Please take this quiz to find out what kind of musician you are.
Only one answer can be given for each question.
You were given sheet music on paper. Your actions:
- Looked closely at each note.
- Found someone playing these notes and listened with pleasure.
- Grabbed the first instrument you found and tried to play something.
- Heard someone playing these notes and created a “picture” for yourself.
You are listening to music. Your actions:
- Found the notes to understand the structure.
- Learned it on an instrument.
- Wouldn’t do anything, just listen.
- Started imagining different stories.
You saw a music video. What do you notice first?
- The lyrics.
- The instruments (if any).
- The sound.
- The video.
You read the lyrics. You:
- Understood the meaning
- Tried singing it your own way
- Wouldn’t have understood anything from what was written
- Immediately imagined the music video
You watched a concert. You:
- Remembered nothing at all
- Remembered the well-tuned, buzzing guitars
- The excellently constructed lighting and special effects
- The musicians’ clothing, mannerisms, or movements
You have a record that you recently purchased. You:
- Find the sheet music before listening
- Start listening immediately
- Carefully examine the image on the record
- Imagine what it might contain even before listening
What would you buy?
- A book on music theory
- An audio file of your favorite band
- A CD
- A recording of the concert
You listen to someone playing an instrument in front of you. You:
- Listen, not hear
- Pay attention to timbre, pitch, etc.
- Start creating images before your eyes
- Lose yourself in daydreams
You’re looking at paintings. A thought pops into your head:
- Paintings are paintings, what do people see in them?
- I wonder what kind of music could be used as the background for this masterpiece?
- Why did the artist use this particular color and not another, what’s the connection?
- Now everything will come to life and emerge from the painting.
You’re reading a book. You:
- Pay attention to the words and their meaning
- Imagine how a narrator would read this text
- Notice the font style, italics…
- Read as if you were watching a film
Each answer is worth one point.
The calculation is simple. You need to score the most points in one of the categories.
If you answered the question with a 1 most often, then you are a musician-scientist.
If you answered 2 to this question most often, then you are an auditory musician.
If you answered the question most often with answer 3, then you are a musician-artist.
If you answered 4 to this question most often, then you are a dreamer musician.
Let’s count!
- Musician-Scientist
From a scientific perspective, music is made up of notes. There are even entire disciplines dedicated to the analysis of musical material. So-called theorists are strong in understanding structure. For these people, seeing notes is very important. It is difficult for them to understand the structure of a song by ear alone. They require immersion in the world of notes. - Auditory musician
From a physical perspective, music is sounds. You can memorize melodies or even entire compositions. Such people can play a track over and over in their head. You have a very well-developed ear for music. Some may even have phenomenal hearing. - The Musician-Artist
From a creative perspective, music is colors. The most famous musician-artist is, of course, Jimi Hendrix. In his revelations, he said that sounds in his brain take on colors, intervals – inflorescences, and chords – rainbows. For him, all music was like paint on an artist’s canvas. Such people can compose music by depicting not notes, but symbols (numbers, colors). They assign a specific sound to each color. Very often, musicians with this mindset can “play” the paintings of great artists. If this is you, I congratulate you – you are truly unique. Musicians-artists are very few. - The Musician-Dreamer
In an abstract sense, music isn’t composed; it simply exists, lives within each of us, and all that’s required is to transfer it from our heads to the page. You possess a mindset capable of creating stories with characters. You can, while listening to music, imagine fictional characters. You don’t understand notes or sounds. Visuals are more important to you. Often, such musicians become poets and storytellers or write songs that tell stories. Is that you? Cool, me too. I can think of a dozen more friends with similar inclinations.
It’s crucial to consider the results of these types of tests when working together in a musical group.
You can’t be an expert in everything. To do this, select musicians who would cover your weak points.
