12-year-old IU School of Music grad wants international success

Twelve-year-old Julian Bliss completed the coursework to qualify for a two-year Artist's Diploma at the IU School of Music while attending St. Charles Middle School. The young clarinet prodigy is the youngest person to qualify for this degree from IU, and was a guest on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday.\n"I started playing the clarinet when I was four," Bliss said. "I heard it on the radio, and I liked the sound it made, and I decided that was the instrument that I wanted to play." \nBliss, a highly accomplished clarinet player, moved from his home in England to study at IU. Bliss and his mother came to IU for its world-renowned School of Music and stayed the two years necessary to qualify for the diploma. Bliss studied with Howard Klug, chairman of the Woodwind department in the IU School of Music.\n"Professor Klug was in England, and I had a lesson with him, and we got on so well," Bliss said. "I decided to come to IU (because) he invited me to come, and it was too good of an opportunity to miss." \nHis accomplishment has not gone unnoticed by national media. Cameramen followed Bliss on his daily routine and recorded him at graduation. The footage appeared on the "Today" show Tuesday morning on NBC.\n"It was fun," Bliss said. "I enjoyed them being here. It was not my first time on television, but it was my first time on NBC. There is something like 14 million viewers -- that is a lot of people," Bliss said.\nBliss said the students at IU were nice, and he got along with them well.\n"I made lots of friends in Indiana that I will come to visit, but only when I\'m en route," he said. "I got on with the other students very well. They treated me as one of them. It really didn't make a difference that I was younger than them." \nBliss made a good impression with his fellow students at IU, who were mostly upperclassmen and masters students. One of his fellow students, Leslie Eldridge, who graduated from IU Saturday, spoke highly of Bliss. \n"He really excels at playing solos in front of people," Eldridge said. "He definitely loves to play, that is obvious." \nShe admits that at first a few students felt awkward about having a 12-year-old in their classes, but after witnessing his talent, they felt nothing but respect towards him. The respect, she explains, was mutual. She said it was difficult to feel jealous of the young prodigy, because he has such different goals than most clarinet players. He aspires to become an internationally renowned clarinet soloist. This goal may seem impossible and is quite rare for most musicians to attain. \nIn addition to attending IU, Julian also attended St. Charles Catholic School, where he studied at the seventh grade level. Julian's homeroom teacher, Sarah Vaughn, said despite Bliss's rigorous schedule of classes, he still behaved in the ways that a "normal" 12-year-old does.\n"Sometimes I could tell it was hard on him to come here and go to the University, but he is a very easy kid to get along with," Vaughn said. "I remember seeing him in the cafeteria joking around -- he is definitely a seventh grader at heart." \nSoon after his return to England, Bliss will participate in a concert for Queen Elizabeth. Other performers in this highly acclaimed concert include celebrities such as, Tony Bennet, Annie Lennox, Phil Collins, Elton John.\nBliss has not received his actual diploma from IU because he has not yet received his high school diploma. Once he graduates from high school, his diploma from IU will become valid. According to Eldridge, he is "a cool little kid," that many IU students came to see as a little brother.\n"He has a good attitude in general about life," Eldridge said.\nBliss talks like being a child prodigy is a normal part of life. \n"Next year I hope to go to Germany and study there with a professor," Bliss said. "And of course I have to carry on with school, so I will carry on, while also performing, of course, and studying and taking lessons, all of the usual stuff"