Musical intelligence, the eternally undervalued skill

Why are we not enhancing our ability to understand music?

For decades now, the concept of intelligence has had a strong impact on human life.

IQ tests are applied in personnel selection and in school settings, the fact of obtaining one score or another in one of them can have a great impact on self-esteem and, moreover, these measures are a good predictor of the ability to understand music, these measures are a good predictor of economic status and life expectancy..

However, some psychologists believe that there is not just one measure of intellect, but many types of intelligence, and some are highly undervalued. The musical intelligence would be an example of this.

What is musical intelligence?

Musical intelligence belongs to the model of multiple intelligences divulged by the American psychologist Howard Gardner, and is a concept that alludes to the capacities and sensibilities that have to do with musical sensitivity, when it comes to producing it and perceiving it as such with all its nuances.

It is totally independent of the auditory capacityIt is totally independent of auditory ability, and therefore concerns only the ability to process the sound information of simple or very complex musical pieces, nor does it have to be embodied in specific musical genres. What defines musical intelligence is the total freedom to create and appreciate music.

What are musically intelligent people like?

Someone with musical intelligence is especially adept at detecting nuances in melodies, thinking in terms of rhythm, timbre and pitch, and distinguishing similar sounding sounds that sound similar. and distinguish similar sounds that sound separately or together. In turn, they will also have an easier time expressing themselves musically, whether composing musical pieces performed by themselves or conducting a musical ensemble in which many elements of the piece to be performed must be kept in mind.

Musical intelligence can be broken down into several skills. These skills are to a relative degree, and do not have to do with a perfect and absolute ability to perform them. Here are some of them, by way of example.

• Sensitivity in identifying the rhythm, pitch, melody and timbre of a piece of music.
• Relative ease in composing or performing original pieces of music, and in reproducing them. original pieces of music, and in reproducing or adapting them with reference to another piece of music.
• Ease in finding resources to express emotional states or ideas through music. or ideas through music.
• Ease in recognizing masked musical pieces. that appear to be mere noise.
• Ability to recognize the different musical genres that influence a piece of music.
• Ability to create melodies by sounding various objects in an improvised way. in an improvised way.

Musical intelligence is educated

According to Howard Gardner, musical intelligence is one of the first types of intelligence to appear throughout the development and growth of people, being present in the first months of life. Therefore, its existence does not depend on whether we have received its existence does not depend on whether we have received formal education in music or not, and much less on whether we know how to solo.much less on whether we know solfège. However, if you want to improve significantly in musical intelligence there comes a point where it is necessary to practice and dedicate hours a week to train systematically.

This, added to the fact that musical intelligence could be closely linked to logical-mathematical intelligence and skills related to creative thinking, makes certain groups claim the need for schools to devote efforts to help improve this type of intelligence by using programs to stimulate musical intelligence. Efforts are also being made to disseminate exercises with which parents can educate the youngest children and musical intelligence from their first weeks and according to the stages of growth they are going through.

A final thought

The idea of multiple intelligences, popularized by Howard Gardner, is as loved as it is hated. The fact that it is a classification of different mental abilities has earned him criticism from those who believe that intelligence can be explained by studying a single intelligence factor (Spearman's G factor). However, it also opens the door to understanding intellect as something broader than what conventional IQ tests measure, it also opens the door to understanding intellect as something broader than what conventional IQ tests measure..

Musical intelligence is one of the great counterpoints that the multiple intelligences model brings to the table: an intelligence that is legitimate by the simple fact of belonging to the artistic and creative facet of the human being, even though it is not applicable to the human being.It is an intelligence that is legitimate simply because it belongs to the artistic and creative facet of the human being, even though it is not applicable to the labor and productive gear like logical-mathematical intelligence.