Did you ever learn an instrument when you were a little kid?
For most of us, taking some early piano lessons or at least learning how to play the recorder were definitely a part of our childhood. Still, other people took it a little further than that and participated in band, orchestra or choir. Beyond that, some people stick with those passions and develop their music-playing abilities far beyond what the average person does, becoming world-class performers in the process.
And as this story shows, when you get that good, you’ll stop at nothing to share your talents.
Although the world is pretty familiar with all the talent shows out there, there’s a new one that showcases global talent.
That show is The World’s Best, which premiered in February, 2019 on CBS. On one of the earliest episodes, the crew was sent to Japan to meet up with Manami Ito, also known as “The Miracle Violinist.” Ito started playing violin when she was only seven years old and quickly fell in love with it. She continued with it throughout her life until something bad happened.
When Ito was 20 years old, she was in a car accident that resulted in her losing her arm.
Shortly after the accident, Ito gave up playing the violin.
Because it was such a great passion of hers, she fell into a depression and didn’t even leave the house for about a year. After a while though, her mother asked that maybe she play the violin for her again one day when she was feeling up to it.
With that inspiration in mind, Ito eventually picked up the violin again, essentially re-learning it to make up for her new disability.
As her performance displayed perfectly, she’s never been better!
When the show starts, Ito takes a breath—and then starts to play.
To play the violin now, Ito has a small metal bar mounted on the other side of the instrument that the bow can rest against. With her bionic arm, she uses her shoulder muscles to pull the bow across the strings.
As her performance shows, the loss of her arm has seemingly not hurt her abilities to play beautifully at all! Each note is so full of feeling and soul, and her technique is impeccable as well.
Well before the performance is over, the judges are in tears and there are multiple applause breaks.
When the performance finally ends, she gets the biggest applause yet!
From the audience, her husband and daughter look on with big smiles. Although it goes without saying, talent comes in many different shapes and forms.
Aside from the raw aptitude, there also takes a level of determination to see through difficulties and achieve goals, to explore your talents more fully. Beyond even that, there’s a certain strength of spirit that will find a way to overcome any obstacle as well.
What’s clear beyond a doubt, and what makes Ito so world-class, is that she all of these strengths and more!
For anyone who was a fan of this performance, the good news is that there are many more of Ito’s performances available on the internet.
In another video, she plays another sad and touching song with the same control and soul that she showed in her audition on The World’s Best. The fact that Ito was able to have a custom prosthetic made that allows her to play violin is no small feat—and the results obviously speak for themselves.
Above all, Ito shows us all that there’s no telling what we can achieve if we put our minds to it.
Although Ito was always a talented violinist, she truly proved herself by overcoming one of the worst situations for anyone to overcome. And in the process, she was able to perform on a world stage. We’re sure we’re going to see more from this talented young woman and we look forward to future performances.
Way to go, Manami! Check out the full video of the show below:
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