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.
Howard Gardner on Musical Intelligence
According to Howard Gardner, musical intelligence is a type of conceptual intelligence that enables you to recognize musical qualities such as pitch and rhythm. It also allows you to reproduce music you’ve heard (for example, by singing along to your favorite song) and create your own music. Even something as simple as drumming your hands on a table is an expression of musical intelligence. This type of intelligence is encoded in musical symbols such as staffs, clefs, and notes.
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 “musical geniuses.”
(Shortform note: Musical intelligence is a fundamental part of being human, and some scientists believe that it’s one of the oldest abilities humans have, predating spoken language. 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 part of life for almost everyone. For instance, people use music to communicate, to keep rhythm while exercising, to express themselves, and for entertainment.)
The development of musical intelligence follows a distinct pattern, beginning with infant babbling and singing. 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.
(Shortform note: Gardner notes that musical development can stop in early childhood if it’s not cultivated. However, with encouragement and training, a person’s musical abilities will continue to develop throughout their childhood and adolescence. In 1986, a research paper outlined the now-famous Swanwick-Tillman Spiral of Musical Development, which depicts the stages of development in a child whose musical ability is properly nurtured. The spiral model emphasizes that musical growth isn’t linear—rather, 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.)
Finally, Gardner notes that musical ability is largely associated with parts of the right hemisphere of the brain. This is one of the most important points in favor of musical skill being its own intelligence, rather than an offshoot of linguistic intelligence—which is localized in the left hemisphere—or logical-mathematical intelligence, which is distributed across both hemispheres.
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 “savants” 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.
(Shortform note: Gardner says that musical intelligence is largely located in the brain’s right hemisphere, but more recent research has shown that many other areas of the brain are also involved in processing music. Notably, the limbic system—which is located in the brain’s interior and responsible for managing emotions—shows 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 temporal lobes (located on the sides of the brain) could no longer consciously recognize melodies, but still responded emotionally to them as long as their frontal lobes were undamaged.)
