Musical Ear From Practice, Not Parents

Feb. 5, 2008 -- Musicians develop their ear for music through practice, not by having musical genes, a new study shows.

"We make the 'genetic predisposition' explanation less likely and strengthen the case for training," Elizabeth Margulis, PhD, of the University of Arkansas says in a news release.

Margulis and colleagues studied nine highly trained classical violinists and seven equally accomplished classical flutists.

The violinists and flutists listened to a solo flute recording and a solo violin recording. The flute and violin pieces were similar works -- called partitas -- written by Johann Sebastian Bach. The musicians knew those partitas well, having played them before.

While listening to the recordings, the musicians got their brains scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

The violinists' brains were more active during the violin recording, and the flutists' minds were more active during the flute recording. In short, their listening experience stemmed from their musical experience.

If genes had been important in this experiment, the musicians' brains should have been equally active during both recordings, since there isn't a flute gene or a violin gene, the researchers argue.

That doesn't mean that some people aren't musically gifted. But it does mean that experience and practice matters in training the musical ear.

The study appears in the advance online edition of Human Brain Mapping.