Measuring the musical skills of a prodigy: A case study

Abstract

While there is a strong interest in and fascination with music prodigies, very few measurements have been conducted on this rare phenomenon and very little empirical data exist. We document the case of LN, an 11-year-old music prodigy. We tested him on his cognitive skills (non-verbal reasoning and working memory), rhythm and melody discrimination skills, sight reading, improvisation, pitch accuracy, and musical memory. The data were then compared to various controls: a group of music students of the same age group (for cognitive and discrimination skills); three university music students with perfect pitch (for pitch accuracy and musical memory); and a music prodigy of similar age who was tested almost one hundred years ago (for pitch accuracy and musical memory). This is the first study that compares the test results of a contemporary music prodigy with the rare data of a prodigy studied in the early 20th century; the results are remarkably similar. LN's results on cognitive skills confirm the exceptional working memory often associated with prodigies. Most interestingly, musical ability results revealed a phenomenal level of melody discrimination, pitch accuracy and musical memory (skills related to auditory pitch memory), but just average rhythm skills, below average sight reading ability and he was not able to improvise. This suggests the potentially important role of exceptional auditory pitch memory in the development of musical prodigies.