[chris_st]

This comment reminds me of the meme that floats through the guitar groups I'm on. It goes something like:

    - Person 1: Wow, you're an incredible musician!
    - Musician: Thanks, it's taken a lot of work.
    - P1: How is it possible you play so well!
    - M: Lots of practice?
    - P1: It must be inborn talent!
    - M: No, it's mainly practice...
    - P1: You must have musician genes!

etc. ad infinitum.

And, to be honest, I kind of thought this myself as well. When I saw the scene in "Soul" where the piano player figures out the key of the song after playing one wrong chord, then one right chord, I thought, "Miraculous!" Now, after playing bass for just over a year, yeah, not as big a deal as I thought originally.

[ipiz0618]

You're absolutely right. I play music too and I understand how practice is a huge part of this. That's how I perceive intelligence - some people never stop learning and improving, which is what makes them smarter than others. Surely some were born more talented than the others, but they also spend more time practicing than the others.

[aaaaaaaaaaab]

It’s the same with programming.

  - How do you know what code to type in?
  - Ummm… I know what I want the program to do, and just write it down step by step.
  - No, I mean, how do you know what symbols to write??
  - I… I learned their meaning…?
  - You’re so lucky! I would never be able to learn such things, I was always bad at math xD

[9530jh9054ven]

That... may not be entirely true.

> Practice does not make perfect: no causal effect of music practice on music ability

> Abstract

> [...]

> We found that music practice was substantially heritable (40%-70%). Associations between music practice and music ability were predominantly genetic, and, contrary to the causal hypothesis, nonshared environmental influences did not contribute.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25079217/

> Genome-wide linkage scan for loci of musical aptitude in Finnish families: evidence for a major locus at 4q22

> [...]

> Result:

> The heritability estimates were 42% for [Karma Music test; KMT], 57% for [Seashore pitch], 21% for [Seashore time] and 48% for the combined music test scores. Significant evidence of linkage was obtained on chromosome 4q22 (LOD 3.33) and suggestive evidence of linkage at 8q13-21 (LOD 2.29) with the combined music test scores, using variance component linkage analyses.

- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2564861/

The methodology doesn't seem to be measuring the musician's capability of producing music. Rather it measures their ability to hear and detect pitch and comprehend melodies and rhythms, something that's critically required for musicians. And unfortunately that does appear to have a very significant genetic component, one that does not benefit from practice as much.

From what I understand it doesn't mean that hard work isn't needed or that there is no point for someone without the genetics to not practice music. Rather it just puts a limit on what level of skill one can achieve through hard work.

[ushakov]

yeah, the magic wears off quickly

i used to look up AC/DC, but now that i know how _literally_ all their songs work i find it rather boring and not very intellectually challenging