The Musical Intelligence

Introduction: What is intelligence? (Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind, 1983)

The theory of multiple intelligences developed by Howard Gardner has significantly influenced education in the last few decades. Gardner refers to the intelligences as ways of knowing and understanding yourself and the world around you. In the introductory section of Frames of Mind, his first popular book on the subject, Gardner defines intelligence as "the ability to solve problems, or to create products, that are valued within one or more cultural settings" (1983). He explains that he was seeking to undermine the common notion of intelligences as a general capacity or potential which every human being possessed to a greater or lesser extent. He questioned the assumption that you could measure intelligence with standardized verbal instruments, such as the short answer, paper and pencil IQ test. He asks his readers to "perform two thought experiments."

• Imagine you have never heard of the concept of intelligence as a single property of the human mind; or that an instrument called the intelligence test exists.
• "Cast your mind widely about the world and think of all the roles or "end states" - vocational and avocational - that have been prized by cultures during various eras (hunters, fishermen, farmers, shamans, religious leaders, psychiatrists, military leaders, civil leaders, athletes, artists, musician, poets, parents, and scientists)"

In Gardner's early research he discussed seven intelligences. Gardner later introduced an eighth intelligence: the naturalist intelligence.

Howard Gardner - http://www.pz.harvard.edu/PIs/HG.htm