Pete Academy Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 (edited) I recently posted a thread about talent...is it inherited? Earlier this evening I visited a couple (my ex-wife and her hubby) who are both talented musicians (sax and piano). Their 8-year-old daughter was eager to perform her skills for me on clarinet and piano. She played faultlessly. I asked her parents how long she had been playing. Apparently since September. I thought she might have put in around an hour a night to reach her standard of playing. No...5 to 10 mins a night. This has firmly convinced me that talent is definitely hereditary. Any similar stories? Edited November 24, 2011 by Pete Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 [quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1322166367' post='1447552'] I recently posted a thread about talent...is it inherited? Earlier this evening I visited a couple (my ex-wife and her hubby) who are both talented musicians (sax and piano). Their 8-year-old daughter was eager to perform her skills for me on clarinet and piano. She played faultlessly. I asked her parents how long she had been playing. Apparently since September. I thought she might have put in around an hour a night to reach her standard of playing. No...5 to 10 mins a night. This has firmly convinced me that talent is definitely hereditary. Any similar stories? [/quote] Why would that convince you that talent was hereditary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 My Mother and Father have no musical talent WHAT-SO-EVER... and neither have I so I concur with the OP! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OliverBlackman Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 5-10 minutes is good learning time if she's practicing the right stuff. Thats what made Jaco so good. To kick off the controversy i dont believe in the word "talent" as its commonly used. Many people say it like you were born to do it. No i think you just enjoy it and improved your skills more than someone who doesnt enjoy it. Therefore talent doesn't exist. Instead we should be saying your daughter is very skilled, kinda like at the end of school of rock ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu-khag Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 (edited) Is that both instruments since September? I'm currently working with a lot of classically trained kids at the mo who are all ultra talented and a lot of them play other instruments to really high standards. Surprising how many have had no training on that instrument whatsoever and have just kind of transferred their skills.A lot of them have very musical parents also and being in that kind of environment must do wonders for their creativity. But then a lot of them have parents who admit they have no musical background either. Edited November 24, 2011 by Stu-khag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbayne Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 My mother played the guitar (acoustic) and my grandmother played the piano, but if music is hereditry, then I,m the only one one who has inherited it! All my siblings and Hobbayne juinior have no musical ability, although they enjoy listening to music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 Talent isn't inherited, it's hard work being cool & knowing how to pull! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 [quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1322167285' post='1447566'] +1 Maybe in the OP stance it is more being exposed to the music at an early age. If you wanted to prove it was hereditary you would need top take the child to a [b] non musical environment[/b] and see what happens. [/quote] What? like my house? Whatever abilities I do posess are by no means inherited, that's for certain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Academy Posted November 24, 2011 Author Share Posted November 24, 2011 It's more than coincidence that she's picked up playing a wind instrument and piano extremely quickly, as her parents play them. They may have simply played those instruments as she was growing up, which makes sense. But I can assure you, she was spookily good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeBrownBass Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 I think its more to do with unconsciously taking in all what their parents did as the child was growing up and looking up to their parents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 (edited) My seventeen year old son is enormously more musically talented than me (and even more so than his mother), but: (1) he's been constantly exposed to music from a wide range of genres since he was in the womb; (2) he's been having weekly guitar lessons for over ten years; (3) he's also had some piano lessons; (4) he's also had some drum lessons; (5) he's also had some singing lessons; (6) he's been playing in bands since he was twelve; (7) he's doing A Level Music (8) etc. However, his great-uncle played violin in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, so I guess it must definitely be hereditary. Edited November 24, 2011 by EssentialTension Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skej21 Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 (edited) [quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1322166367' post='1447552'] I recently posted a thread about talent...is it inherited? Earlier this evening I visited a couple (my ex-wife and her hubby) who are both talented musicians (sax and piano). Their 8-year-old daughter was eager to perform her skills for me on clarinet and piano. She played faultlessly. I asked her parents how long she had been playing. Apparently since September. I thought she might have put in around an hour a night to reach her standard of playing. No...5 to 10 mins a night. This has firmly convinced me that talent is definitely hereditary. Any similar stories? [/quote] [quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1322166515' post='1447555'] Why would that convince you that talent was hereditary? [/quote] + 1 EssentialTension... How does the OP come to the conclusion that the child must have been born with talent that was passed on from the parents. The only thing the OP's observations highlight is the theory that multiple pieces of research into children with musical ability have concluded... Nurture and a musical enviroment are the conditions needed in order for any individual