Natural Talent vs. Practice and Hard Work
☕️"The Road to Excellence: The Acquisition of Expert Performance in the Arts and Sciences, Sports and Games" (K. Anders Ericsson)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Link
According to Folk Psychology, few people become expert musical performers because there are few people that possess the necessary talent.
A generally accepted psychometric measure of musical ability does not exist that holds the validity of standard measures of intelligence. Such studies seem to conclude that differences in musical ability are less dependent on inherited factors than are differences on IQ.
A recent survey by Davis (1994) showed more than 75% of a sample made up of mostly educational professionals believed singing, composing, playing concert instruments required a person to have a natural talent or gift. Unlike activities such as performing surgery or playing chess, 40% of the professionals thought these did not require a natural talent. (IV)
☕"Talented Teenagers: The Roots of Success and Failures" (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Link
"Albert and Runco, Bloom and Rimm have shown that children need the support of a great number of individuals and institutions to develop their talent."
The vast majority of infants have similar and sophisticated means of handling musical stimuli. All but the most severely learning disabled children display a rich vocabulary of pitch- and rhythm-modulated utterances.
"Building on accounts of one or two legendary "geniuses" such as Mozart and other accounts of child prodigies, (e.g., Revesz, 1925/1970), commentators have often assumed that individuals displaying unusually high ability in adolescence or later must have always been unusual."
🐄 "Talent vs Practice in Music" (Andrew Welk)
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"While it’s true that a few of us had enough “talent” to avoid practicing outside of rehearsal to do just as well as those who did practice, those who worked hard easily surpassed us. It is, in fact, very likely that if some of us “talented ones” had actually been practicing and improving our skill, we would have achieved a whole different level of musicianship compared to our peers."
“If you take a careful look, however, you will notice that those of us with more modest abilities do have a chance. Even if you weren’t born with genius in your genes, you can outperform the smartest of individuals as long as you work hard and the latter doesn’t.”
🐄 "Natural Talent vs Hard Work" (Joseph Chris)
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Having the ability to work hard towards a certain goal despite difficulties that may arise, is a natural gift.
Naturally, there will be times when things will come easier to people who have talent that others would have to work for.
"People who work hard without the talent can succeed more than talented people who just stick to the mediocre."
KEY ☕- Book
🐄-Article
🍋- Website
🐄EDITORIAL: Music can be key to academic success (Post-Bulletin (Rochester, MN).
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"The fact that no one can quantify the effect of music on a child's development doesn't mean it isn't real. Colleges know this -- that's one reason the application process for nearly every school requires a full description of extracurricular activities."
🐄"Changing Tune: Reconceptualizing Music with Under Three Year Olds" (Susan Young) ⭐⭐⭐ Link
A study on young children done in the UK suggested that children possess inborn proclivities for music, just as they do for language.
"As part of all-round good-quality early childhood education,
musical activity undoubtedly makes a valuable contribution."
🍋 "Is it possible for a person without any inherent musical talent to become skilled at playing an instrument?"
(American Music Institute) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ Link
A person who is said to lack natural talent has the following characteristics: lacks a sense of rhythm, tone deaf, and poor collaborators with other instruments.
"Any individual who picks up a musical instrument and dreams of playing a sweet melody has already set forth on the journey to being a skilled instrumentalist as long as dedication, hard work, passion, determination and a conducive environment are present"
"Practice does not make you a talented musician but bridges the talent gap between the untalented and the talented musician"
“Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
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