Good musical abilities are typically considered to be a consequence of music
training, such that they are studied in samples of formally trained individuals.
Here, we asked what predicts musical abilities in the absence of music training.
Participants with no formal music training (N= 190) completed
the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index, measures of personality and
cognitive ability, and the Musical Ear Test (MET). The MET is an objective test
of musical abilities that provides a Total score and separate scores for its two
subtests (Melody and Rhythm), which require listeners to determine whether
standard and comparison auditory sequences are identical. MET scores had no
associations with personality traits. They correlated positively, however, with
informal musical experience and cognitive abilities. Informal musical experience
was a better predictor of Melody than of Rhythm scores. Some participants (12%)
had Total scores higher than the mean from a sample of musically trained
individuals (⩾6 years of formal training), tested previously by Correia et al.
Untrained participants with particularly good musical abilities (top 25%,n= 51) scored higher than trained participants on the
Rhythm subtest and similarly on the Melody subtest. High-ability untrained
participants were also similar to trained ones in cognitive ability, but lower
in the personality trait openness-to-experience. These results imply that formal
music training is not required to achieve musician-like performance on tests of
musical and cognitive abilities. They also suggest that informal music practice
and music-related predispositions should be considered in studies of musical
expertise.