Q. Can anyone be a musician?
A. We all know that person who can play three musical instruments, and that other person who thinks belting off-key in the car makes him or her a star. Our experts say musical ability is a science.
Psychology professor Karin James conducts experiments on music processing. She says people trained in music process it differently than people with no musical experience. James found that trained musicians handle music in the same centers of their brain used for language.
James says her research doesn’t show whether some people are more musically inclined than others. However, people who can integrate the auditory, visual, and motor senses can pick up an instrument more easily. It is possible for some people to be better-equipped to combine those senses.
Janis Stockhouse, director of the band program at Bloomington High School North, is used to dealing with students of all skill levels.
She says students with a background in the piano or string instruments are better at picking up other instruments. “The kids who can sing on-key and sit down and play piano by ear, those are the stars.”
One of those stars (all grown up) is sophomore and ethnomusicology major Kevin Hood, who plays drum set, hand drum, xylophone, guitar, bass, piano, harmonica, and jaw harp. He has been expanding his musical repertoire since he joined band in sixth grade, often by teaching himself.
To Hood, picking up new instruments is a challenge that everyone should explore. He says that in his experience, some instruments are harder than others to master, but at the base level, everyone is capable of music competence.
“Anybody could play if they are interested enough and devoted enough time to practicing,” he says.
