen pal.

But there are still barriers music hasn't helped transcend - those hands that fly across the keyboard still can't button a button, or guide his foot into a shoe. Even Velcro straps are challenging.

But Rex is full of positive surprises too, like defying the conventional wisdom that savants can only parrot back what they hear.

Every Saturday, Rex spends four hours with David Pinto, who has started an Academy of Music for the Blind, and is helping Rex turn his improvisations into original pieces of music.

"He's composed about a dozen wonderful little piano pieces that are perfect for intermediate students," Pinto explains. "I had him play them into the computer, so we could print it out." He handed Stahl a printed book of Rex's compositions.

Pinto believes Rex is truly creative. "Rex is beginning to be a little composer."

The big challenge for Rex as a musician, Pinto believes, is a bit of a paradox. The savant gift that gives him such prodigious talent, also robs him of some of what makes music so powerful to the rest of us - real emotion.

"To convey emotion in a piece, you need loudness and softness and crescendos and decrescendos," he says. "It’s amazing to me that he doesn’t naturally take to those things."

Pinto says Rex does hear them, "But they're not important to him. These are emotional things. This is conveying meaning on an emotional, human level. Those things are not significant to him as much."

It's a problem shared by many of David’s students, and why he feels it's so important to bring them together and foster human connections through their music.

[bmcafee3]

How about a CD by Rex and Rachel?

[tedcab]

If you designed your "post a comment" better you wouldn''t have all these people clicking the "publish" button multiple times. When it is pushed we get a message that says in essence that our attempt to post didn''t work, so we do it again, and again and again. Hello? Is anyone there? Get your act together!

[tedcab]

The Rex Clack story is wonderful, but I was very frustrated to have Lesley Stahl''s narration drown out all of the music. We know Lesley can talk %u2014 she''s no savant %u2014 but we would love to have heard more of Rex''s playing and less of Lesley talking.

[tedcab]

The Rex Clack story is wonderful, but I was very frustrated to have Lesley Stahl''s narration drown out all of the music. We know Lesley can talk %u2014 she''s no savant %u2014 but we would love to have heard more of Rex''s playing and less of Lesley talking.

[pdabbs-2009]

Watching this amazing story brought to mind questions raised in my mind when I learned that in dogs, like English setters, when pigmentation was missing in the auditory nerve during the embryonic stage of development, the dog would be deaf. Does this cross-dimension (auditory-visual) effect have any connection to the development of musical savants among blind children?

[naomitickle]

Many of our innate abilities can be seen in the structure of the face at day one. Note how many of the autistic children''s outer edge of the ear is C shaped. This indicates the love of music. When they are cupped out, they hear sound very clearly. Put the two together, here is the musician. Rex has both of these features including the aesthetic appreciation, which is the straight underside of the eyebrow. This indicates the need for balance and harmony and has a natural feel for how things flow. Often observered in musicians and artists. I have worked with several people with various disablities, the results have been amazing and very moving.

[deweytoo]

Your reporting on Rex Clack was one of the most inspirational things I''ve ever see. What a talent and what a delightful good young man. I hope you continue to follow up on his progress.

[deweytoo]

This is one of the most inspirational pieces I''ve ever see. Keep up the good work and keep following Rex. What a marvel and talent. I''m so glad you did this piece!

[frankhartzell1]

Fantastic report, great sound, film and reporting. One ommission, you should have mentioned the story of Blind Tom, a slave boy from the 19th century whose story is nearly identical to Rex (blind, DD and able to play anything on the piano after hearing it once)
http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant_syndrome/savant_profiles/tom_bethune

[frankhartzell1]

Fantastic report, great sound, film and reporting. One ommission, you should have mentioned the story of Blind Tom, a slave boy from the 19th century whose story is nearly identical to Rex (blind, DD and able to play anything on the piano after hearing it once)
http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant_syndrome/savant_profiles/tom_bethune

[frankhartzell1]

