WHEN IT comes to making career choices, the parents of musically gifted children and in the children themselves are faced with huge dilemmas.

How can parents be sure that a child really has a great talent? Would the child not be better to continue with music as a hobby and pursue another more lucrative, less pressurised career?

According to Hungarian born music teacher Maria Kelemen Ireland has more than its share of such musically gifted children.

"I have taught more than 500 Irish children in the last 10 years, and I believe that the percentage of musically gifted children is high here," she says. Kelemen is concerned that many children here are failing to achieve their musical potential and are steered away from careers in music because the extent of their talents remains unconfirmed.

In an effort to identify and support such talent, Kelemen, with the support of Telecom Eireann, is mounting an "Autumn Sound Festival" in the National Concert Hall from October 25th to November 1st. Twenty young musicians - 10 pianists and to violinists/ viola players - will be chosen by audition to participate. Those auditions take place on April 28th and are open to young people between nine and 15 years old.

The winners will be treated to one week residential programme, to include full board and accommodation and the use of leisure facilities at St Columba's College in Rathfarnham, Dublin. The young musicians will receive daily master classes conducted by two visiting teachers from the Netherlands - Coosje Wijzenbeek of Sweelinck Conservatory, Amsterdam, and Marcel Baudet from the Royal Music Conservatory, the Hague.

There will also be supervised practice and support in preparation for a public concert in the National Concert Hall.

The visiting teachers are specialists in this age group and are well equipped to advise young people on their careers, Kelemen says.

"It's difficult for the parents of potentially talented artists to help them make the right career choices, Kelemen explains. "Unless children are totally convinced that a career in music is what they want, it's hard to steer them in that direction. They are usually highly gifted in a number of areas. The problem for parents is to decide into which area they should be channelled."

ONE OF THE downsides of becoming a professional playing this sort of music is that you have to make your career decisions at a far earlier stage than you would if you wanted to be a lawyer, say, or an engineer.

Such music requires long hours of practice during teenage years - at a time when children are already studying for exams. In order to stay the course, "you have to have a tremendous belief in your abilities", Kelemen says, "and have it regularly reinforced".

All children are naturally musical, she says, but unless the potential is developed it becomes latent. The ideal age for children to begin to learn music is two and a half years. "Before they begin their formal education they express themselves through sound and rhythm. After that their minds and creativity are being shaped," she says.

However, it's not simply a mental exercise. Violin playing is extremely physically demanding and children have to be strong. "It's not like a piano, where you sit to play. With the violin you have to stand for long periods and hold up the instrument with you arm."

Kelemen has discovered that many Irish children have less developed upper bodies than children in other countries. Initially we play a lot of physical games to develop their muscles and their hand eye coordination, and we do a lot of work on inner ear development."

If you want to play a musical instrument successfully, one of the first things you have to do is learn how to listen. "Children have to learn how important silence is," she says. "We sing aloud and we sing silently. We clap and walk at different speeds, so that the children can develop senses of rhythm and time."

When you play the violin the sound vibrates through your body. Kelemen says that while this can make some children nervous, other children find it a "a wonderful and soothing experience". It is these latter children who learn to love the violin.

"They develop a love of practice. The whole idea about learning to play a musical instrument is about happiness and not work," she says.