Special talents and defects : $b Their significance for educationHollingworth, Leta Stetter
Science
Special talents and defects : $b Their significance for education
Hollingworth, Leta Stetter
Educational psychology; Educational tests and measurements; Exceptional children
In view of the facts, the wisdom seems doubtful of requiring all
teachers in the elementary schools to qualify in singing before being
certified, as is now done in some places. There will be a goodly number
of students, in the normal schools, who are fitted by original endowment
to become excellent teachers, except that they will never be able to
sing. In the case of a gift so specialized, it seems advisable to have a
special teacher wherever possible, rather than to disqualify from
teaching persons who cannot sing, but are otherwise well fitted to
educate the young.
Tests show that musical talent is specialized, but this is not to say
that eminence in music can be attained by the stupid. The achievement of
eminence in any endeavor calls for a grasp of life situations and a
farsighted fidelity to sustained effort, which are functions of general
intelligence. Also, for eminence in a musical career the intellectual
functions which have to do with composition and interpretation are
doubtless indispensable. A survey of the general intelligence of eminent
musicians would probably reveal a median well above the average; and
this would probably hold true even for singers.
VI. ABSOLUTE PITCH
By absolute pitch is usually meant the power to recognize a single
musical note when heard, without comparison with any other tone, either
objective or subjective. It seems to be an hereditary gift, and probably
cannot be acquired by training. (Some doubt has, however, been recently
cast upon the latter conclusion by the researches of Gough, who was
apparently able to educate persons in this respect to a limited extent.)
Statements regarding the frequency of those who possess this
idiosyncrasy vary, from that of Boggs, who says that only a few persons
have the gift, to that of Seashore, who declares that “the ability to
name notes of a familiar keyed instrument on hearing a single tone is
rather common among trained musicians, and may show itself very early in
childhood.” Perhaps the discrepancies of statement arise through lack of
complete agreement as to what should be meant by “absolute pitch.” If
the definition is insistently limited to that often given, namely, “the
power to name a single musical note when heard, without comparison with
any other tone,” then no doubt the gift belongs to very few people, even
those otherwise musically well endowed.
Seashore holds that in these cases, it is probably not pitch as such
which is recognized, but rather the timbre of the note. “The timbre of
the low notes is entirely different from that of the higher notes, and
the evidence seems to show that it is easier to remember a
characteristic timbre than pure pitch in itself.”
The gift of absolute pitch is a great advantage to a musician. It is
included as a valuable asset in the talent-inventory of Révész.
VII. TONE DEAFNESS
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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