Early childhood music education and predisposition to absolute pitch: Teasing apart genes and environment

Gregersen, Peter K.; Kowalsky, Elena; Kohn, Nina; Marvin, Elizabeth West

doi:10.1002/1096-8628(20010122)98:3<280::aid-ajmg1083>3.0.co;2-6

Cited by 120 publications

(136 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Traditional Absolute Pitch (AP) -the ability to instantly identify and produce a certain tone without any reference note -is extremely rare; only 1 in 10000 individuals have this ability (Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993), and as a result it has been termed a gift by some researchers (e.g., Athos et al, 2007;Bachem, 1940;Gregersen, Kowalsky, Kohn, & Marvin, 2001). Others insist that anyone has the potential to acquire AP in the traditional sense, but that training in a critical period is needed to fully acquire the skill (e.g., Vitouch, 2003).…”

Section: Background Traditional Absolute Pitch Versus Absolute Pitch mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Absolute Pitch Memory in the Oral Transmission of Folksongs

Olthof

Janssen²,

Honing³

2015

EMR

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Absolute Pitch (AP) is the ability to identify or produce isolated tones in the absence of contextual cues or reference pitches. While AP is thought to differ from other human abilities in its bimodal distribution (Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993) -either you have it or you do not -recent evidence suggests that memory for absolute pitch in a melody is actually widespread (Schellenberg & Trehub, 2003). In the current project the Dutch collection of historic audio recordings, Onder de Groene Linde (Grijp, 2008), is used as a source to explore the potential role of AP in the memory of songs transmitted in oral traditions. Since the melodies in this database are grouped by tune family and are available as sound files, they can serve as empirical support for the Absolute Pitch Memory (APM) hypothesis, predicting that these tunes are memorized and transmitted over time and geographical location based on their absolute pitch height. To this end, between-and within-tune family analyses were performed. In the between-tune family analysis, two tune families showed significant inter-recording tonic pitch consistency. The within-tune family analysis further substantialized that effect, while controlling for possible factors of variance such as gender, geographical origin, and lyrics. Together, the results are taken as empirical support that APM plays a significant role in the oral transmission of folksongs.

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Section: Background Traditional Absolute Pitch Versus Absolute Pitch mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Absolute Pitch Memory in the Oral Transmission of Folksongs

Olthof

Janssen²,

Honing³

2015

EMR

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“…21 Studies have demonstrated signifi cantly higher prevalence of AP among Asian students than their white counterparts, despite no difference in frequency of early music exposure. 7 Asian students, however, were signifi cantly more likely to have received 'fi xed-do' training than white students. Deutsch hypothesises that AP for music might then be acquired by tone language speakers in the same way as they would acquire the pitches of a second tonal language.…”

Section: Does It Matter?mentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Looking only at people who had received 'fi xed-do' training before the age of 7 years, one study showed that siblings of AP possessors were 19 times more likely to have AP themselves than siblings of non-AP possessors. 7 Eliminating differences in musical training does not, however, negate the environmental component; siblings will experience similar environments aside from musical training.…”

Section: Is It a Product Of Nature Or Nurture?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Perfect pitch reconsidered

Moulton

2014

Clinical Medicine

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A Perfect pitch reconsideredPerfect pitch, or absolute pitch (AP), is defi ned as the ability to identify or produce the pitch of a sound without need for a reference pitch, and is generally regarded as a valuable asset to the musician. However, there has been no recent review of the literature examining its aetiology and its utility taking into account emerging scientifi c advances in AP research, notably in functional imaging. This review analyses the key empirical research on AP, focusing on genetic and neuroimaging studies. The review concludes that: AP probably has a genetic predisposition, although this is based on limited evidence; early musical training is almost certainly essential for AP acquisition; and, although there is evidence that it may be relevant to speech processing, AP can interfere with relative pitch, an ability on which humans rely to communicate effectively. The review calls into question the value of AP to musicians and nonmusicians alike.

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“…Genetic studies using musicians (Zatorre & McGill, 2005) and athletes (Macarthur & North, 2005;Scott, Wilson, Goodwin, Moran, Geogiades, et al, 2005;Wolfarth, Bray, Hagberg, Perusse, Rauramaa, et al, 2005) were already underway, and research into the neuroscience of music, especially the interplay between genetics and environment (Gregersen, Kowalsky, Kohn, & Marvin, 2001), also provided a foundation for the study of dancers.…”

Section: Genetic Expression and Performing Artsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparisons of Personality Dispositions and Genetic Inferences in Groups of Performing Artists

Kane¹,

Polasek²,

Hendrick³

2017

IJMPA

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There are a number of innate and external factors that contribute to the success of performing artists. Search for these factors has resulted in attempts to profile performing artists based on genetic markers and personality types. The aim of this investigation was to examine select personality traits of performing artists and compare responses to previous research. Personality traits of student and professional musical theatre performers were measured with the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS; N = 30) and the Cloninger Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire™ (TPQ TM ; N = 28) and compared to a previously published study of dancers (N = 85) using one-sample t-tests. The TAS score of the current study (M = 22.90±6.47) was not significantly different to that of the dancers (M = 21.05; p = .128). However, the TPQ demonstrated significantly higher and lower differences, respectively, in musical theatre performers compared to dancers on the subscales of Harm Avoidance (HA) and Reward Dependence (RD), but not Novelty Seeking (NS). Findings suggest both similarities and significant differences between student and professional performers, with potential genetic associations. Pedagogical considerations and future research recommendations are discussed.

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Early childhood music education and predisposition to absolute pitch: Teasing apart genes and environment

Cited by 120 publications

References 8 publications

The Role of Absolute Pitch Memory in the Oral Transmission of Folksongs

The Role of Absolute Pitch Memory in the Oral Transmission of Folksongs

Perfect pitch reconsidered

Comparisons of Personality Dispositions and Genetic Inferences in Groups of Performing Artists

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