Music is a passion for Derrick Wang, but he is not sure if it will become a profession.

A gifted musician, Wang, 18, of Cockeysville, is also an outstanding student who has earned a slew of musical and academic honors.

He was named the top scholar this year at Gilman School in North Baltimore and this week delivered the valedictory speech to the 96 graduates, families and faculty members.

"I'm a bit of a perfectionist," said Wang, who scored a perfect 1600 on his SATs and will attend Harvard University in the fall. "Maybe it's just more meticulous, because I think details are important."

Which might be an understatement, but his teachers and school administrators say his modesty is genuine.

"He has a prodigious talent and is an excellent student," said John Schmick, head of Gilman's upper school. "Everything he does is done well and with humility."

Schmick says there is nothing to stop Wang from doing whatever he chooses. But he says he suspects that Wang's talent and love for music are so strong that it will always be a part of his life.

Wang wrote the script, music and lyrics for a student-produced school musical called Prom, performed this spring. He has been the pianist for school activities, the glee club and jazz band and has performed at community functions. He also plays the violin, though it's not his favorite instrument.

Wang has been playing the piano since he was 4 and was writing music of a sort when he was a preschooler. He began learning music theory when his mother took him to a class at the Peabody Preparatory of the Peabody Institute that his older brother, Marcus, was attending.

"He was only 5 or 6 years old when he came along to his brother's lessons," said Gretchen Benchoff, former chairwoman of the theory department at Peabody and now a staff member. "Derrick started absorbing all the information that I was teaching his brother. He was like a sponge. He can do almost anything musically - compose, analyze and perform. He can play any style and almost any type of music."

His parents, Henry, a neuroradiologist at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, and Joan, a gynecologist in private practice, gave him a large gift when he was only 6 years old.

"I asked for and I got a grand piano," said Wang. "I remember it being brought into the living room." He just doesn't remember whether he could touch the piano's pedals.

When Archibald R. Montgomery IV retired last year as headmaster of Gilman, Wang accompanied Montgomery's sister, Carolyn, a professional cabaret singer from New York, at the retirement dinner.

"My sister said Derrick was as good as her regular accompanist, and they had only practiced together for an hour that day," Montgomery said. "He has quite a repertoire and can play any type of music equally well."

During rehearsals for Prom, Wang said, he tried not to think about the homework that awaited him from his Advanced Placement courses, including Latin, economics, biology and calculus, as well as a modern drama class and independent study.

"I've had classes here that really interested me," said Wang, who has been at Gilman since first grade. "I feel ready to go to Harvard."

Harvard was Wang's first choice, and he received early acceptance. His brother Marcus, 20, also is a student there. Wang said he and his brother are each other's biggest fans.

"The pride runs both ways," he said.

Gilman Headmaster Jon C. McGill, who took over the job in July, said there were three areas in which Wang impressed him: He was a team player on the water polo squad; he played down the amount of work he had done for the school as a piano accompanist; and he worked well with students from Gilman, Roland Park Country and Bryn Mawr schools during the rehearsals for Prom.

After graduation, Wang said, he will take a break for the summer and have some fun. He intends to read, play the piano, see movies, exercise and hang out with his friends. Wang also plans to tighten the writing in Prom, which ran nearly three hours.

Cathy Miles, former music director at Gilman's middle school and now the assistant head of the middle school, said Wang has always had a mature view of the world around him.

"As much as Derrick knows, he knows there is more to learn," she said.