In my book the terms virtuoso and prodigy are completely interchangeable. With the only difference really have to with the age of the person in question.

One is define thus:

Prodigy (n) – a person, esp. a child or young person, having extraordinary talent or abililty

And the other thus:

Virtuoso (n) – from the Latin word virtus, a person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

When the term virtuoso comes to mind what are the names that first pop into your mind? Beethoven, Di Vinci, Hendricks?

The point is that the term should never be used lightly. The reason I bring this up is that twice in one week I have read the term put with the name of a young, “up and coming musician”, once from Our Stage concerning Richard Saunders and again from Magnet Magazine about Emily Wells of Mud Kids.

Virtuoso is not a term that should be thrown out any time that a particular musician or artist shows above average potential. To do so diminishes the effect of the word. Just like being continually warned by your parents that you’ll be grounded if you don’t clean your room, if the punishment never comes it begins to become an empty threat and ultimately meaningless.

There are certain words that have such important meanings that over use has diluted them, for example “awesome” or especially “love”. Both words are used so frequently that they have lost their strength and importance.

Let’s hold some things in reserve for special occasions shall we?