With no lessons, 10-year-old Granville County pianist dazzles with natural talent

A Granville County pianist is dazzling his listeners—and he’s still in elementary school.

Jonathan Grimes is a fifth grader at Tar River Elementary School. He stunned everyone from his classmates to his teachers with his command of the keyboard.

“It just touches your heart to listen to him play," said Tar River music teacher Angela Mangum. "You don’t think that’s a child.”

For Grimes, the music comes naturally.

“I like the sounds of the music," Jonathan Grimes said. "I like how you can play and feel it and you can take your emotions out.”

But the 10-year-old Grimes has never had a music lesson, and he can't read sheet music. Instead, he plays everything by ear.

“Jonathan hears the harmony. He’s hearing the major, the minor, he’s putting tension and release," Mangum says. "He hears that. It’s internal."

With his keys to success, Grimes just might be the next Mozart. He says he hopes to make more music, but his ultimate goal is to become an architect.