Piano Guidance
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko Pexels Logo Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko

Is music ability genetic?

They tested 224 members of 15 different families of musicians and found that musical ability is 50% inherited. Several studies have found that human evolution favors people with an ear for music. The abilities that make someone good at music are associated with other crucial life skills.

What is the difference between chord and cord?
What is the difference between chord and cord?

A cord is a long flexible string or rope, often made of thinner pieces woven together. A chord on the other hand is "three or more musical tones...

Read More »
How long should I shower?
How long should I shower?

between five and 15 minutes Dermatologists suggest that the average shower should be between five and 15 minutes, but it depends on what you plan...

Read More »

Families have been making music together since long before the von Trapps and the Jackson 5. It’s not uncommon for an accomplished musician to have one or more family members who are also talented with music — and this is no coincidence. Find out what’s in your genes! Take advantage of our Early Holiday DNA Sale 2022 going on now! Get MyHeritage DNA at the lowest price of the year! Genes have an important role to play in determining musical ability. In one study (Mosing M et al, “Practice Does Not Make Perfect: No Causal Effect of Music Practice on Music Ability,” Psychological Science 2014, 25:1785), Miriam Mosing and her colleagues from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden compared the musical skills of 1,211 pairs of adult identical twins and 1,358 pairs of fraternal twins. They tested participants’ ability to detect differences in pitch, distinguish melodies, and recognize rhythms. They found that even when one twin practiced significantly more than the other twin — in one case, 20,228 hours more — their level of musical ability was more or less the same. An earlier study by researchers at the University of Helsinki (Pulli K et al, “Genome-wide linkage scan for loci of musical aptitude in Finnish families: evidence for a major locus at 4q22,” Journal of Medical Genetics 2008, 45:451-456) reinforces these findings. They tested 224 members of 15 different families of musicians and found that musical ability is 50% inherited. Several studies have found that human evolution favors people with an ear for music. The abilities that make someone good at music are associated with other crucial life skills. Being more sensitive to pitch and tone, for example, increases your ability to distinguish nuances in language and speech and to mimic foreign accents. Studies have shown a significant correlation between musical talent and the ability to learn a foreign language. The aforementioned research by Järvelä showed that the DNA sequences related to musical ability were also linked to dyslexia, indicating that musical ability is closely associated with language development.

A Combination of Nature and Nurture

Is Flowkey or Simply Piano better?
Is Flowkey or Simply Piano better?

Flowkey has a web app and a mobile app while Simply Piano is only a mobile app. Flowkey has beginner, intermediate, advanced, and pro content,...

Read More »
Can you play a chord without the root note?
Can you play a chord without the root note?

You can certainly IMPLY a chord without including its root. Jul 6, 2013

Read More »
Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide
Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Pianoforall is one of the most popular online piano courses online and has helped over 450,000 students around the world achieve their dream of playing beautiful piano for over a decade.

Learn More »

One of the easiest components of musical ability to measure is absolute pitch, also called “perfect pitch”: the ability to instantly identify the pitch of a note being played. Most musicians need to hear the note played by a tuning fork or another tuned instrument to tune an instrument, using the note as a reference. People with absolute pitch don’t need a tuning fork — they instinctively know whether what they are hearing is an A, G sharp, or B flat. Studies have shown strong links between genetics and this ability, but that doesn’t mean it’s innate. Our conventions about tones and their names are largely arbitrary. Even a person with perfect pitch can’t name a note before they have learned the musical scale. The part you inherit from your parents, though, is the potential to learn. Exposure to musical training at a young age, or speaking a tonal language such as Mandarin, makes you more likely to realize this potential. It works in the opposite direction, too. Research has found a strong genetic component to tone-deafness, or what scientists call “congenital amusia.” It only affects about 4% of the population, but if you are tone-deaf, 39% of your first-degree relatives are likely to have amusia. Once again, though, it’s not all nature. A twin study found that though one twin being tone-deaf made it very likely that the other twin was tone-deaf too, there were cases where one was tone-deaf and the other wasn’t.

Is anyone in your family tone-deaf? Tell us in the comments!

How long does it take to become a pianist?
How long does it take to become a pianist?

Becoming a concert pianist requires true dedication, talent, and hard work. On average, it will require 15+ years, 3-5 hours a day of deliberate...

Read More »
What was Beethoven's disability?
What was Beethoven's disability?

deaf Beethoven first noticed difficulties with his hearing decades earlier, sometime in 1798, when he was about 28. By the time he was 44 or 45, he...

Read More »
What is a piano that plays itself called?
What is a piano that plays itself called?

Also known as player pianos or Pianolas, older style self-playing pianos uses a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism to play pre-programmed...

Read More »
What happens if you don't cry when someone dies?
What happens if you don't cry when someone dies?

And that's perfectly normal. There are many different ways to grieve, and not all of them involve crying. Just because you don't cry doesn't mean...

Read More »