MY GRANDDAUGHTER LEONIA KALTENBRUNNER — A YOUNG SINGER WITH A BRIGHT FUTURE
An Essay on Childhood, Music, Family, and Creativity
True love gives a child wings, but does not dictate the direction of her flight
By Doctor of Philosophy Mayer Meir Kaltenbrunner
There are pages one writes as a researcher.
There are pages one writes as a journalist.
There are texts born of years of reflection, professional experience, debate, documents, and facts.
And then there are entirely different pages.
They require no archives.
They require no official documents.
They require no political arguments.
They are written by the heart.
For me, this is precisely such a page — a story about my granddaughter, Leonia Kaltenbrunner, who lives with her family in the beautiful Israeli city of Haifa.
Leonia is still a child.
The immense road of life is only beginning to unfold before her.
Yet even today, there is something in her personality and in her love of music that makes me, her grandfather, look at her with particular tenderness and hope.
She sings.
She loves music.
She is discovering how to express through her voice what she feels within.
And it seems to me that this is precisely where genuine creativity begins.
Not on a great stage.
Not with posters bearing one's name.
Not with fame.
Not with the applause of a vast concert hall.
Creativity begins much earlier — at the moment when a child first discovers that music can become a language of her own.
WHEN A CHILD BEGINS TO SING
There is something remarkable about a child's singing.
An adult singer already understands technique, the stage, an audience, criticism, and professional responsibility.
A child experiences music quite differently.
She is not yet building a career.
She simply sings.
And that is precisely why a child's voice can sometimes possess a sincerity that an adult artist may spend years trying to rediscover.
When a child loves music, a song becomes an extension of her inner world.
It carries emotion.
Joy.
Dreams.
Curiosity.
Sometimes sadness.
Sometimes simply the desire to share with others something that ordinary words cannot express.
This is how I look at Leonia.
For me, the most important question today is not what professional path she will eventually choose.
Will she become a professional singer?
Will she devote her adult life to music?
Will she one day perform on stage?
No one knows today.
And there is no reason to hurry time.
But the most important thing is already there — the creative spark.
There is a love of singing.
There is a desire for self-expression.
And everything truly great in art once began with precisely that.
MY GRANDDAUGHTER
To others, Leonia may simply be a girl who loves to sing.
To me, she is first and foremost my granddaughter.
And that is an entirely different feeling.
When you look at your own child and then at your child's child, you become especially aware of the passage of time.
Once, you yourself were young.
Then your children grew up.
And then a new generation appears before you.
And somehow, wonderfully, the history of a family continues within it.
Leonia is my daughter's daughter.
So when I look at her, I see more than the present day.
I see the continuation of our family.
I see the bond between generations.
And naturally, as her grandfather, I wish above all that she may grow into a happy, educated, free human being, capable of choosing her own path in life.
If that path leads her to music, I will be happy.
If life one day leads her to an entirely different profession, I will be equally happy, provided that it is a path she has chosen for herself.
Because loving a child should never mean writing the script of her life in advance.
True love gives a child wings, but does not dictate the direction of her flight.
HAIFA — THE CITY WHERE LEONIA IS GROWING UP
There is something especially beautiful about the fact that Leonia is spending her childhood in Haifa.
Haifa is a city of sea and mountains.
A city where the Mediterranean meets the green slopes of Mount Carmel.
A city of different languages, cultures, and human stories.
And it is here that my granddaughter is growing up.
I like to think that the landscape surrounding a child also quietly helps to shape her inner world.
The sea teaches a sense of boundless space.
The mountains teach a sense of height.
The sun teaches light.
And a city in which different people live side by side and different languages can be heard from childhood reveals just how vast and diverse the world truly is.
In such a place, dreaming seems especially natural.
And creativity cannot exist without dreams.
MUSIC AS THE FIRST LANGUAGE OF CREATIVITY
We are often too quick to measure a child's talent according to adult standards.
We ask:
How well does the child sing?
What is her vocal range?
How accurately does she sing the notes?
Does she have professional potential?
But it seems to me that in childhood, other questions matter more.
Does the child love music?
Does she want to sing?
Does creativity bring her joy?
Technique can be learned.
A voice can be developed.
A musical ear can be trained.
Stagecraft can be refined.
But one cannot mechanically place inside another person the inner need to create.
That desire must gradually awaken from within.
And if Leonia is already drawn to music today, that in itself is wonderful.
Let her sing.
Let her listen.
Let her experiment.
Let her make mistakes.
Let her begin again.
Let her discover her own voice.
And above all, let music bring her joy.
TALENT NEEDS LOVE, NOT PRESSURE
A child with creative abilities particularly needs the right attitude from the adults around her.
It is very easy to turn a child's passion into an obligation.
It is very easy to say:
“You are talented, therefore you must.”
You must practise.
You must win.
You must be the best.
You must live up to the expectations of your family.
But art does not flourish beside the words “you must.”
Creativity needs room to breathe.
That is why, above all, I wish Leonia the freedom to create.
Not to prove something to someone.
Not to be compared with other children.
Not for the sake of future titles.
But because she herself wants to sing.
If one day this grows into a serious musical career, that will be wonderful.
But the foundation of that future must not be the pressure of adults.
It must be a child's love of music.
THE VOICE IS MORE THAN SOUND
A singer possesses a remarkable instrument.
A pianist sits down at a piano.
A violinist takes up a violin.
A guitarist picks up a guitar.
