Sloboda John A, Wise Karen J, Peretz Isabelle
School of Psychology, Keele University, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Dec;1060:255-61. doi: 10.1196/annals.1360.018.
Many people reach adulthood without acquiring significant music performance skills (singing or instrumental playing). A substantial proportion of these adults consider that this has come about because they are "not musical." Some of these people may be "true" congenital amusics, characterized by specific and substantial anomalies in the processing of musical pitch and rhythm sequences, while at the same time displaying normal processing of speech and language. It is likely, however, that many adults who believe that they are unmusical are neurologically normal. We could call these adults "false" amusics. Acquisition of musical competence has multiple personal, social, and environmental precursors. Deficiencies in these areas may lead to lack of musical achievement, despite the fact that an individual possesses the necessary underlying capacities. Adults may therefore self-define as "unmusical" or "tone-deaf" for reasons unconnected to any underlying anomaly. This paper reports on two linked research studies. The first is an interview study with adults defining themselves as tone-deaf or unmusical. The interview schedule was designed to discover what criteria are being used in their self-definitions. Preliminary results suggest that performance criteria (e.g., judging oneself as unable to sing) play a major role, even for people who claim and demonstrate no perceptual deficits. The second study reports progress on the development of new subtests for a revised version of the Montreal Battery for the Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA, Peretz et al., 2003). This currently contains six tests that allow for the assessment of melodic perception: contour, intervals, scale, rhythm, meter, and recognition memory. The MBEA does not assess two capacities that are generally accepted as central to normal music cognition: harmony and emotion. The development and norming of the emotion subtest will be described. When completed, the MBEA(R) will form a robust screening device for use with the general population, whose purpose is to discriminate "true" from "false" amusics. Such discrimination is essential to achieve a better understanding of the variety of causes of low musical achievement.
许多人成年后都没有掌握重要的音乐表演技能（唱歌或演奏乐器）。这些成年人中有很大一部分认为，这是因为他们“没有音乐天赋”。其中一些人可能是“真正的”先天性失乐感者，其特征是在处理音高和节奏序列时存在特定且明显的异常，而同时在言语和语言处理方面表现正常。然而，很可能许多认为自己没有音乐天赋的成年人在神经学上是正常的。我们可以把这些成年人称为“假的”失乐感者。音乐能力的获得有多种个人、社会和环境方面的先决条件。这些方面的不足可能导致音乐成就的缺失，尽管个人具备必要的潜在能力。因此，成年人可能会因为与任何潜在异常无关的原因而自我定义为“没有音乐天赋”或“五音不全”。本文报告了两项相关的研究。第一项是对自我定义为五音不全或没有音乐天赋的成年人进行的访谈研究。访谈提纲旨在发现他们自我定义所依据的标准。初步结果表明，表现标准（例如，判断自己不会唱歌）起主要作用，即使对于那些声称并证明没有感知缺陷的人也是如此。第二项研究报告了为修订版蒙特利尔失乐感评估量表（MBEA，佩雷茨等人，2003年）开发新子测试的进展情况。该量表目前包含六项测试，可用于评估旋律感知：轮廓、音程、音阶、节奏、节拍和识别记忆。MBEA没有评估通常被认为是正常音乐认知核心的两种能力：和声与情感。将描述情感子测试的开发和标准化过程。完成后，修订版MBEA将形成一种强大的筛查工具，用于普通人群，其目的是区分“真正的”和“假的”失乐感者。这种区分对于更好地理解音乐成就低下的各种原因至关重要。
