In the argument section of his book, David Shenk uses Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as an example of how a known child prodigy only resulted from an "extroidinary upbringing" (61). His father, Leopold Mozart was an Austrian musician, composer, and teacher who was very successful throughout his life and focused most of his attention on Mozart when he was born. Shenk also mentions that Mozart had a "fast-devloping ear [and] deep curiosity" (63) for music. Many people believe that Mozart inherited those exceptional traits of
composing and playing music because of his ablitity to compose and play music at a very young age.
If Mozart's father hadn't given him that much attention, do you think he would've become a prodigy? Why or why not? We know that children inherit some traits from their mother, and some from their father according to a scientist named Mendel. Could this have had any influence of Mozart's extroidinary abilities? Do you think as time goes on, evolution makes it possible for human beings to do things that couldn't be done in the past?
(Anisha Ghosh nishx6@aim.com)
I do not think that Mozart would have been a prodigy if his father didn't give Mozart attention about music. Prodigies need an environmental factor and a genetic factor. Although Mozart received his genetically music talented portion, he needs the environment that supports his love and attention for music. That is why ever since he was young, his father discovered his love for music and having a wonderful music background, his father was able to become the environment in order to further develop his skillfulness in music. With just the genetics of talent in music, one would become a good musician, but would be less likely to become a prodigy in music.
ReplyDeleteThe traits from Mozart's mother and father definitely affected Mozart's extraordinary ability in music, especially from his dad, because his dad was "an intensely ambitious Austrian musician, composer, and teacher who had gained wide acclaim with publican of the instruction book" (Shenk 61). Because his dad had the genes of being talented in music, and since "each character, an organism inherits two alleles, one from each parent," (Campbell 265) it makes sense the most that the genes have influenced Mozart and his extraordinary abilities.
As the time goes on, evolution will make things things possible for human beings to do things that couldn't be done in the past. However, I think this is yet to come until humans go through evolution of getting rid of parts of body we do not need. For example, wisdom teeth are not necessary for many human beings, so a lot of people pull them out. Some people do not grow their wisdom teeth out due to the biological theme of evolution and some dietary and dental hygiene issues (http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/parts/no-wisdom-teeth1.htm). Therefore, although it may take a while, evolution will make human beings to do things that couldn't be done in the past.
-Sally Park (sypark1029@gmail.com)
Wolfgang Mozart is considered to be one of the most talented and skilled musical minds in history on par with geniuses like Beethoven. Yet, the extreme abilities that both of these composers possess most likely did not spring solely from genetics. If Mozart had been adopted into a different family at birth, it is likely that he may have shown interest for music, yet it would be very unlikely that he would have become the prodigy he was. The first important environmental influence on Mozart was his sister, Nannerl who inspired him with her example. As Shenk stated on page 52 that “he was the classic younger sibling soaking up his big sister’s singular passion”. This seemingly miraculous success was also due to his father’s strong desire to mentor his son. A Shenk stated on page 53, “(his father) was soon instructing him with an intensity that far eclipsed his efforts with Nannerl. Not only did he openly give preferred attention to Wolfgang over his daughter, he shrugged off other duties in order to build a more promising career for his son”. This level of intensity in instruction left Mozart in the perfect place to become the genius he was. Even if a child with different genetics with non-musical parents was exposed to this environment for years, the child would likely end up with the same set of skills. While, it is also quite likely that Mozart did inherit some of his fathers genetics, as Sally Park stated in her response above, I believe that this case was much more the result of environment rather than genetics.
ReplyDeleteRobin McKie states in a review of “The Genius In All Of Us” in The Observer that he agrees with Shenk that “Genes are constantly activated and deactivated by environmental stimuli: nutrition, hormones, nerve impulses and other genes. There is no golden genetic windfall bestowed at birth, but constant interaction between the outside world and our DNA”. Then on page 108, Shenk describes the environment that would be most conducive to skill development. He says that a huge role is played by “crucial external ingredients” such as “propitious attitude and habits”, “access to the best trainers”, and “leisure time to pursue training”. While these statements were focused on athletes, it applies well to this concept as well. Wolfgang grew up in an environment that encouraged deep study and endless work. His father was in effect the “best trainer” that Wolfgang could get as he was skilled himself and extremely devoted to Wolfgang and his success. Lastly, Wolfgang’s life as a child was filled with leisure time to pursue training because it was the only thing he ever did.
As for the last question in the prompt, evolution certainly makes it possible for human beings to do things that couldn’t be done in the past. The Campbell textbook defines evolution as “descent with modification”. To apply the theme of natural selection, an organism with a “modification” would only survive if that mutation somehow helped him/her survive. Now, these modifications may be more mental than physical. Therefore we have shown that not only can we evolve through gene mutation, but by choice and perseverance. Kenyan runners continue to break world records in running. Is that as a result of superior genetics or environment is still unsure; yet however they developed their extraordinary abilities, it has certainly helped them evolve past what the human race has previously achieved.
(Liz Gorelick lizgorelick@yahoo.com)