Sam Norton
A&E Editor
“She had a little toy piano and she started banging out songs on it from ear,” her mother said, “My husband and I were blown away.”
At a young age, Alexandra Krauth’s mother, Donna, saw that her daughter was blessed with a gift of music.
As a toddler, Alex played with hand bells—creating her first musical notes.
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“Before she could talk, she could tell you if it was an A, or a B, or a C,” Donna recalls. Alex was born with perfect pitch—something that only one out of 10,000 people have, she said.
“If someone played a note on the piano or asked me to sing a certain note, I know exactly what it is,” Krauth said.
Krauth’s natural ability to hear music and play it is what gave her an early start at her music career.
“When I was two or three my mom and dad noticed that I had such a natural gift for music so they bought me one of those baby keyboards and I would just figure out melodies by ear, like Twinkle Twinkle [Little Star],” Krauth said.
However, this natural ability would soon progress and develop into her passion and a way to show her true self.
“I believe that music is a way to express myself and it is something that anybody can relate to,” Krauth said.
Krauth, who is now a senior at Keene State College, is majoring in music with a specialization in elementary education.
“My ultimate dream is to use music in any way I can to reach people and inspire them to do their best in life, which is why I am hoping to be an elementary music teacher because I think kids can relate easily to music and need it in their lives,” she said.
For Krauth, singing is believing.
Born without her eyesight, she has had to rely heavily on her other senses—however, her loss of sight only gives her a willingness to conquer any task presented to her.
“While I think I do have a pretty good ear for music, when I was in first grade I had a teacher who learned how to read and write Braille music for me along with another teacher of mine at the Perkins School for the Blind,” she explained.
“Sighted musicians have the advantage of reading music with their eyes and playing it at the same time, but I have to read a few lines of music time over and over again and then memorize it and just keep adding lines over time,” she said.
For Krauth her practice and training over the years allowed her to strengthen and develop the skills she already possessed.
At the age of 13, Krauth enrolled in voice lessons and went on to sing in her high school’s choir—where she sang a soprano solo piece called “Laudate Dominum,” by W.A. Mozart, which is one of her favorite memories of performing.
But on Oct. 27, 2012, Krauth performed for a different crowd in the United Church of Christ in Keene, N.H. during her senior recital. W.A. Mozart, Claude Debussy, G.F. Handel, and Samuel Barber were some of the composers Krauth chose to include in her performance.
Krauth said that her recital was very diverse, and that it would consist mostly of classical music.
“It was through my voice lessons and my piano lessons that I grew to love classical music and it also made me more open to all different types of music from all over the world,” she said.
Professor of Music, R. Scott White, accompanied Krauth during her recital on the piano, White, who is Krauth’s piano professor, said that her ability to see the depth in the music is what makes her unique to other musicians.
But for Krauth, her senior recital was a chance for her to perform in front of her closest friends and family.
“Hopefully, it inspires people to be open to many different types of music that they would otherwise not be open to,” she said.
“It [the recital] was bittersweet. On one hand I was happy to be up there performing, but it was sad because it was my last solo recital of my college days,” she said.
Mozart wrote, “You have hardly landed / Upon the tender petal of a rose / And you dart off into the air.”
With her recital completed, Krauth now has the ability to dart off and pursue her career in music education.
And with every end, there is a new beginning.
Sam Norton can be contacted at
snorton@keene-equinox.com