Teaching Who You Have: Music Belongs to Everyone

Arts Education Policy Review, 2013

Dissertation

The concept of “talent” pervades American musical discourses. Although talent is recognized as a desirable attribute, its meaning is not fixed; as a signifier, it floats. In this dissertation, I contend that the privilege to determine what musical talent means—and who gets to be called talented—is an opportunity that reflects and grants social power, rendering the concept a highly consequential site of struggle. Across the dissertation’s four chapters, I analyze discourses from the last two centuries and bring previously disconnected musicological, educational, critical, and scientific literature into conversation. In the first chapter, “Defining Talent,” I disentangle the separate and often contradictory meanings the concept has accrued through a typology that parses its five core meanings: as a gift, as inheritance, as potentiality, as passion, and as speed. The remainder of the dissertation presents three case studies, using their triangulation to understand a broader American discursive terrain. In “Explaining Talent,” I examine receptions of the late nineteenth-century African American pianist Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins, whose performances exposed contradictions at the heart of racialized constructions of musicality during this era. In “Representing Talent,” I argue that the producers and judges of twenty-first century talent competition programs broadcast meanings of talent that foreground and manipulate affective responses while reinforcing myths of meritocracy. Finally, in “Teaching Talent,” I draw upon historical research and ethnographic fieldwork with two pedagogical communities (informed by the Suzuki and O’Connor methods, respectively) to demonstrate how differing beliefs about natural ability influence students’ access to social and cultural capital. Overall, the dissertation encourages scholars and educators to approach “musical talent” as a construction that is as heterogeneous and contingent as the concept of “music” itself.

This article examines the debate over issues of musical intelligence, largely in a Scottish context, although it draws on recent international research in its discussion. It examines different perceptions of musical gift, and will relate these to factors which either release it, or constrict the release in different ways. Musical intelligence is then examined within the context of the multiple intelligences proposed by Howard Gardner, and is related to practical aspects of musical education.

This study engages with historical sources, videos on YouTube and research literature to inquire into exceptionality and creativity in the performances of musical prodigies. The first chapter discusses the workings of the “Mozart figure” in historical and scholarly references to prodigies. It is argued that the name of Mozart functions as a figure of exceptionality that shapes and limits the possibilities of exceptional performance by prodigies in the present. The second chapter addresses musical prodigies in the present through a survey of twenty-three YouTube videos. In a move away from the privilege of Mozart-like creative skills of composition and improvisation, this chapter approaches prodigious creativity in terms of the “capacity to amaze.” The third chapter and final chapter offers a theoretical response to Feldman's “co-incidence” theory of prodigies. Feminist materialist perspectives are used to re-frame certain findings and material from the earlier chapters. In a close reading of Feldman's work, it is argued that prodigies demand a revision of ordinary conceptions of “human,” “individual,” and “domain.” [Extended Summary below] This Master’s research thesis inquires into the nature, history and cultural implications of the figure and phenomenon of musical prodigies, which have attracted public attention through exceptional performances from the late 18th century to the present. With an interdisciplinary ‘new materialist’ approach, uniquely adapted for this study, the thesis sheds new light on core concepts in music aesthetics, the psychology of giftedness, contemporary cultural studies, and feminist theory. Most importantly, the study reveals a contradiction in both musical aesthetics and contemporary psychological understandings of creativity and giftedness, which excludes the musical prodigy from creative performance in other than “Mozart-like” ways. Simply put, this means that audiences hold a higher regard for prodigies who compose and improvise compared to those who “merely” perform existing works with exceptional virtuosity. The research has a theoretical and a methodological purpose. On a theoretical level, the thesis provides a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of musical prodigies and a demonstration of how musical prodigies expose particular challenges to theories of exceptionality and creativity. On a methodological level, the thesis demonstrates the workings and potentiality of third wave feminist and new materialist theories as an interdisciplinary approach in the study of music performance. The thesis contributes to exposing some of the persisting stereotypes and myths that surround musical prodigies in contemporary popular and scientific discourse. This is an important step in the direction of a more rigorous explanation of the attributes and issues that frame the phenomenon labeled “musical prodigy”. The research is developed in three chapters with a respective emphasis on historical, contemporary cultural, and psychological-philosophical perspectives. The first chapter discusses the implications of frequent and accustomed references to Mozart in written historical and scholarly responses to prodigy performances. Such references to Mozart are not straightforward expressions of praise. Most frequently, the child performer under review ‘loses’ the comparison to Mozart by way of appearing to be a less exceptional and less creative manifestation of exceptional child musicality. On the other hand, all prodigies are “Mozart-like” to the extent that they share with Mozart the remarkable achievement of being a child musician and performing at a level that is found to be exceptional. The chapter gives an overview of the various ways in which the “figure of Mozart” resonates and returns in prodigy performances throughout the 19th century and up to the present. The Mozart figure works as an “abstract machine” through biographical, historical, symbolic, musical, musicological or socio-cultural resonances to the name or any other aspect of the historical assemblage of which Mozart was a part. The key finding of this chapter is that the name of Mozart functions as a material-discursive figure of exceptionality that shapes and limits the possibilities of exceptional performance by prodigies in both past and present. The second chapter addresses how the virtual stage of YouTube has changed the conditions under which prodigies showcase their talents in the present. Among the vast amount of competing high-level music performances that are available on YouTube today, only a few have the capacity to amaze a large audience by standing out as exceptional individuals. A sample study of 23 videos reveals that many aspects of the Mozart-like expectation of prodigies discussed in chapter 1 remain consistent across two centuries. Performance conditions, on the other hand, are increasingly varied. Two aspects distinguish the present stage: “Asianness” and commercialism. These two material-discursive forces unequally limit the perception of truly transformative, or “prodigious creativity” in performances of musical prodigies on YouTube. The third and final chapter addresses the future of prodigy performance with a theoretical response to David H. Feldman's “co-incidence” theory of prodigies from 1986, which was the first comprehensive theory of the prodigy phenomenon. Feldman’s co-incidence theory is read alongside feminist materialist and critical insights on the boundaries of notions such as “human”, “individual” and the musical “domain”. The main argument states that prodigies challenge the presumed privileges of adult, human, and man-made culture in a nature/culture dichotomy. Furthermore, they express an unusual and unstable form of temporality. That is, they exist only within a specific age frame, and sometimes it may retrospectively be said that they were not “real” prodigies after all. The YouTube sample survey, discussed in chapter 2, provides concrete examples to support the thesis that Feldman’s co-incidence theory offers a feminist politico-philosophical potential through its careful consideration of individuality and temporality. However, the conception of the cultural domain acts as a vessel for the power of the “adult expert” who decides whether a given child is worth the title of prodigy or not. Simply put, if we do not accept the possibility that the child performer may be rewriting the rules and boundaries of the genre in which it performs, any transformation will be far less likely to become a reality. In line with the affirmative nature of the new materialist approach, the thesis concludes that musical prodigies deserve to be taken seriously as active subjects of their own performances. Their truly transformative potential remains hidden as long as we view the prodigy as a passive product of either unusual genes or a fortunate mix of environmental conditions. As active subjects, however, musical prodigies prove their relevance as a phenomenon that enables a post-individualist, a-teleological and ethically informed perspective on exceptional performance and creativity. This conclusion is relevant to a broader field than feminist new materialism alone. It addresses precisely some of the structural limitations in (non-feminist) psychological and musicological research, which have come to the fore in discussing creativity and the nature of exceptional performance. As an often excluded, ignored or transcendentalized phenomenon, the perspective of prodigies enriches and challenges both feminist and musicological debates through a particular material-discursive entanglement with the figure of the child Mozart -a figure of both exceptionality and extra-ordinary creativity.

