Can anyone help me understand what is meant when someone is described as "naturally musical". What is this extra component they've got?

I've never been described as being musical, and I know that I've only got as far as I have through sheer hard work. But is musicality something which I could develop, and if so how? Or is it just the case that I haven't got it and won't ever have it? I would love to be truly musical, but maybe it's just wishful thinking.



Amber
x

To me, "being musical" is the ability to sing, play or whatever, musically - with expression and musicality. I've only heard you sing a few songs, Amber, but I thought you sang beautifully, with real expression and feeling. I don't think you're by any means unmusical!

I'd second that!!

To me, it's the ability to bang your head in different places to make distinct notes. Have you ever seen the film "Animal House" when the guy rides his motorbike up the stairs of the house and plays the William Tell Overture on his throat?

No, I haven't seen that film. But I can play Eine Kleine Nacht by slapping my cheeks. By altering how wide I open my mouth changes the pitch. But I can't play it all because it hurts too much after a while.



Amber
x

*imagines Amber slapping cheeks* Surely it's easier with the vocal cords Ambs, but which cheeks do you slap?

Oh, my face ones Boo. I tried it with the other ones, but I kept on producing b*m notes.



Ambs
x

I thought your bottom range was good Amber, but at least the notes weren't sharp!

Who was that French guy who could play tunes using only his own gaseous emissions?

Ahem. Back to the topic (says she, who drifts off course all the time... )

If you find that music moves you, you're musical.
If you can play in a way which moves you, or others, you're musical.
Sounds like you are, from what Sarah-flute says.

I think being musical is all about being absorbed by the music.
If music brings you some inner peace, you are musical.
If your music does that for others, you are also musical.
It has been said that music is thinking with sounds. It's musical people who do that.
All in all your quest alone to find out about 'musicality' means that you've got it and just don't know it.

Stay musical.

I hope that I am musical, although I can never compose anything really good or have great aural skills. I do often wonder whether I do have some genuine musicality (is there such word?) or whether it's only effort that's got me this far, and I don't have any real talent.

I agree with what has been said so far but would like to add that being musical for me also includes having a good ear i.e. hearing when someone's sharp/flat or completely out of tune!

He was called Le Petomaine. A film was made with Leonard Rossiter - of 'Rising Damp' fame.

To get back to the question, I think that 'Being naturally musical' can mean lots of things. You may love music and be able to talk about it, but may be unable to read it or play an instrument. You may love music and play an instrument badly - but still be naturally musical.

So there's no definite answer. Only opinions.

Steve

I guess I am going through one of my self-doubting phases, which I do from time to time. I am wondering whether I will ever have what it takes, or maybe I should give up deluding myself.

Sorry. This is not very positive sounding, but it's how I am feeling right now.

I have phases like that too, they come and go It normally helps me to give it a rest for a while, take back music as a hobby rather than something I have to do and then I learn to love practicing and then I practice more and eventually feel more confident...and then something tiny triggers it all over again...

*hugs*
Hope you're feeling better soon

You sang beautifully at Leicester Amber. You are musical.

To me, being naturally musical is having the natural ability to play a piece of music, nomatter how simple, as MUSIC not just a jumble of notes, which nomatter how rhythmically correct they are, still miss 'something'...hmmm not explained myself very well!

How about people who don't have a good sense of pitch but can appreciate/make good music though? You don't have to have excellent pitch to play the piano well... (though I'm sure it helps if you do)... you certainly don't have to to appreciate music (I know people who can't sing for toffee but still know excellently played music from not so good...) - and having a good sense of pitch doesn't guarantee being able to express oneself musically (though it should help...)

CPPF - I thought you explained that really well actually, and I think I probably agree though I'm very tired right now....

An excellent reply, CPPF! Sometimes even a pupil who is still in the early stages of playing will just instinctively shape phrases and play with a beautiful sense of line, while other pupils have to be told how to make a piece sound musical, and only gradually learn how to do it themselves.

I know very many people who are brilliant at music - very intelligent, fantastic players, excellent ear - but who aren't what I call 'musical'. I think what they're lacking is a musical sensitivity...you're right, it's terribly hard to explain but if I had to isolate that one 'musical' quality then I think that would be it.

Oh, and Amber - I only had the pleasure of meeting you and teaching you once - but I would have said you are a VERY musical person!!!

I think being musical means possessing the ability to communicate through music. Hearing in your head how it should be is one thing, but actually putting it across is another - with all the neccessary expression. Sometimes we think we're doing it, but the listener isn't quite getting it.

I totally agree with that - there is just an almost undefinable sense of "musicality" about some of my pupils playing that is very difficult to explain/teach to the ones who haven't got it.

Thank you all for your replies, and for your encouraging comments.

In reflecting on what you have said above, what's coming up for me is a sense of "travelling". That music isn't just a series of one-off notes, but a journey through notes (and rests). I wonder if being musical is about how one travels through the notes? And what that journey image conjours up. Because I am mostly a visual person I find that different music creates different pictures in my mind - it's as though the music I am hearing is the soundtrack to the film I am running in my head. Being able to convey that film to others through my singing is another matter though!

And as I'm saying this I'm also thinking that it's important to have a sense of the overall shape of the piece, not just the moment by moment details. So that you have an idea of where the journey will eventually end up.

Thank you everyone. Your comments have got me thinking about this whole subject in a different way.



Amber
x

PS And what a gorgeous sunny day it is too.

Glad you're being more positive (rightly so too ) about your musicality. What you say about conveying it to other people is always tricky because music can mean a lot to someone for sentimental reasons and no matter how beautifully they perform it to others, the listeners will never get the same emotions that motivate the performance in the first place. . . . .if that makes sense!

Anyway, when are you going to submit a piece of yourself to YAP's website, I wanna hear you sing! *throws tantrum*

I like this description too! It's so difficult to define, but I relate it to the way I've heard two pianists whom I know play: one doesn't have brilliant technique (by her own admission) and makes frequent mistakes, but has never played me anything without bringing a tear to my eye; the other is brilliant technically, but to my ear that extra something is lacking and I always remain unmoved (whatever the piece), albeit impressed by the technical wizardry. (I'm not saying the technical wizard isn't musical, just illustrating how this struck me quite forcibly!)

Hi Amber

Glad you are feeling more positive. Just wanted to say that it seems to me to be totally normal not to recoginse that you are naturally musical. I think it's very hard to measure yourself in artistic fields. Everyone has different opinions of what being naturally musical is. If others think you have this quality then just accept it. Believe in yourself.

I think that's a good way of putting it, if you get 2 people to play the same piece, they will never play it the same way, but musical people will find meaning within it, whereas non-musical people simply play the notes without understanding them. It's weird isn't it, because you can't always find defining features which one player has but another doesn't, and yet you can tell that one is musical and another isn't.