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do you not think some random people have unusual skill, maybe Mozart or Bach for examples?


Sure. Mozart had unusual skill, but it was mainly due to piano practice. (Don't know much about Bach's backstory, so I won't comment on him)

Actually, this is an interesting point. I am also a great piano player. Many people chock this up to innate skill, when they hear me as an adult.

It's not. I just worked insanely hard at piano practice. In fact, I was a well below average piano student. My teachers were often frustrated with me, and other students were much better. However, those students are now much worse than I am. It's because in high school and middle school, I spent hours upon hours at the piano, and now I can play better.

For example, I can play very well by ear, and pump out a piece without much practice now. People think this is due to some innate talent. People ask if I have perfect pitch, was a musical prodigy, etc. I was not a prodigy, and I do not have perfect pitch (in fact I often failed the aural portion of my piano exams). What I do have is an absolutely insane number of hours that I practiced, publicly and privately, to make up for what I perceived as a deficiency.

I do not believe in innate intelligence, at least not in the general case. I believe in exceptional circumstances. For example, Mozart started playing very young and was in a very musical family. In retrospect, had my parents been more musical, I think I would have been 'better' at the piano early on, because several discoveries about music I made later on would have been inculcated in me earlier.

So in general, I reject the idea of 'innate' ability. Those that have 'innate' ability often only appear to have it. In reality, they worked insanely hard.




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