Research Studies in Music Education, 2003

Scholars Crossing, 2023

Despite literature investigating the effects of ecology on student development, very little research has been conducted concerning the influence of the adolescent living environment on the development of musical skills related to music performance. Gaining a clear understanding of adolescent environmental factors' influence on musical skill development will afford more students the opportunity to participate in music education and performance. Through a qualitative research approach, this study aims to investigate the effect of adolescent living environment on musical skill development by interviewing eight professional opera singers. In exploring the findings from this research, similarities in adolescent living environment have been evaluated, their effects on skill development has been investigated. This study illustrates how environmental factors related to the individual’s circumstance, opportunity, education, and ideology influences musical skill development rather than innate talent in predicting professional success and expertise. This research provides evidence of the universality of music education for all learners and highlights the capacity of all human beings to develop skills. Utilizing this research, educators across all disciplines can provide data supporting the influence of environmental factors on skill development. Understanding how misconceptions of talent discourage music participation and providing evidence that all students have a capacity towards musical skill development, this research affords music education a valuable tool in advocating for musical opportunities for all learners.

2000

This is slightly edited, informal email dialogue that took place between August 1999 and March 2000 among Lee Bartel, (the moderator) University of Toronto, Joyce Bellous, McMaster University, Wayne Bowman, Brandon University, and Ken Peglar, Peel Regional School Board. Lee Bartel teaches in the music education division at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. His interests include music response, social psychology of music, and conditions of music learning. He is the Director of the Canadian Music Education Research Centre and co-editor of the Canadian Music Educator. Joyce Bellous teaches at the McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton Ontario. Her specialty is philosophy of education which she has taught at the University of Alberta and The University of Calgary. Her research interests having to do with children focus on character formation and the role that identity plays in the formation of character. Wayne Bowman teaches at Brandon University in Manitoba His specialty is m...

International Journal of Music Education, 2018

2011

APRIL/MAY 2015 I n 2010, 30-year-old Dan McLaughlin decided to quit his job as a commercial photographer and become a professional golfer. Though at the time he had little experience playing golf, McLaughlin planned to accumulate 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, eventually win amateur events and someday join the PGA tour. To develop his skill, McLaughlin created The Dan Plan, a methodical regimen of 30-plus hours of weekly practice with professional golf instructors, strength trainers, a chiropractor and a “goal guru.” McLaughlin documents his progress on his website, thedanplan.com, recording putting averages, driving accuracy, number of greens in regulation, recovery performance and scores. For the first five months, he practiced with only a putter, systematically working further and further away from the hole. Eventually, he began practicing with a wedge and irons. After 12 months, McLaughlin had his first full-swing lesson and by 18 months he began practicing with a driver. ...