A Michigan teenager who never had a proper piano lesson has become a viral sensation after a video emerged of his beautiful playing style. According to a Facebook post from January 22, 18-year-old Monntel West played the song, “River Flows in You” by Yiruma, a South Korean pianist, at a mall in Lansing. He told the Lansing State Journal, “I was going up there to meet a friend. All of a sudden people started surrounding me.”
(Facebook)
The video was first posted by Lansing resident Sara Hadley, in her post she wrote, “This is why they put a piano in the #lansingmall. Self taught!! #yiruma. Wow. Gave me goosebumps!!”
In an interview with Fox Detroit, West said that he doesn’t own a piano and self-taught himself to play on a keyboard. He’s a senior Everett High School.