III. THE ANALYSIS OF MUSICAL TALENT
Since about the year 1915, psychologists have turned somewhat from the study of the nature of music to the investigation of the musical person. They have raised the questions: In what way does the musician differ from others in his psychophysical equipment? Why are some persons unable to produce or appreciate music?
The pursuit of these questions led immediately to an analysis of musical talent, for it was evident at once that a great variety of subsidiary functions contribute to any kind of musical performance. These may first of all be classified under three general categories: (1) the acoustic functions, the abilities involved in perceiving musical sounds, (2) the motor functions, the abilities involved in executing musical sounds, and (3) the intellectual functions, ability to interpret musical compositions, and to originate new ideas.
It is in the United States and in Germany that the significant studies of musical and unmusical persons have been made. Rupp, Bernfield, the Pannenbergs, Révész, Schussler, and Seashore and his students have all made contributions to the subject.
Révész studied children who were extremely gifted in music, and proposed that in analysing musical talent the following abilities must be considered: (1) to compose, (2) to reproduce, (3) to hear, (4) to remember musical elements, (5) to transpose, (6) to improvise, (7) to modulate, (8) to play at sight. In addition Révész stipulated that observations must be made with regard to intelligence, interest, and the “artistic nature” of the child. Later, in 1920, Révész proposed eight tests devised for the identification of the musical. These were for (1) the sense of rhythm, (2) absolute pitch, (3) octave recognition and transposition, (4) relative pitch, (5) harmony, (6) memory of a melody, and (7) playing by ear.
The most complete inventory of musical talent that has been proposed is that of Seashore, who, with his numerous students, has made the most important contributions in this field. Seashore would include tests of all the following functions in the complete musical psychograph:
I. Musical Sensitivity
A. Basic Capacities
1. Sense of pitch 2. Sense of intensity 3. Sense of time 4. Sense of extensity
1. Sense of timbre 2. Sense of rhythm 3. Sense of consonance 4. Sense of volume
1. Control of pitch 2. Control of intensity 3. Control of time 4. Control of timbre 5. Control of rhythm 6. Control of volume
1. Auditory imagery 2. Motor imagery 3. Creative imagination 4. Memory span 5. Learning power
1. Musical free association 2. Musical power of reflection 3. General intelligence
1. Musical taste: likes and dislikes 2. Emotional reaction to music 3. Emotional self-expression in music
Seashore has succeeded in devising, standardizing, and making available for practical purposes scales of measurement for five of the basic capacities of musical sensitivity. These are for pitch, intensity, time, consonance, and tonal memory. Research is under way to bring the other elements of musical talent similarly within the province of mental measurement.
Attempts to study movement as an element in musical talent are exemplified by the recent investigations of Gatewood and of Hansen. Gatewood studied finger-movement in a number of persons, and found that there exist those who, even with great amounts of practice, do not approximate the speed and accuracy which others show on the first trial. However, the investigation of the motor elements in musical talent has not progressed as yet to a point that would enable us to make positive statements useful to educators; but it is obvious that for guidance they are fully as important as the acoustic elements are.