to progress musically from an early age. Perfect pitch is probably the most obvious example. We are all born with the ability to train our ears to recognise frequencies as different pitches (in the same way we are all born to recognise different light frequencies as colours), but we need an environment in which it is developed (i.e. through the encouragement of musical parents who recognise the skill and can develop the ear through training) and consistent practice, otherwise we lose the skill as we grow older and use it less regularly. Those are just scientific truths... whether "talent" within any individual helps this process to happen at a higher speed with less need for practice is simply speculation really. Edited November 24, 2011 by skej21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 [quote name='skej21' timestamp='1322168137' post='1447586'] Perfect pitch is probably the most obvious example. We are all born with the ability to train our ears to recognise frequencies as different pitches (in the same way we are all born to recognise different light frequencies as colours), but we need an environment in which it is developed (i.e. through the encouragement of musical parents who recognise the skill and can develop the ear through training) and consistent practice, otherwise we lose the skill as we grow older and use it less regularly ... [/quote] There's some research that suggests that children from cultures that speak tone languages (e.g. China) have higher levels of perfect pitch than children from cultures that speak non-tone languages (e.g. English). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
risingson Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 (edited) I believe you can be born with a more creative mind, but I think (as has already been mentioned) it is more likely that creativity is the result of being born into a creative environment. Musical talent is mostly about how we choose to use our ears though, so in this sense it must be a conscious choice in our infancy to elect to use our inherent ability to judge pitch and rhythm, and then to further apply it to our chosen instrument or voice. Edited November 24, 2011 by risingson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueslemac Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 We all posses "race memory", even if it's just when we hear a dog growl, so why not more useful things, like an ability to pick up languages, or get to grips with an instrument easier than others? We call it having a "flair" or "gift" for it, or similar. That's not to say it's all that matters, of course. I remember my bass teacher telling me that one famous musician responded to the comment "I wish I had your talent" with something along the lines of: "go away for fifteen years, practice for seven hours every day, go on the road with different bands and then come back and talk to me about talent". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 I think the term 'talent' needs further definition in the OP. There's an old adage about 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I'd tend to agree. I was described as 'talented' at drawing from a fairly young age. I don't think I was talented at all. I just enjoyed doing it and developed the skill. I started off from a position of not being able to draw at all, just like everyone else. Drawing helped me express a very vivid childhood imagination in a very tangible way. That was the reward for me as I guess it is for most kids. The only difference was that I spent more time doing it than other kids. The "hard work" seems more like play if its enjoyable and rewarding. Generally I believe perceptions of whether someone is talented just underlie a lack of appreciation about the time and effort its taken to get to the point where it looks easy. However. There is one exception. [url="https://plus.google.com/u/0/102321373525880560392/posts/UDSrT2F2DZA#102321373525880560392/posts/UDSrT2F2DZA"]https://plus.google.com/u/0/102321373525880560392/posts/UDSrT2F2DZA#102321373525880560392/posts/UDSrT2F2DZA[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynepunkdude Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 My dad was a pro footballer I have 2 left feet, he is now an engineer I'm no good at that either, I'm sure my mum was getting with the milkman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 Bounce by Mathew Syed is a very interesting read on this question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 Neither of my parents play a musical instrument. Some may say neither do I. That would be foolish of them. I can play a bit. And my God-Daughter has developed a knack for musical instrumets, despite neither of her parents being able to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99ster Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 Tim Buckley & Jeff Buckley... Bearing in mind that (by all accounts) Tim had no part in his son's upbringing - maybe a good example of inherited talent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 My dad was really into 30's-60's Jazz but despite that I reckon I'm quite talented....! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu-khag Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 [quote name='99ster' timestamp='1322180100' post='1447772'] Tim Buckley & Jeff Buckley... Bearing in mind that (by all accounts) Tim had no part in his son's upbringing - maybe a good example of inherited talent? [/quote] I'm pretty sure I read his mam was classically trained and immersed him in music Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 I don't think talent is really inherited. Maybe certain advantages can be inherited though? Dexterous fingers / Good hearing etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Deere Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 I think talent is partly inherited and partly down to practice. I have a friend that used to play, he seemed to be tone deaf and had no idea if he was playing the right notes or not. Having said that he didn't seem to care either. I would agree that certain advantages can be inherited, and maybe a combination of those would be the ideal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 I'm not sure. Watching some videos of Felix Pastorius playing at a US Bass Day a few years ago, I was convinced it is not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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