Land of 10,000 Stories: 10-year-old music prodigy rocks

It's not that he doesn't like video games.  Collin Johnson just isn't a fan of Guitar Hero.

"I have a real guitar," smiles the Woodbury 10-year-old.

With his bedroom as his stage, Collin rips through a musical stew of Eric Clapton, The Police and AC/DC, mixed in with his own compositions.

"For Mother's Day I wanted a sound proof room," laughs Nicole Johnson, Collin's mom, barely audible over the din emanating from the bedroom down the hall.

Collin's family has been speechless before.

"When he was five," Collin's dad Chris Johnson remembers, "Nikki and I were down here and we heard him playing something on a little electric piano that he had gotten from his grandma. And we went upstairs and he was playing the First Noel."

Collin wasn't just plunking out a few notes with one finger. The five-year-old had both hands on the keys and was playing chords.  "And we're like, 'where did you learn that,' and he was like, 'I don't know, just listening to music.'"
 
Stunned by what he was hearing, Chris went to get his guitar. "And so I gave it to him, and he just starts jamming. I mean it took me a year before I could play chords without looking at them," and here sat Collin feeling out the notes with his eyes straight ahead the first time he played a guitar.

Before long, Collin was playing a full-size keyboard, a bass guitar taller than he was and the drum set he requested for Christmas when he was still five.

"I didn't even need a lesson for it," smiles Collin. "I just did some fills and I'm like whoa!"

But the real tale of "whoa," comes from Collin's parents.

"It was devastating," says Nicole. "I never cried so much in my life."

Collin was born eight weeks premature with a severe brain hemorrhage. His dad explains, "The bleeding for him was on the left side and it was massive, so they expected most of the whole motor skills area on the left side of his brain not to work."

Chris and Nicole were told their son would likely have Cerebral Palsy and would probably have difficulty walking and using his hands.

"He failed his hearing test of all things," says Nicole. 

"Twice," adds Chris.  

Then somehow that two-pound, brain-damaged infant grew up to have perfect pitch.   

"It's almost like another sense," explains Dustin Kiel, Collin's guitar teacher at the School of Rock Music in St. Paul. "In my life I've probably only met four people with perfect pitch."

 To prove the point, Kiel plays a chord as Collin sits a few feet away with his hands over his eyes. 
"Is is a G minor 9th?" responds Collin. They repeat the drill again and again and Collin is correct every time.

"I just close my eyes and just guess," explains Collin. Kiel smiles, "He said he's guessing, but he's always right."

Kiel says he's never taught a 10-year-old with Collin's abilities. "It just seems like he was destined to rock and roll."

Collin spends his Saturday afternoons at the School of Rock in St. Paul, bouncing between drum and guitar lessons and performing in several rock ensembles during which he rotates between guitar, keyboard, drums and vocals.

"There's like 20 songs on a show," explains Mark Erwin, a manager at the school, "and the very first rehearsal he knows all the parts for everybody, even the songs he's not even assigned."

At a recent drum lesson at the school, teacher Dustin Phillips explains he's only been teaching Collin for four weeks.

"How long you been taking drum lessons all together?" he asks Collin.

"I only started with you."

"Oh wow," a surprised Phillips teases, "Guess I'm a good teacher."

Few at the school know about Collin's three brain surgeries. Nor are they aware of the shunt that remains in Collin's brain and the tube under his skin that carries fluid from his head to his abdomen.

But his parents wonder if possibly that brain trauma as an infant triggered something special. "I think somehow his brain developed a little bit differently," says Nicole.

However it happened Collin is now recording his first demo disc -- playing all the parts and writing all the music -- with the help of his Jen Case, his former music teacher at the School of Rock.

"That's gonna rock dude," Case tells Collin after finishing a track. Collin can barely contain his excitement, a subtle reminder that despite his obvious talent, he is still only 10-years-old.

"It's his passion," says his dad. "I think it's what he was meant to do."

The nightly jam session in Collin's bedroom ends shortly after dark. "Good night everybody," he shouts in a whisper to an imaginary arena filled with adoring fans.

 "See you on the next tour," he adds before snapping back to reality. "I never actually go on tour."

Blessed with the soul of a rocker, Collin Johnson is still cursed with an 8:45 p.m. bedtime.

Collin and his classmates at the School of Rock Music will be performing concerts at The Rock in Maplewood on May 16 and 17.

Click here for concert information.

Listen to Collin's music:

Click here to listen to 'Creep'

Click here to listen to 'Beautiful Day'

By Boyd Huppert, KARE 11 News

Check out our KARE family of Web sites:
	takeKARE		Metromix
	Moms Like Me		Minnesota Bound
	Showcase Minnesota