What knowledge and abilities make a top musician? - My niece's questionnaire

A few days ago my niece sent me a questionnaire to fill out. Her pastime is maybe to create and send to us, family members and friends surveys haha? Well, she has a lot of passion for the subjects she is studying, so I understand her efforts. She is a student at two different Universities, arts and science are where she excels.

So, for the purpose of a research paper on the subject of Psychology in the Faculty of Music Arts, she with her musicology student colleagues made this little questionnaire. It says that it is adapted to both people who have and people who do not have a musical education. But the questions were not that easy... or it was just me who was overthinking some of the questions.

The questionnaire was about experiencing the relevance of musical knowledge and abilities in the valorization of musicians. The title revealed everything:

What knowledge and abilities make a top musician?

For me, it is a whole topic, as music is my profession. Maybe I am not a top musician, so it means that I have been lacking some of the knowledge and abilities to become a top one? Maybe. Thinking about that, I would probably add some more questions, but it is her (their) survey so I guess it's ok. Additionally, the questionnaire is also meant for people who are not musicians, to see how they think and what people, in general, think is more relevant - knowledge or talent for becoming a musician.

She needs it for tomorrow (Friday) but she doesn't have a version in English that I could link here. It would be so good if Hivers could also participate in the survey. Even without the real questionnaire form that I could provide you, I will pass some of her questions here, if someone would like to discuss the topic! Her questions also served as a trigger to think about my path and what was more relevant in my case.

From the options listed, who are the musicians, in your opinion?

We could choose various options, or all if you wanted from the following list: Street musician, DJ, popular singers, band members, someone who performs music, someone who studies music/musicologist, ethnomusicologist, music theorist, someone who makes music/composer, music pedagogue, music producer or others. I selected almost everything 🤣

What, in your opinion, is more important - work or talent?

Here we could choose between work, talent or state that both are equally important. For me, it's an easy question. Both are important, as even if you have talent but you don't really work on it, it will stay unused. You can't develop good skills without practice and hard work.

Is talent something that is innate or something that can be developed over time?

I suppose that we can already have different opinions on this one. While some people state: "Wow, you are such a great talent. You are born with it.", they forget that it is not all. Yes, you have to have some talent, but I also think that it can be developed (if even a little bit of that innate talent exists). There are cases in which you have a predisposition for something but you don't even know about that, it is not written on your forehead. If you somehow get triggered to music, or other arts, and start to work on it, you will certainly develop it. Life is full of surprises, and sometimes we become aware of our predispositions at some advanced age. My students who started to play the piano as adults are some examples.

The most interesting part came when we were asked to scale the knowledge and skills (first, you had to select for each one, is it knowledge or skill)

Communication. Is it completely relevant for becoming a top musician (5), very relevant (4), neither relevant nor not relevant (3), somewhat relevant (2) or not relevant at all (1)? If I remember well, I answered that neither relevant nor not relevant. I know some musicians that are not very good in socialization and communication with others, but still, they have been achieving good results in their studies.

For the Expressiveness I answered with 5, it is completely relevant in my opinion. You can't perform if you don't have expressiveness. You can, but it will be flat and boring maybe. Now, I think it is maybe not relevant if I think that a music theorist is also a musician (or not?) but it doesn't need this ability. Maybe I answered wrong hahaha.

The same scale from 5 to 1 (from very relevant to not relevant at all) could be used for pedagogical work, playing or singing technique, improvisation, the sense of rhythm, good hearing, knowledge of theoretical musical subjects, knowledge of the historical and aesthetic context, sight reading, adapting the music according to the type of audience.

These are interesting questions, and I was happy to be able to scale them in the survey according to my experience. I don't know though how would a person who is not a musician answer these ones. I think it is directly connected to our experience.

But I really liked the next questions too, which I think everyone can try to give an answer:

To what extent do external factors influence the formation of knowledge and skills of musicians?

I am completely sure that the environment in which a musician has been born and grows up plays an important role, as well as the support from the family. The economic status is also important, but not that much. You can become a musician even if you don't have a Stradivarius violin or can't pay the best teachers, however, these things also influence the development of a musician. As the same happens in some very expensive sports (for example tennis players or F1 drivers).

The last question dealt with internal factors.

To what extent do internal factors influence the formation of knowledge and skills of musicians?

Many things depend on our mental state and emotional strength. As a musician, I know how important conscientiousness and perseverance, sensitivity, and openness to new experiences or cooperativeness are. We can't stick our heads into the sand (thanks for the trigger for this phrase from this post) and wait to become good musicians depending on the external factors. If you don't fight for yourself and don't work really hard, it is difficult to excel in any profession, and in music too.

My path was a mixture of everything, I did have some talent and I recognized it while playing with the piano we had at home when I was small. Later a lot of work, dedication, and external and internal factors played the game to be able to achieve my dream.

If you are a musician or have friends or family members that are, you can probably share many things about this path, to becoming a top musician. And becoming is just one of the phases. Living as a musician is a story in itself, but if you are willing (and I do hope there will be some discussions here in the comment section) please, leave us your experience/ opinion.

Or...

Make a separate post on this topic, using these or similar questions, giving your personal experience and how you became a top musician. Or just a musician. How your friends/family members became musicians and what were the knowledge and skills that were relevant in achieving their goals?
Free style form is also very welcome, why to stick just to questions :))
Have fun 😊