Monday, March 9, 2009
Musical Ability
Psychologists disagree on the nature of musical ability and whether musical ability is inherited or developed. Research can be cited to support either viewpoint as well as for the differing opinions psychologists hold regarding the relationship between musical ability and intelligence.
It is necessary to define musical ability before determining how students acquire it.
Psychological researchers have employed two different methods in defining musical ability: comparing characteristics of “musical” versus “non-musical” people, and measuring specific musical behaviors through assessments such as Gordon’s Musical Aptitude Profile (Abeles, Hoffer, & Klotman, 1995). Furthermore, Radocy and Boyle point out that “musicality” is an imprecise term and instead suggest that “musical capacity” should refer to genetic or developmental abilities, “musical aptitude” should include the former plus environmental factors, and “musical ability” should refer to both the previous factors plus formal instruction (1995).
Based on these definitions of musical ability, psychologists have broken into two theoretical schools of thought regarding its nature: the theory of specifics and the omnibus theory. The former asserts that musical ability is comprised of many unrelated traits or talents while the latter takes the oppositional view and states that musical ability is singular. A third group of psychologists believe the truth lies somewhere in between (Abeles et al., 1995).
The debate over whether musical ability is inherited (nature) or developed (nurture) closely parallels the question of the source of general intelligence. Some psychologists reference child prodigies in their belief of musical ability being innate. Genetic research has also found that people with high musical ability have a larger plana temporale than their non-musical counterparts (Abeles et al., 1995). However, other psychologists cite environmental factors to support their developmental viewpoint. Experts believe environment can affect IQ scores up to 25 points, and researchers such as Gordon have found that musical aptitude fluctuates up until age ten, suggesting environmental influences, such as early exposure to music, affects childrens musical aptitude (Abeles et al., 1995).
Similarly, the correlation between musical ability and intelligence is unclear. Some researchers cite cases of idiot savants and comparisons of musical aptitude to intelligence test results to support a low correlation. Others such as Radocy and Boyle have concluded, “all highly musical people appear to be highly intelligent, but not all highly intelligent people are musical” (Abeles et al., 1995, p. 224).
Though psychological researchers are not likely to find definitive conclusions to these debates in the near future, music educators should take an interest in the subject: if musical ability were proved to be innate, teachers could justify excluding particular students from instruction, but if musical ability were proved to be influenced by the environment, music teachers could strongly advocate for universal musical instruction (Abeles et al., 1995). It seems likely that both nature and nurture play a role in musical ability, and music educators can have a strong influence over a child’s musical nurturing.
Abeles, H. F., Hoffer, C. R., & Klotman, R. H. (1995). Foundations of music education (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomas Higher Education.
It is necessary to define musical ability before determining how students acquire it.
Psychological researchers have employed two different methods in defining musical ability: comparing characteristics of “musical” versus “non-musical” people, and measuring specific musical behaviors through assessments such as Gordon’s Musical Aptitude Profile (Abeles, Hoffer, & Klotman, 1995). Furthermore, Radocy and Boyle point out that “musicality” is an imprecise term and instead suggest that “musical capacity” should refer to genetic or developmental abilities, “musical aptitude” should include the former plus environmental factors, and “musical ability” should refer to both the previous factors plus formal instruction (1995).
Based on these definitions of musical ability, psychologists have broken into two theoretical schools of thought regarding its nature: the theory of specifics and the omnibus theory. The former asserts that musical ability is comprised of many unrelated traits or talents while the latter takes the oppositional view and states that musical ability is singular. A third group of psychologists believe the truth lies somewhere in between (Abeles et al., 1995).
The debate over whether musical ability is inherited (nature) or developed (nurture) closely parallels the question of the source of general intelligence. Some psychologists reference child prodigies in their belief of musical ability being innate. Genetic research has also found that people with high musical ability have a larger plana temporale than their non-musical counterparts (Abeles et al., 1995). However, other psychologists cite environmental factors to support their developmental viewpoint. Experts believe environment can affect IQ scores up to 25 points, and researchers such as Gordon have found that musical aptitude fluctuates up until age ten, suggesting environmental influences, such as early exposure to music, affects childrens musical aptitude (Abeles et al., 1995).
Similarly, the correlation between musical ability and intelligence is unclear. Some researchers cite cases of idiot savants and comparisons of musical aptitude to intelligence test results to support a low correlation. Others such as Radocy and Boyle have concluded, “all highly musical people appear to be highly intelligent, but not all highly intelligent people are musical” (Abeles et al., 1995, p. 224).
Though psychological researchers are not likely to find definitive conclusions to these debates in the near future, music educators should take an interest in the subject: if musical ability were proved to be innate, teachers could justify excluding particular students from instruction, but if musical ability were proved to be influenced by the environment, music teachers could strongly advocate for universal musical instruction (Abeles et al., 1995). It seems likely that both nature and nurture play a role in musical ability, and music educators can have a strong influence over a child’s musical nurturing.
Abeles, H. F., Hoffer, C. R., & Klotman, R. H. (1995). Foundations of music education (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomas Higher Education.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment