PDA

View Full Version : How Musical Are You? - BBC Radio 3 Musicality Test & Survey



The Grand Wazoo
10-01-2011, 08:03
I've just heard an article on Radio 4's Today programme about this & I thought some folks might find it interesting.
I'll be having a go at it later!

From: https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/articles/musicality/

BBC - Lab UK - About the 'How musical are you?' test

This groundbreaking study aims to reveal the musical abilities of the nation and help redefine what it means to be musical. The research team from Goldsmiths, University of London explains.

By answering some simple questions about your relationship with music, and taking some fun musical tests, you’ll be helping us build up a picture of Britain’s musicality, in all its many and varied forms.

I can’t be musical - I don’t play a musical instrument!
Most people think that musicality is about being able to play a musical instrument, but this is just one aspect of being musical.
The ability we have to make sense of music is present from early life in almost everyone and is gained simply by being exposed to music in our environment. There are also individual differences in both biology and experience that may shape the musical brain in various ways.
Some people are avid music listeners, and the process of immersing themselves in music may make them especially sensitive to certain aspects of music. People who have never set foot inside a music lesson might, nevertheless, have a good musical ‘ear’ or be musically creative without ever realising it!

Why do scientists need to know about this?
Understanding the musical brain is one of the major scientific challenges of the 21st century. Scientists may already know more than ever before about how music can shape the brain, but there is still much to discover.
A lot of what we know about music comes from comparisons of musicians and non-musicians. It has become increasingly clear that a more sophisticated view of musicality - one which takes into account musical listening and engagement - will yield even greater insights.
For example, a recent study showed that differences in verbal memory (memory of words and language) between musicians and non-musicians were more readily explained once musical listening and engagement were examined.
By taking into account the many and varied aspects of musicality, we can vastly increase our potential to learn about the musical brain.

How does the test work? What will I learn?
The test asks a number of questions, including how engaged you are with music, if you consider it an important part of your identity and whether you rely on it to change your moods and emotions.
It also includes some musical tests, so you can see how good you are at grouping together different musical styles, memorising tunes and recognising the beat in a piece of music.
Don’t worry, even those with no musical training can take these tests and do well.
At the end of ‘How musical are you?’ you will receive an individual musical profile, with scores on five different dimensions of musicality, plus your scores for the musical tests.
By relating your survey responses to your performance on the musical tests, we’ll find out which aspects of musicality are affected by musical engagement and which require formal musical training.
So tune in and try your hand – you might find you’re more musical than you think!
The ‘How musical are you?’ test was designed by Dr Daniel Müllensiefen, Dr Bruno Gingras, and Dr Lauren Stewart from the Music, Mind and Brain Research Group, Goldsmiths, University of London.





To do the test take a look at the Radio 3 web pages 'How Musical Are You?' (https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/musicality/)









.

keiths
10-01-2011, 14:45
67% :(

Did best on the "Melody memory" test where I only got one wrong.

I found it quite tricky :doh:

Stratmangler
10-01-2011, 16:33
Bloody thing came up with a server error at the end of my test - I'm not going through all that lot again:doh:

colinB
10-01-2011, 17:04
Ive been conned. The results flashed up for 1 second and then went to the homepage. All i caught was emotional attachment of music " high"

MartinT
10-01-2011, 19:24
I got:
Enthusiasm 98%
Perception 99%
Curiosity 90%
Emotional 89%
Creativity 40% (not surprising as I'm not a musician)
I couldn't see an overall score for the tests.

(edit: I got two wrong in the melody memory)

MartinT
10-01-2011, 19:31
By the way, chaps, if you missed your results just login to the test again and it will remember that you've done them and just show you the results.

colinB
10-01-2011, 22:01
Ah thanks martin. Did ok in the memory test, but terrible in the rhythm test!

Stratmangler
10-01-2011, 22:48
Well I had a check on my results and had the following.....

Enthusiasm for music 92%
Musical Perception 99%
Emotional Connection 57%
Social Creativity 83%
Musical Curiousity 71%

Match the beat 14 out of 18 correct
Tap to the beat 8 out of 9 high, 1 medium
Melody Memory 100%

Make of that what you will - I'm amused by the musical curiousity thing, as I "get" a lot of FZs more out there moments, and have started to attempt to get to grips with some of Captain Beefheart's more inaccessable material (belatedly, I must admit).

So much for tests, eh ?

jonners
10-01-2011, 23:13
Well I also scored 99% on Musical Perception but my results on matching and tapping the beat, and melody memory were significantly lower than yours, Chris. Strange .... So much for tests, as you said.

The Grand Wazoo
11-01-2011, 00:50
Well, I've only just got round to doing this - very pleased to see that I have a dismal 12% potential for social creativity!!!!!!

Enthusiasm for music 98%
Musical Perception 98%
Emotional Connection 89%
Social Creativity 12%
Musical Curiosity 90%

Group the music 12 out of 16 correct
Match the Beat 12 out of 18
Tap to the beat 2 low, 2 medium, 5 high
Melody Memory 9/12 correct

JackGold
13-01-2011, 12:12
Hello! I got:
Enthusiasm 95%
Perception 91%
Curiosity 93%
Emotional 96%
Creativity 69%

DavidF
13-01-2011, 12:56
FWIW I got an overall of about 25%.

I wasn't very happy about it as I'm not that bad.

That sort of test result can be very destructive where some has some enthusiasm, if not quite the excellent abilty of others.

What were they trying to achieve?