The analysis of capacity for musical performance, and the study of individual differences in this respect, were preceded by monumental studies of tone-psychology, rhythm, pitch-discrimination, and acoustics. In these researches psychologists, physiologists, and physicists have joined efforts. As Mead says in discussing Meyer’s theory of melody, “The search for the basis of music is centuries old; it antedates the search for the philosopher’s stone, the Holy Grail, and the North Pole.”
Nevertheless, in spite of all their searching, scientific men have not discovered the basic psychology of harmony and melody. Meyer, a lifelong student of the problem, concludes that, “Where we hear a succession of different pitches, we are affected in a certain way which cannot be described, but has to be regarded as an elementary psychological fact.” The satisfaction experienced by the typical person upon hearing a harmony, and the annoyance experienced by him upon hearing a discord, remain among the mysteries, perhaps unfathomable, of human psychology.
II. THE VARIOUS KINDS OF MUSIC
There are many different kinds of music, requiring certain differences in psychophysical equipment for their execution, severally. For instance, singing requires certain equipment which may be lacking in a highly gifted organist. An organist must have characteristics which are possibly dispensable to the harpist.
To sing, to play the piano, to play the violin, to play the trombone, to compose a symphony, to write musical criticism—these are by no means all necessarily possible to the same person. A complete inventory of musical talent will rest upon knowledge of how all the various kinds of music are related as regards the capacities required in each, and of how the violinist may differ from the singer, and the drummer from the conductor of an orchestra.
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.