Musicality Profile of Hong Kong Children

Abstract

Musicality is a quality possessed by someone often depicted with a sensitivity to, knowledge of, or talent for music. One prevalent contention related to musicality is the issue of nature versus nurture. Like most other forms of human competence, musicality may be viewed as a combined product of innate potential developed and nurtured through a learning process. Hence, musicality may be seen as a coalition of music aptitude and music achievement. Musical aptitude tests were conducted on 3490 Hong Kong students. Music achievement data were subsequently obtained from 2356 subjects. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was performed to investigate the effects of age and gender on both Music Aptitude and Music Achievement scores. The present investigation provided quantitative data as evidence for a framework to view diversity in student aptitude and achievement in light of their independent learning capabilities and musical potentials.