The article provides an overview of modern foreign psychological research devoted to the study of musicality. It describes in details Gold-MSI method (Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index), developed by psychologists at the University of Goldsmith to diagnose the level of musical development. In Russia, this technique is unknown, although it is widely used in foreign studies, it is standardized and has displayed good psychometric properties. The article presents the results of the initial testing of the Russian version of the Gold-MSI technique on a sample of 107 participants. It is shown that the Russian version of the methodology has a satisfactory reliability and validity and can be used for research purposes