By Laura Topham | Mail Online

There is one major difference between Mozart and the ten-year-old pianist performing in front of me – and arguably it is not talent.

For while Mozart had keyboard lessons from the age of three, Shane Thomas could play perfectly at the same age even without them.

In fact, it wasn’t until he was seven that Shane was able to reveal the full extent of his skill – despite years of pestering his parents for a piano and lessons.

For while most prodigies have their development carefully nurtured by pushy parents, Shane was constrained by lack of money and support.

At nursery, he was astonishing his teachers with his eerily precocious talent on the keyboard; at home, he was reduced to pretending to play on the carpet instead.

As a result, he is unlike most child wonders. Instead of the stereotypical social awkwardness, Shane is a sweet, sensitive, sometimes shy little boy who also enjoys playing Nintendo games and watching Harry Potter films.

And his incredible gift has not come without sacrifices. Shane’s mother and father disagreed over how best to handle their child’s talent, resulting in an acrimonious divorce.

Shane now lives in a small, cheaply furnished house in Woking, Surrey – funded by housing benefit – with his father Clayton, a full-time single parent.

He doesn’t even have a working acoustic piano, so instead uses an electric instrument bought by his 83-year-old grandmother Maisie after she saved up her £300 monthly pension.

‘I will never forget the moment we first heard him play when he was seven,’ says Clayton.

‘He told us he was copying teachers he’d seen at school, but I think he just wanted to give us an explanation because we were so astounded.

‘The truth is he doesn’t know how he does it – it’s like a miracle.’

Indeed, when Shane starts to play pieces by Bach and Chopin in front of me, his improbable brilliance is breathtaking.

His tiny hands fly along the keys though they can barely stretch to reach the chords, his feet just manage to make the pedals, yet the music is in time and note-perfect.

To the casual listener, at least, he sounds like an adult professional.

Shane not only plays, he also composes complex pieces, often inspired by his two beloved budgerigars.

So far he has written no less than 22 scores – amazingly he can read music so he writes down the notes himself.

And he is is now being hailed by some as a ‘new Mozart’. To quote his piano teacher, Shane ‘takes the term “gifted” to another dimension’.

Former tutor Richard Goffin-Lecar says: ‘Many would consider it highly pretentious to compare him to Mozart, but if one were to meet the boy and listen to him play, one would know it was a legitimate comparison. He is phenomenal.’

The one person who is not incredulous at such comments is Shane, whose self-belief has never faltered.

‘When I was three, I said I could play the piano, but nobody took me seriously,’ he says. ‘I used to cry all the time as I felt so frustrated.’

Such a bold comment from one so young is surprising, but then one of the first things that strikes you about Shane is that he displays an incredible level of maturity for his years.

The first sign of his mental agility was when, at six months old, he would crawl around the room collecting blocks of the same colour and build them together.

By the time Shane turned three, he regularly programmed the Sky planner on his parents’ TV set to record children’s shows at the then family home in Canterbury, Kent.

He could also recite much of the phone book, and was able to create maps of long journeys in his mind, then draw them.

Then came the call from nursery. ‘One of the staff rang to tell us something strange was happening,’ recalls Clayton.

‘They said that whenever they sang nursery rhymes Shane would sit and play the tune on the keyboard afterwards.

‘They hadn’t witnessed anything like it before. They said we should buy a piano, but we were struggling to pay the mortgage.’

When he started primary school, teachers heard him play near-perfect replicas of tunes they’d played him and offered to pay for a tutor, but other parents objected.

So Shane was forced to put his passion on hold. Instead, he began begging his father, a percussionist, to let him try his drum set.

‘I had a huge kit but I didn’t let him because he was just so young. But when he was six he grabbed me round the waist and pulled me off the stool, so I said: “Fine, you do it then.”

‘And he did – he played a brilliant drum solo. He could play instantly even though he’d never touched the thing in his life. It was so bizarre.’

Within months Shane was appearing in local concerts and performed the drums at the Canterbury Music Festival – home videos show him wowing crowds of hundreds of stunned spectators. Yet he was only six years old and had never had a lesson.

Academically, Shane was also developing swiftly, becoming a whizz in maths and so literate he would check his teenage cousins’ essays for spelling mistakes when he was only five.

Some have wondered whether Shane has autism, a disorder that has often been linked to amazing musical ability. But doctors have ruled that out.

When he was seven, Shane finally got the chance to play the piano when his grandmother Maisie came to stay with the family in January 2006.

‘I was just popping to Sainsbury’s so asked what he wanted, expecting him to say chocolate or a puzzle,’ she says.

‘But instead he said very seriously: “Please will you buy me a piano?” I realised how much it meant to him and we had some money saved for a holiday, so I called my husband who agreed we’d buy him an electric piano instead of going away.’

Shane was thrilled – and within hours of its arrival, he was playing Christmas carols with two hands.

‘It was incredible,’ says Clayton. ‘I realised he should have had a piano years earlier – he really could already play as he’d been saying.’

A month later Shane was competently playing Beethoven’s Fur Elise and other famous classical pieces – after hearing them played on the stereo or keyboard only once.

By the end of 2007, he had developed so much that his father enrolled him for weekly lessons at a music centre.

‘When he went along and played for them they asked who had taught him – I explained he had taught himself, but they couldn’t believe it.’

He also began composing music. ‘I imagine or dream things and just think what music would sound like in that scene,’ explains Shane.

‘You can hear what I’ve written about in my music – Dance Of The Bowerbirds is a choreography of the mating ritual of bowerbirds in Australia and Rainfall sounds like the rain.’

Sadly, however, the emergence of Shane’s genius became a contentious issue for his parents.

‘As Shane’s talent emerged his mother – my then wife – changed,’ says Clayton. ‘She said she just wanted him to be a normal child and for the music to stop.’

Ultimately, Clayton decided the only way their son’s talent could be properly nurtured was to leave the marital home. It was agreed he would then live with their son.

‘It was a terrible, terrible time. I loved my wife and was heartbroken, as were my children.

‘But I believe I did the right thing to support Shane and recognise that he was special.’

Shane now lives with his father, and his brother Ashlee, four, while his sister Chanelle lives with their mother.

Once Shane was settled again, he was able to begin lessons, paid for out of his grandmother’s pension whenever she could afford it.

He hopes to attend an elite secondary school next year where his talent will be nurtured – and has already been invited to look around Eton after Clayton sent them a DVD of his son’s playing.

The family moved to Woking in the hope that Shane will win a place at the nearby Yehudi Menuhin School, an internationally renowned institution for gifted young musicians.

His father is now desperately hoping that a mentor will fund Shane’s lessons and buy an expensive acoustic piano.

At the moment Shane is enjoying giving free concerts at old people’s homes and the Royal British Legion – his father plays him songs like Close To You and Evergreen 24 hours beforehand, which he recreates perfectly. But,ultimately, he has huge ambitions.

‘When I grow up, I’d like to be like Chopin, as he is my favourite composer,’ says Shane.

‘His music is complex to play and I like a challenge. I’d love to perform as a pianist in huge concerts, as I love playing to an audience.

‘I hate practising, as nobody’s watching me. I really enjoy the piano and feel so much calmer now I play because I’m doing what I want to do.’

Clayton is also content now he is supporting Shane on his musical path.

‘I’m really proud of him. I do feel very protective and realise it is a huge responsibility to have a child like Shane.

‘But I think he’s heavenly – he lights up my life with music and I hope one day he will be able to give that joy to people around the world