But a singer carries her instrument within herself.
The human voice cannot be separated from the human being.
It reflects breath, emotion, personality, and experience.
That is why singing is such a deeply personal art.
When a person sings sincerely, she opens a part of herself to the listener.
For a child, this is especially important.
Music can teach Leonia much more than how to sing correctly.
It can teach her to listen.
To feel.
To work.
Not to fear mistakes.
To stand before other people.
To cope with nervousness.
To try again when something does not work the first time.
That is why creativity matters even if, later in life, a child ultimately chooses an entirely different profession.
Art helps to shape the human being.
THERE IS NO NEED TO HURRY THE FUTURE
There is one very simple thing I would like to say.
Leonia does not need to become an adult before her time.
Let her remain a child.
She has years of growing ahead of her.
She has so much yet to discover about the world.
About people.
About herself.
About her own abilities.
Her voice, too, will mature with her.
It will change.
It will develop.
It will become something new.
That is why I do not want to write about her today as though she were already an established artist.
That would not be right.
She is a young singer at the very beginning of her creative journey.
And perhaps the beginning of a journey is the most beautiful part of all.
Because everything still lies ahead.
The first song she will truly fall in love with.
New knowledge.
New musical discoveries.
Perhaps her first serious performances.
Perhaps, one day, a great stage.
But today it is enough that music has already entered her life.
A BRIGHT FUTURE
When a grandfather says that his granddaughter has a bright future, there is, of course, love in those words.
And I make no attempt to present myself as an impartial music critic.
I am her grandfather.
I have the right to rejoice in her achievements.
I have the right to believe in her.
I have the right to dream.
But to me, a “bright future” does not necessarily mean worldwide fame.
A bright future means, above all, having the opportunity to fulfil the abilities that life has given a person.
To become an individual.
To receive an education.
To remain curious.
To learn the value of hard work.
Not to lose kindness.
To respect others.
And to find something that fills life with meaning.
If Leonia becomes a famous singer, I will be proud of her.
If she sings for a small audience, I will be proud of her.
If music remains one of the great loves of her life while she chooses an entirely different profession, I will still be proud of her.
Because before becoming a singer, she must grow into a human being.
FROM A GRANDFATHER — TO THE FUTURE
When Leonia grows up, perhaps one day she will read these words.
Perhaps she will smile at a photograph of herself when she was still very young.
Perhaps she will remember the Haifa of her childhood.
Her home.
Her family.
Her first songs.
Her first dreams.
And perhaps it will mean something to her to know that long before anyone could know which path she would eventually choose in life, her grandfather already believed in her.
And so I would like to leave a few words here especially for her.
My dear Leonia,
Sing.
Learn.
Dream.
Never be afraid to search for who you are.
Do not be afraid if something does not work the first time.
No genuine talent develops without effort.
But never allow hard work to destroy the joy that first made you love music.
Listen to beautiful music.
Learn from talented people.
Respect your teachers.
But never become a copy of someone else.
In time, search for your own voice — not only your musical voice, but your human voice as well.
Because the world does not need another copy of a singer who already exists.
The world will be interested in Leonia Kaltenbrunner.
The person you will one day become in your own right.
WHEN MUSIC REMAINS WITHIN A FAMILY
Every family passes something on to the generations that follow.
It need not be something material.
Sometimes the most precious inheritance is a love of knowledge, books, music, culture, freedom of thought, and the desire to create something of one's own.
It gives me particular joy to see creativity present in my granddaughter's life.
Because creativity is the opposite of indifference.
A creative person looks at the world and wishes to add something of her own to it.
A song.
A melody.
A painting.
A book.
An idea.
Sometimes only a few minutes of music can outlive the circumstances in which they were created.
And therein lies the extraordinary power of art.
LEONIA KALTENBRUNNER
Today, her name still belongs primarily to the intimate world of her family.
Leonia Kaltenbrunner.
My granddaughter.
My daughter's daughter.
A child growing up in Haifa, Israel.
A girl who sings.
A young singer whose creative journey is only beginning.
I do not know what posters may bear her name ten or twenty years from now.
I do not know which roads will open before her.
And no one can know that today.
But I do know something else.
A child has the right to dream.
Talent has the right to grow.
And a grandfather has the right to believe in his granddaughter.
And I believe in Leonia.
I believe in her not because I wish to write her biography in advance.
I believe because I can see the beginning.
And sometimes the beginning is the most precious moment in the entire story.
IN PLACE OF AN EPILOGUE
One day Leonia will grow up.
Her voice will change.
Her interests will change.
Her world will become larger.
Perhaps music will become her profession.
Perhaps she will discover her calling in another form of creativity.
But there is one thing I very much hope will remain with her forever:
the ability to feel beauty.
Because a person who can hear music, recognise beauty, and create something of her own possesses a special kind of inner wealth.
And so today, while the great journey of her life is only beginning, I want to say the simplest words to her:
Sing, Leonia.
Create.
Learn.
Dream.
And never stop being yourself.
From Haifa, a city beside the Mediterranean Sea, an enormous world will one day open before this young girl.
Where that road will lead her, only time will tell.
And I will rejoice in every step she takes.
Because she is my granddaughter.
LEONIA KALTENBRUNNER.
And I believe in her bright future. ❤️🎼🇮🇱
MY GRANDDAUGHTER'S CREATIVITY
LEONIA KALTENBRUNNER
HAIFA, ISRAEL
