I would like to find out that how could a child be considered as having musical talents before attending any music lessons,if there is any? What are some of the areas that one should look up for?

Certainly, I'm no expert on this, but I feel like my 3-year old nephew has some sort of musical aptitude. I saw this sometime last year, when I went home for the holidays. I brought home some music the choir was working on and my nephew was sitting right next to me on the piano. I was singing and playing one of the pieces, and even though he had never heard this piece before, he seemed to know where the next note would be. So he was humming along with me. I thought that was rather amazing.

Another thing - most little kids would just bang on the piano with their whole hand (I've seen some press a whole group of keys with their palms! The poor piano!) but my nephew would actually position his hands on the piano, like he's seen me do, and he'll play one note at a time. It's still random noise, but certainly better than cacophony.

Here's another goodie: one day he was sitting next to me, listening to me play, when he interrupted me to ask me how does the piano make its sound and from where was the sound coming. And this from a (then-) 2 year old boy! I immediately told my SIL that she should get him started on piano lessons as soon as he was old enough.

I believe that in Russia or maybe it was Korea.... they test children when they are young to see what they will be good at. They send them to schools according to the test results.

If it is diffcult to identify those with musical talents, then how can we see when they have attended lessons for quite some time? Does being tone-deaf means lacking of musical aplitude or when a person could play out the tune after listening without having any scores indicates musical talents? Wonder if anyone else in the forum knows anything about this?

I have heard that a person who could sing with deep emotion are also indicators of the ability, as it will mean that they could play with feelings, and not treating piano as typwriter, is this a reliable way to tell?

[ September 09, 2001: Message edited by: Rachelle ]

There are two simple tests that will help identify whether a child *may* have musical ablity. First is determining if he or she can match a pitch when singing. The second is to check if he or she can maintain a steady rhythm.

These tests are by no means indicative of musical ability, but those who do not possess at least one of these abilities will face a much greater challenge.

Just my $0.02

I have a new student that is totally a non singer. He has never sung anything in-tune. His sense of rhythm is very keen. He is very accurate with quarters, eighths and sixteenths, as well as dotted rhythms. On the flipside, I've had students that can literally "sing like a bird"; but they struggle with counting. Just my $.02

Eldon,

I had a student with in the same condition as yours. He was my first piano student, actually. It became apparent over time that he had never sung anything, and his attempts at changing pitch only resulted in a change of volume - he was stuck on the same note. However, he could play just about anything by ear, became a really good sightreader with my insistence, and had solid rhythm skills. The best thing he did was to join the choir in his school, after which he did learn how to sing.

BTW I hope that people don't wait to see if their child has any talant before putting them in music lessons. I believe that most if not all children can benefit from music lessons. Even if a child does not turn out to be a Mozart, they will still benefit from the experience in many ways. Early music lessons have been shown to have a beneficial effect on math and language skills later on. There are many more benefits, but I am late for a meeting!

Ryan

Ryan,
I totally agree with you on the merits of music lessons. This particular student, that I'm referring to, has been with me since first grade at school. He was never able to sing. But always did well on rhythms. When he started piano lessons, he truly blossomed. It's always exciting when children find their singing voice. Two years ago, I had a boy in fourth grade sing the entire National Anthem, in my octave, in the key of Ab! Now that's pretty early for a changed voice! The class always wanted he and I to "sing it" together.