What do Michael Jackson, Mozart, and Barbara Streisand all have in common?

They all have

musical intelligence. Learn more about musical intelligence from examples and test your
knowledge with a quiz.

Musical Intelligence
Have you ever been complimented on your ability to play an instrument? Maybe you enjoy
listening to and composing music. Are you good at detecting rhythms, patterns, and pitches in
music? Do you find that you learn concepts much easier when you turn them into lyrics? If so,
you have demonstrated musical intelligence.
Beethoven, Cher, and Stevie Wonder are individuals considered to have high musical
intelligence. In other words, they think in music and rhythms. People with musical intelligence are
able to hear and recognize patterns easily. They are very sensitive to rhythm and sound. For
example, they can easily distinguish the sound of a clarinet from the sound of a flute.
People with musical intelligence think in terms of patterns. For example, they look for patterns in
new information in order to increase learning. They also look for patterns in speech and
language. They remember things by turning them into lyrics or rhymes. People with musical
intelligence have a strong appreciation of music.
People with musical intelligence are known to:
 Seek patterns in their environment
 Be drawn to sound
 Easily memorize phrases and words in foreign languages
 Enjoy dancing and singing
 Use patterning to remember things
 Have good rhythm
 Be skilled at playing several instruments
 Be zealous about music
 Have the ability to easily remember songs
 Have a high level of understanding of musical structure, notes, tone, and rhythm

Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences

According to the multiple intelligences theory proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983, there are
eight different types of intelligence. They are:
1. Visual/spatial intelligence: includes the ability to think in terms of physical space, detect
patterns, and manipulate physical space
2. Bodily/kinesthetic intelligence: includes the ability to use the body to send messages,
communicate needs, and solve problems
3. Naturalistic intelligence: includes the ability to observe patterns in nature and a love of
outdoors
4. Interpersonal intelligence: includes the ability detect the moods, feelings, and motivations
of others
5. Intrapersonal intelligence: includes a high level of self-knowledge, including one's fears,
motivations, goals, and weaknesses
6. Logical/mathematical intelligence: includes the ability to understand complex
mathematical concepts and think logically
7. Linguistic intelligence: includes the ability to understand the functions of words and
effectively use them
8. Musical intelligence: includes the appreciation of music patterns
Your level of intelligence varies across the different types. A high level of intelligence on one
measurement does not guarantee a high level on another. For example, a physicist may be able
to understand several complex scientific principles (logical/mathematical intelligence), but have
no clue how to pick up on social cues (interpersonal intelligence).

How do musicians interpret notes on the bass clef staff? What types of instruments play notes that
are read in the bass clef staff? How is the bass clef staff different from the treble clef staff? Find out
in this lesson!

The Staff
A ruthless killer is on the loose! The killer has for some reason left some musical clues as to his
or her whereabouts. However, the clues are written in bass clef, and the notes on the bass clef
staff are different than those on the treble clef staff. Let's review the notes of the bass clef staff to
strengthen the skills we'll need to read the ransom note!

A killer left a ransom note coded in bass clef notes!

Ancient Music Notation

The clues in the ransom note are written on a staff, which is a graphical system used to write
and read notes. Even the ancient Greek and Byzantine civilizations had systems of notating
music. Most often, this consisted of small letters written near the words of a song. In the
Byzantine Empire, squiggly marks were used to show the melody, and later in the 11th century,
an Italian monk named Guido D'Arezzo perfected a system of lines for the letters to incorporate a
visual reference of each pitch. Over the next few centuries, this developed into the modern staff
we use today.

The Musical Alphabet

The first step in solving the ransom note is knowing which pitches exist in the musical alphabet.
In our current music system, there are seven letters that are used to represent pitches. These
letters are A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The pitches repeat at higher (or lower) intervals and always
retain the same letter.

The Bass Clef Staff

The modern staff is made up of five lines and four spaces, each of which is reserved for a
specific pitch. At the beginning of each staff is a symbol which represents a particular set of
pitches, either low, medium or high. For this lesson, we'll be focusing on the bass clef staff,
which looks like this.

This is the bass clef staff

This ear-shaped symbol specifies a set of low to medium pitches. Music written on this staff is for
instruments that play low and medium pitches, such as basses, bassoons, trombones and the
lower range of the piano. The bass clef staff is easy to use because, starting from the bottom
space, the letters of the lines and spaces follow the musical alphabet.

Spaces on the Staff

Between the five lines there are four spaces. Each space represents a specific pitch. The lower
the space is, the lower the pitch. The higher the space is, the higher the pitch. Starting from the
bottom of the bass clef staff, the spaces are A, C, E and G. So when a note is placed on the
bottom space, the musician knows to play or sing the pitch A. If the note is on a higher space,
you can simply count which space it is, then find the corresponding letter. So if your note is on
the third space, you can simply count over three letters in the sequence. In this case, the note
is E, because E is the third letter in the sequence.

Since the note is in the third space, we know it is E

A great way to remember the names of the spaces is to use a mnemonic device, like All Cows
Eat Grass or All Cars Eat Gas. The best way is to make your own memorable sentence. Let's
look at another example. Which note is this? Just count the spaces, then count the letters in the
sequence.
 What note is this?

If you chose G, you're right!

Space Note Reading Practice

Now that you can read one space note at a time, let's try two short examples. Remember to
use ACEG and always start from the bottom. Which notes are shown in this example?

Which notes are these?

If you said A, C, E, you're right! Okay, one more. Which notes are shown in this example?
 How about these?

If you said C, A, G, E, you're right!