{"id":142559,"date":"2025-02-20T16:14:21","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T20:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=142559"},"modified":"2025-02-26T16:44:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T20:44:40","slug":"howard-gardner-musical-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/howard-gardner-musical-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard Gardner: Musical Intelligence Must Be Nurtured to Thrive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Can you identify the unique qualities that make music an independent form of intelligence? How does musical ability develop from childhood into adulthood?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Howard Gardner, musical intelligence is the ability to recognize pitch and rhythm, reproduce sounds, and create original compositions. This intelligence emerges in infancy and develops through distinct patterns, though it often plateaus without proper nurturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to discover how musical intelligence manifests in the brain and why it stands apart from other cognitive abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-howard-gardner-on-musical-intelligence\">Howard Gardner on Musical Intelligence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Howard Gardner, musical intelligence is a type of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/conceptual-intelligence\/\">conceptual intelligence<\/a> that enables you to recognize musical qualities such as pitch and rhythm. It also allows you to <strong>reproduce music you\u2019ve heard (for example, by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/advantages-of-laughing\/\">singing<\/a> along to your favorite song) and create your own music<\/strong>. Even something as simple as drumming your hands on a table is an expression of musical intelligence. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kinds-of-intelligence\/\">type of intelligence<\/a> is encoded in musical symbols such as staffs, clefs, and notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Naturally, musicians make frequent use of musical intelligence to write and perform their songs. Exceptional musicians such as Ludwig von Beethoven and Freddie Mercury are often considered to be \u201cmusical geniuses.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Musical intelligence is a fundamental part of being human, and some scientists believe that it\u2019s one of the oldest abilities humans have, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/sociology\/articles\/10.3389\/fsoc.2017.00008\/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">predating spoken language<\/a>. Even species that existed before humans, such as many birds and some primates, communicate information or emotions using vocalizations with specific pitches and rhythms, which is arguably a form of music. Furthermore, while famous musicians might be the most obvious examples of people using musical intelligence, music is <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC4166316\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">part of life for almost everyone<\/a>. For instance, people use music to communicate, to keep rhythm while exercising, to express themselves, and for entertainment.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The development of musical intelligence follows a distinct pattern, beginning with infant babbling and singing.<\/strong> Children start producing distinct musical patterns and fragments of familiar songs as early as two years old. However, Gardner notes that musical intelligence often plateaus in early childhood unless caregivers encourage and guide its growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Gardner notes that musical development can stop in early childhood if it\u2019s not cultivated. However, with encouragement and training, a person\u2019s musical abilities will continue to develop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/british-journal-of-music-education\/article\/abs\/sequence-of-musical-development-a-study-of-childrens-composition\/F59212F54A1909DB5DCD3FE0EF3F64D6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">throughout their childhood and adolescence<\/a>. In 1986, a research paper outlined the now-famous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicteachermagazine.co.uk\/content\/features\/reflections-on-university-based-ite\/#:~:text=music%20education%20landscape.-,The%20Swanwick%2DTillman%20spiral%20of%20musical%20development,-Universal%20training\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Swanwick-Tillman Spiral of Musical Development<\/a>, which depicts the stages of development in a child whose musical ability is properly nurtured. The spiral model emphasizes that musical growth isn\u2019t linear\u2014rather, the child will often revisit previous stages of development and gain new insights from them. As a result, their skills may sometimes seem to regress, but this is a natural part of the learning process.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, Gardner notes that musical ability is <strong>largely associated with parts of the right <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/two-hemispheres-of-the-brain\/\">hemisphere of the brain<\/a><\/strong>. This is one of the most important points in favor of musical skill being its own intelligence, rather than an offshoot of linguistic intelligence\u2014which is localized in the left hemisphere\u2014or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-logical-mathematical-intelligence\/\">logical-mathematical intelligence<\/a>, which is distributed across both hemispheres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He adds that there have been cases of brain-damaged individuals who lose their musical skills, while their language and mathematical skills remain intact (or vice versa). There are also \u201csavants\u201d who have extraordinary musical talent, despite being developmentally disabled in other ways. This reinforces the idea that musical intelligence is a distinct phenomenon, separate from all other forms of intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Gardner says that musical intelligence is largely located in the brain\u2019s right hemisphere, but more recent research has shown that many other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-are-the-regions-of-the-brain\/\">areas of the brain<\/a> are also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pfizer.com\/news\/articles\/why_and_how_music_moves_us#:~:text=on%20the%20mind%3F-,Music%20and%20Mood,-Listening%20to%20(or\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> involved in processing music<\/a>. Notably, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pfizer.com\/news\/articles\/why_and_how_music_moves_us#:~:text=on%20the%20mind%3F-,Music%20and%20Mood,-Listening%20to%20(or\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">limbic system<\/a>\u2014which is located in the brain\u2019s interior and responsible for managing emotions\u2014shows a strong response to musical stimuli. This explains why even wordless music can produce emotional responses in people. Doctors have also noted that some patients who suffered damage to their <a href=\"https:\/\/my.clevelandclinic.org\/health\/body\/16799-temporal-lobe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">temporal lobes<\/a> (located on the sides of the brain) could no longer consciously recognize melodies, but still responded emotionally to them as long as their <a href=\"https:\/\/my.clevelandclinic.org\/health\/body\/24501-frontal-lobe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">frontal lobes<\/a> were undamaged.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can you identify the unique qualities that make music an independent form of intelligence? How does musical ability develop from childhood into adulthood? According to Howard Gardner, musical intelligence is the ability to recognize pitch and rhythm, reproduce sounds, and create original compositions. This intelligence emerges in infancy and develops through distinct patterns, though it often plateaus without proper nurturing. Continue reading to discover how musical intelligence manifests in the brain and why it stands apart from other cognitive abilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":142568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,160],"tags":[1757],"class_list":["post-142559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-science","tag-frames-of-mind","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Howard Gardner: Musical Intelligence Must Be Nurtured to Thrive - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Howard Gardner says musical intelligence is the ability to recognize pitch and rhythm, reproduce sounds, and compose music. 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