Sir Paul McCartney has never learned to read music The BBC is teaming up with researchers at Goldsmiths College in London to find out whether personality or practise creates great musicians.
The How Musical Are You? test is being launched to tie in with Radio 3’s celebration of the music of Mozart.
The aim is to establish the most basic musical skills shared by everyone and those achieved through years of training and practise.
The test can be accessed through the Radio 3 website.
Questionnaires and musical tests will be used to evaluate musical abilities such as picking out beats and memorising tunes.
Radio 3 controller Roger Wright said is presents “a chance for everyone who enjoys music of whatever genre to find out more about their own capacity for engaging with music.”
Many successful musicians, including The Beatles’ Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon, claim never to have learned to read sheet music.
The team from Goldsmiths believe that people’s listening habits and their emotional connection with music could predict whether or not they have untapped musical ability.
Music psychologist Daniel Mullensiefen said: “We’re interested in finding out about the many different ways people can be musical, even without setting foot inside a music school.”
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