The core of this text will consist of a re-examination of data gathered by Sloboda and Howe (1991) through interviews with young students in a specialist music school. I will demonstrate that these authors, guided by a strict environmentalist framework, incorrectly interpreted their data because they did not acknowledge the role of musical giftedness as a significant determinant of the large differences observed in their sample between exceptional and average students. I intend to show that their results cannot be correctly interpreted without introducing musical aptitudes as a significant causal factor. Since the authors did not specify in their text what theoretical framework guided their study, my description of their position as strict environmentalism is inferred from other publications by them (e.g. Sloboda, Davidson and Howe, 1994; Howe, Davidson and Sloboda, 1998).
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Brand, M.
(1985). Development and validation of the home musical environment scale for use at the early elementary level. Psychology of Music, 13, 40-48.
2.
Brokaw, J. P. (1983). The extent to which parental supervision and other selected factors are related to the achievement of musical and technical-physical characteristics of beginning instrumental music students. Dissertation Abstracts International, 43, 3252A. (University Microfilms No. DA8304452, 128.)
3.
Corno, L.
(1993). The best-laid plans: Modern conceptions of volition and educational research. Educational Researcher, 22, 14-22.
4.
Deutsch, D.
(1982). The psychology of music. New York: Academic Press.
5.
Devlin, B.
, Fienberg, S. E., Resnick, D. P. and Roeder, K. (Eds.) (1997). Intelligence, genes and success: Scientists respond to The Bell Curve. New York: Springer-Verlag.
6.
Dregalla, H. E. (1983). A study of predictors of music achievement among students from selected high schools of Nebraska. Dissertation Abstracts International,44, 5420A. (University Microfilms No. DA8314579, 132.)
7.
Ericsson, K. A.
and Charness, N. (1994). Expert performance: Its structure and acquisition. American Psychologist, 49, 725-747.
8.
Gagne, F.
(1993a). Constructs and models pertaining to exceptional human abilities. In: K. A. Heller, F. J. Monks, and A. H. Passow (Eds.), International handbook of research and development of giftedness and talent (pp. 69-87). New York: Pergamon Press.
9.
Gagne, F.
(1995a). From giftedness to talent: A developmental model and its impact on the language of the field. Roeper Review, 18, 103-111.
10.
Gagne, F.
(1998). A proposal for subcategories within the gifted or talented populations. Gifted Child Quarterly, 42, 87-95.
11.
Gordon, E.
(1965). Musical aptitude profile. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
12.
Harrison, C. S.
, Asmus, E. P. and Serpe, R. T. (1994). Effects of musical aptitude, academic ability, music experience and motivation on aural skills. Journal of Research in Music Education, 42, 131-144.
13.
Herrnstein, R. J.
(1973). I.Q. in the meritocracy. Boston: Little, Brown.
14.
Herrnstein, R. J.
and Murray, C. (1994). The bell curve: Intelligence and class structure in American life. New York: The Free Press.
15.
Hodges, D. A.
(1980). Handbook of music psychology. Lawrence, KS: National Association for Music Therapy.
16.
Howe, M. J. A.
, Davidson, J. W. and Sloboda, J. A. (1998). Innate talent: Reality or myth?Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 2, 399-442.
17.
Jensen, A.
(1969). How much can we boost IQ and scholastic achievement?Harvard Educational Review, 39, 1-123.
18.
Krueger, R. J. (1989). A review of D. A. Kehrberg's Ed.D. Thesis: An investigation of the relationships between musical aptitude, general music achievement, attitude toward music, school music participation, school music achievement and students' outside-of-school environment in a rural ethnic community. Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Education, 100, 68-73.
19.
Lang, G.
(April 1994). String fever. Town & Country, 86-91, 123-123.
20.
Plomin, R.
and McCleam, G. E. (1993). Nature, nurture andpsychology. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
21.
Radocy, R. E.
and Boyle, J. D. (1979). Psychologicalfoundations of musical behavior. Springfield, IL.: C. C. Thomas.
22.
Rainbow, E. L.
(1965). A pilot study to investigate the constructs of musical aptitude. Journal of Research in Music Education, 13, 3-14.
23.
Schleuter, S. L.
(1978). Effects of certain lateral dominance traits, music aptitude and sex differences with instrumental music achievement. Journal of Research in Music Education, 26, 22-31.
24.
Seashore, C. E.
(1919). Seashore measures of musical talent. Chicago, IL.: Stoelting.
25.
Sloboda, J. A.
, Davidson, J. W. and Howe, M. J. A. (1994a). Is everyone musical?The Psychologist, 7, 349-354.
26.
Sloboda, J. A.
and Howe, M. J. A. (1991). Biographical precursors of musical excellence: An interview study. Psychology of Music, 19, 3-21.
27.
Sosniak, L. A.
(1985). Learning to be a concert pianist. In: B. S. Bloom (Ed.), Talent in young people (pp. 19-67). New York: Ballantine Books.
28.
Wing, H. D.
(1961). Standardised tests of musical intelligence. Windsor, England: N.F.E.R.
29.
Young, W. I.
(1971). The role of musical aptitude, intelligence and academic achievement in predicting the musical attainment of elementary instrumental music students. Journal of Research in Music Education, 19, 385-398.
30.
Zdzinski, S. F.
(1991). Relationship among parental involvement, music aptitude and musical achievement of instrumental music students. Journal of Research in Music Education, 40, 114-125.
