Follow the music
We attended a remarkable concert last week, a group called Cherish the Ladies. It is an all female Irish super-group, and the performance was absolutely fantastic. As they performed, the group’s leader supplied quite a bit of biographical data on each member of the group. I was struck by the commonality; every one came from a very musical background. Even when the parents weren’t performers themselves, they often taught music.
I listen to classical music most of the day, and since I don’t have my sound system set up yet, I listen to “light classical” on Comcast, which includes visual background information on each composer. The parents and grandparents are always musical themselves. Of course, we all are familiar with the Bach dynasty, with the skill filtering down for generations.
Some of the background stories are amazing, like Mozart, Faure, and Mendelssohn, composing and performing at extremely young ages.
I did a little google research and found that the genetic component of musical ability is approximately 50% according to research, often done with identical twins. But then there is the case of the 11 year old prodigy Alma Deutscher, whose parents claim no musical ability at all. By the way, if you have never heard of (or heard) her, I encourage you to listen to this 60 Minutes interview.
So do you have musical ability? Are you a stand-alone talent, or did it come from your family roots? Were you musical at an early age? Did you keep up with it?
As usual, this is an open thread…..you can discuss anything your heart desires (except that, of course).