"The ability to perceive (e.g., as a music aficionado), discriminate (e.g., as a music critic), transform (e.g., as a composer), and express (e.g., as a performer) musical forms. This intelligence includes sensitivity to the rhythm, pitch or melody, and timbre or tone color of a musical piece. One can have a figural or "top-down" understanding of music (global, intuitive), a formal or "bottom-up" understanding (analytic, technical), or both." (Armstrong 3)
DEVELOPMENT - Musical intelligence is the earliest intelligence to develop. Musical prodigies often go through a developmental crisis at some stage.
POTENTIAL - Students should be encouraged to explore becoming composers, musicians, conductors, studio technicians, recording artists, recording engineers, etc.
COMMON STATEMENTS - "I have a good singing voice," "I know when I hear a note that is off-key," "I listen to music a lot," "I play a musical instrument," "I can sing or play a song with some accuracy if I hear it just once," "I often make tapping sounds or sing while I work or study."
Teaching Strategies for Musical Intelligence
Classroom Rhythms, Songs, and Chants; Discographies (bibliographies of musical selections to accompany units or projects), Supermemory Music (helping students commit difficult information to memory by putting it to music), Abstract Musical Concepts (try to convey an image or a word using non-verbal musical selections), Mood Music (while test-taking, studying, or working in groups).Ways to help Musically Intelligent Students Excel:
**Make an easily accessible music lab, with cassettes, earphones, CD's.Classroom Environment Techniques
**Set classroom rules to a song or songs.