From Music Aptitude to the Propensity to Practice

How many times have you heard people say, “That person is so talented. Oh, no, I’m not musically inclined and I doubt practicing will make me sound much better. At my age, can I still learn to play a musical instrument?” These limiting beliefs often prevent people from pursuing their dreams or reaching their fullest potential.

The topic of nature and nurture is a perennial debate. It first started with the discussion of whether we are born with a certain level of general cognitive ability or whether we can improve our general cognitive ability through education or by participating in mentally stimulating activities. There is evidence to support both positions. On the one hand, we do see individual differences in performance on cognitive tasks, regardless of training or background knowledge. On the other hand, we also see people making improvements on many cognitively challenging tasks after intensive practice.

Twin Observations
Through twin studies, we observe twins who are reared apart from a young age nonetheless perform similarly on a variety of cognitive tasks. In technical terms, accumulating evidence indicates that about 75 percent of the variations in our general cognitive ability are determined by our genes and only about 25 percent of that variation is influenced by environmental factors.

How is music aptitude different from general cognitive ability? Is the latter broader in scope than the former? These questions have been asked by psychologists many times as well. Some argue that music-related skills are subsumed under general intelligence, some believe that the two are fundamentally the same, and still others show that they are partially overlapping attributes. The general trend in this area of research suggests that general intelligence is a strong but not perfect predictor of variations in music aptitude and that music aptitude has some specific perceptual and motor skill components that are not always considered a part of general cognitive ability.

Genes and Environment
Regardless of whether we treat music aptitude as distinct from, partially overlapping, or identical attribute as general cognitive ability, one thing is certain: genetics do play a significant role in explaining individual differences. However, the story does not end here, some genetic studies show that there are genes that simultaneously predict music-related skills and the propensity to practice. Thus, the story of whether nature or nurture plays a more significant role in shaping musical development is more complicated than its face value: that is, by quickly glancing at the simple percentage breakdown revealed by genetic studies. The complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors across the lifespan make it difficult to tease apart what is purely genetic and what is purely environmental.

Source: Ingrid Balabanova / Dreams Time

Overall, the general trend from the nature vs. nurture debate in the area of musical development suggests that yes, musical genes do significantly affect our musical development. However, far from painting a bleak view for those who don’t believe that they have the “right” combination of musical genes to start with and are therefore unfit for pursuing musical activities, because what we learn from recent research on neuroplasticity—that is, our brains remain to be malleable across the lifespan through training—there is still ample room for us to improve on what we have been genetically endowed with throughout our lives.

In fact, even for the fortunate few, who the majority believe have been endowed with a perfect set of musical genes, it would still take deliberate practice, a supportive environment, and expert guidance for those individuals to reach the height of their chosen profession.