Musical Talent

Kreitner (1981) used learning style theory to explore the patterns of 8 boys and 21 girls in Grades 7 through 12 from a rural Pennsylvania town; the students had been rated as “especially talented” by the one choral Director and two band Directors (p. 28). The Swassing-Barbe Modality Index (SBMI) and the Dunn, Dunn, & Price Learning Style Inventory (LSI) were administered to determine:

1. their usefulness in identifying gifted musicians;
2. similarities between the two models;
3. whether charact eristics existed among the gifted that might provide insights for the teaching of subjects other than music; and
4. how, if at all, the learning styles of talented musicians differed from those of the general population.

It had been anticipated that subjects would be highly auditory. The SBMI revealed the auditory channel as being the weakest; more students were kinesthetic and visual (as indicated by a mean percentage of 32.81 and 30.90 respectively). Similarly, the LSI identified the greatest number of students as kinesthetic (62%; and 55% were tactile; and 52% were auditory). The data corroborated the findings of other studies that similarly revealed that gifted students prefer kinesthetic, rather than auditory, activities (Wasson, 1980). In addition, the findings suggested that conventional tests of musical talent, which emphasize the auditory mode, may be focusing on a supplementary, rather than a major, sensory channel.

Several characteristics identified the musically gifted better than their modality strengths; those included:

• extremely high motivational levels:
• the desire for options rather than a great deal of Structure, and
• the desire for Learning Alone rather than with others.

High Motivation, the need for little Structure, and Learning Alone preferences were representative of many gifted students. Other findings, such as the need for food Intake (69%); the acceptability of Sound (62%), and the need for bright Light probably were more related to the learning styles of adolescents than to the uniqueness of the musically talented.

A strong parallel, or overlap, was revealed between the two learning style models. Both agree that it is better to build on a student’s strengths than to endeavor to remediate weaknesses. Both examine auditory, visual, and kinesthetic inclinations. The LSI regards Perceptual strengths as channels of input and as only one of 22 different learning style elements; the SBMI emphasizes modalities as means for processing information and focuses on that characteristic exclusively.

This investigation substantially contributed toward increasing the understanding of varied learning style instruments and clarified further how different models can supplement and reinforce each other.

Falkner (1994) examined the relationships among the perceptual elements of learning style, music aptitude, and attitude toward music of third-grade students. The Learning Style Inventory (Dunn, Dunn, & Price, 1989) was used to assess individual students’ learning styles. This study examined the perceptual elements of learning style: auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic. Participants in the study were 195 third-grade students at Oxford, Mississippi, Elementary School for the 1993-94 academic year. The research design was causal-comparative. One-way ANOVA’s were used to determine the significance of the frequency distribution of perceptual modality strengths, musical aptitude, and attitude toward music class. No significant differences were found in the distribution of modality strengths; however, significant differences were found in musical aptitude and attitude toward music class.

Results of a two-way ANOVA comparing the mean scores of musical aptitude with perceptual modality strengths showed an interaction effect between the level of musical aptitude and perceptual modality strengths to be significant. Students scoring in musical aptitude were primarily visual and kinesthetic learners. Significant difference among the mean scores of musical aptitude as related to attitude toward music class were found. No significant differences were found among the levels of attitude toward music class and perceptual modality strengths. It was concluded that students scoring highest in musical aptitude are primarily kinesthetic and visual learners. Conceptual skills in music are better served in an active approach that engages all perceptual modalities in the music-making process. Positive attitudes toward school music are better served through an elementary music education program that connects with childrens’ real world musical experiences while reflecting the multi-musical culture of the society in which the students live.