Fantastic report, great sound, film and reporting. One ommission, you should have mentioned the story of Blind Tom, a slave boy from the 19th century whose story is nearly identical to Rex (blind, DD and able to play anything on the piano after hearing it once)
http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant_syndrome/savant_profiles/tom_bethune

[denoble79]

I''ve been watching 60 Minutes for as long as I can remember--from the age of 4 or 5 it was a Sunday night ritual for my father and me. I''ve been fascinated by so many of the stories you''ve done over the years, but few touch me like Lesley Stahl''s pieces with Rex. Every once in a while, that heartwarming scene (from the first piece) of Lesley and Rex at the piano playing "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" pops into my mind, and I choke up at just the thought of it. I was so glad to see you go back a third time to Rex''s story. I could watch Lesley and Rex endlessly. I absolutely despise reality TV, but following Lesley and Rex around is one reality show I could get behind! With the barrage of bad news these days, it''s such a relief to spend a few minutes thinking about the miracles in life, like Rex. His enthusiasm and talent are so incredibly moving and inspirational. Every time you guys run one of tho se pieces I end up in tears. Please keep up these reunions every few years. I want to know what happens next in Rex''s story, and I get such a kick out of seeing his interaction with Ms. Stahl. Thank you again, not only for Rex''s story, but for all the years of amazing stories you''ve brought to my life.

[ronffg]

Dear Ms. Stahl: Having just watched your piece about Rex, I would like to congratulate you on a most wonderful production. In this day and age of bad news about our crumbling economy, worldwide strife and unrest, learning about Rex was a bright and heartwarming experience. We need more pieces like this and more people like you and Rex. Thank you.

[mstegman2]

I was fascinated by the story about Rex. When he was struggling to fasten his shoes I wondered if they had ever had him try this and other physical things using music. It seems to me that if he sang a very rhythmic song while trying these physical tasks, it would make it easier for him.

[mstegman2]

I was fascinated by the story about Rex. When he was struggling to fasten his shoes I wondered if they had ever had him try this and other physical things using music. It seems to me that if he sang a very rhythmic song while trying these physical tasks, it would make it easier for him.

[jcarsmith]

Ms. Stahl, I enjoyed your program on Rex. I am an educator and it reminded me of a quote from my favourite educator, Charlotte Mason. She said, "We attempt to define a person, the most common-place person we know, but he will not submit to bounds; some unexpected beauty of nature breaks out; we find he is not what we thought, and begin to suspect that every person exceeds our power of measurement." Thank you.

[jcarsmith]

Ms. Stahl, I enjoyed your program on Rex. I am an educator and it reminded me of a quote from my favourite educator, Charlotte Mason. She said, "We attempt to define a person, the most common-place person we know, but he will not submit to bounds; some unexpected beauty of nature breaks out; we find he is not what we thought, and begin to suspect that every person exceeds our power of measurement." Thank you.

[jcarsmith]

Ms. Stahl, I enjoyed your program on Rex. I am an educator and it reminded me of a quote from my favourite educator, Charlotte Mason. She said, "We attempt to define a person, the most common-place person we know, but he will not submit to bounds; some unexpected beauty of nature breaks out; we find he is not what we thought, and begin to suspect that every person exceeds our power of measurement." Thank you.

[jcarsmith]

Ms. Stahl, I enjoyed your program on Rex. I am an educator and it reminded me of a quote from my favourite educator, Charlotte Mason. She said, "We attempt to define a person, the most common-place person we know, but he will not submit to bounds; some unexpected beauty of nature breaks out; we find he is not what we thought, and begin to suspect that every person exceeds our power of measurement." Thank you.

[jcarsmith]

Ms. Stahl, I enjoyed your program on Rex. I am an educator and it reminded me of a quote from my favourite educator, Charlotte Mason. She said, "We attempt to define a person, the most common-place person we know, but he will not submit to bounds; some unexpected beauty of nature breaks out; we find he is not what we thought, and begin to suspect that every person exceeds our power of measurement." Thank you.