The Tinturin
 Music Studio

I think the concept of ‘musical talent,’ or ‘natural talent’ is over-rated. This is not to say that innate musical gifts do not exist.  For some children, certainly they do, and this is an important factor in the development of musical talent.  But I believe that almost any child with a moderate level of intelligence, if exposed to high-quality music at a young age, can develop a love of music that will create the desire to participate in music. This gives him the motivation to work diligently and makes it fun to learn. And with the right training, and consistent effort (which requires the positive support and involvement of the parents), he will progress very quickly and appear to be a great talent.

For children up to the age of 10, their success (provided they have a desire to learn and a skilled and experienced teacher) depends almost entirely on the motivation and dedication of the parent.

Most children can develop the physical skills, coordination, and strength to play an instrument fairly quickly. But the mental acuity usually develops slower. So the great challenge is to teach them how to think: how to recognize patterns, understand concepts, learn to read music, and learn to listen. It means learning mental discipline. Learning to read music fluently is a basic and important skill. After all, music is a language, and the well-trained musician must be literate. But at the same time, the ear must be developed. From that, all musical talent is derived.
All the studies have shown that studying music, and especially piano or keyboard at a young age, increases cognitive skills, improves math, science, and SAT scores, and helps develop social skills, etc. But from the music professor’s perspective, they come up short. Beyond the obvious and proven benefits, we believe that the greatest benefit to studying music is to learn and appreciate music for its own sake. It’s the enjoyment of music, and the joy of making music that is so enriching.

For music to survive in a culture, we must continue to develop audiences as well as performers, and it is today's students that create tomorrow's audiences.

Although it’s always wonderful to produce talented protégées, my real goal as a teacher is to impart the love of music to my students and to help them experience the satisfaction of achievement in an art and skill.