What makes a musical expert? - IELTS Reading with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation

Luyện tập đề IELTS Reading Practice với passage What makes a musical expert? được lấy từ cuốn sách Real Test 2026 - Q1 - Test 1 - Passage 3 với trải nghiệm thi IELTS trên máy và giải thích đáp án chi tiết bằng Linearthinking, kèm list từ vựng IELTS cần học trong bài đọc.

Làm Bài Xem giải thích

What makes a musical expert? - IELTS Reading with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation

📖 Bài đọc (reading passage)

What makes a musical expert?
How does someone become expert in music? And is it really possible to have a ‘talent’ for music?
Does that class of people acknowledged to be musical experts just have more of the same basic skills we are all endowed with, or do they have a set of abilities - or neural structures - that are totally different from those of the rest of us? Are high levels of musical achievement simply the result of training and practice, or are they based on innate brain structure - what we refer to as ‘talent’? Talent can be defined as something that originates in genetic structures and that is identifiable by trained people who can recognize its existence before a person has achieved exceptional levels of performance. The emphasis on early identification means that to investigate it, we study the development of skills in children.

It is evident that some children acquire skills more rapidly than others: the age of onset for walking and talking varies widely, even between children in the same household. There may be genetic factors at work, but these are closely linked with other factors - with a presumably environmental component - such as motivation and family dynamics. Similar factors can influence musical development and can mask the contribution of genetics to musical ability.

Brain studies, so far, haven’t been of much use in sorting out the issues. Gottfried Schlaug at Harvard collected brain scans of individuals with absolute pitch* (AP) and showed that a region in the brain called the planum temporale is larger in these people than in others. This suggests that the planum is involved in AP, but it’s not clear if it starts out larger in people who eventually acquire AP, or if the acquisition of AP makes the planum increase in size.

Results of research into the areas of the brain involved in skilled motor movement are more conclusive. Studies of violin players have shown that the region of the brain responsible for controlling the movement of the left hand (the hand that requires greater precision in violin playing) increases in size as a result of practice. We do not know yet if the propensity for increase pre-exists in some people, not others.

The evidence against talent comes from research on how much training the experts do. Like experts in mathematics, chess, or sports, experts in music require lengthy periods of instruction and practice. In several studies, the very best music students were found to have practiced more than twice as much as the others. In another study, students were secretly divided into two groups based on teachers’ perceptions of their talent. Several years later, it was found that the students who achieved the highest performance ratings had practiced the most, irrespective of which talent group they had been assigned to, suggesting that practice does not merely correlate with achievement, but causes it.

Anders Ericsson, at Florida State University, approaches the topic of musical expertise as a general problem in cognitive psychology. He takes as a starting point the assumption that there are certain issues involved in becoming an expert at anything; that we can learn about musical expertise by studying expert chess players, athletes, artists, mathematicians, as well as the musicians themselves. The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert - in anything. In study after study, of composers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players and master criminals, this number comes up again and again. Someone would do this amount of practice if they practiced, for example, roughly 20 hours a week for ten years. Of course, this does not address why some people do not seem to get anywhere when they practice, and why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others. But no-one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.

The ten-thousand-hour theory is consistent with what we know about how the brain learns. Learning requires the assimilation and consolidation of information in neural tissue. The more experiences we have with something, the stronger the memory/learning trace for that experience becomes. Although people differ in how long it takes them to consolidate information neutrally, it remains true that increased practice leads to a greater number of neural traces, which create stronger memory representation.
The classic rebuttal to this theory goes something like this: ‘What about Mozart? I hear that he composed his first symphony at the age of four!’ First, there is a factual error here: Mozart did not write it until he was eight. Still, this is unusual, to say the least. However, this early work received little acclaim and was not performed very often. In fact, the only reason we know about it is because the child who wrote it grew up to become Mozart. And Mozart had an expert teacher in his father, who was renowned as a teacher of musicians all over Europe. We do not know how much Mozart practiced, but if he started at age two and worked thirty-two hours a week (quite possible, given that his father was a stern taskmaster) he would have made his ten thousand hours by the time he composed his first symphony. This does not mean that there are no genetic factors involved in Mozart’s greatness, but that inborn traits may not be the only cause.

------------------------------
individuals with absolute pitch*: people who can identify or sing any musical note correctly without help

❓ Câu hỏi (questions)

In the first paragraph, the writer suggests that a musician who is talented is someone

who is aware of being set apart from other people

whose brain structure is unlike that of other people.

who can perform extremely well in early childhood.

whose essential skills are more varied than those of ordinary people.

According to the writer, what is unclear about the findings of Gottfried Schlaug?

which part of the brain is linked to a particular musical skill.

which type of musical skill leads to the greatest change in the brain.

whether a feature of the brain is a cause or an effect of a musical skill.

whether the acquisition of a musical skill is easier for some people than others.

According to the writer, what has been established by studies of violin players?

Changes may occur in the brain following violin practice.

Left-handed violinists have a different brain structure from other people.

A violinist’s hand size is not due to practice but to genetic factors.

Violinists are born with brains that have a particular structure.

According to the writer, findings on the amount of practices done by expert musicians suggest that

talent may have little to do with expertise.

practice may actually prevent the development of talent.

talent may not be recognised by teachers.

expertise may be related to quality of instruction.

Anders Ericsson’s work with cognitive psychology has influenced other researchers.

Different areas of expertise seem to have one specific thing in common.

In order to be useful, practice must be carried out regularly every day.

Anyone who practices for long enough can reach the level of a world-class expert.

Occasionally, someone can become an expert at global level with fewer than 10,000 hours of practice

Existing knowledge of learning and cognitive skills supports the importance of practice.

Mozart

The case of Mozart could be quoted as evidence against the 10,000-hour practice theory. However, the writer points out that the young Mozart received a lot of﻿ from his father, and that the symphony he wrote at the age of﻿ was not﻿ and may be of only academic interest. The case, therefore, supports the view that expertise is not solely the result of﻿ characteristics.

popular

artistic

completed

eight

tuition

encouragement

inherited

four

practice

two

🔥 Answer key (đáp án và giải thích)

Giải thích chi tiết

☺️ Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài Multiple Choice

Step 01: Read the question to understand

Simplified: In the first paragraph , a musician who is talented is someone
Main idea: Câu hỏi yêu cầu xác định quan điểm của tác giả về đặc điểm của một nhạc sĩ tài năng – người như thế nào được xem là có năng khiếu âm nhạc.

-------

Step 02: Locate relevant information

🔍 Từ khóa: first paragraph; musician; talented

→ Dựa vào các từ khoá trên → Tìm được trích dẫn ở đoạn 1

-------

Step 03: Read relevant information to understand

📌 Trích dẫn: “Talent can be defined as something that originates in genetic structures and that is identifiable by trained people who can recognize its existence before a person has achieved exceptional levels of performance. The emphasis on early identification means that to investigate it, we study the development of skills in children.” (Đoạn 1)

Simplified:

1 Talent can be defined as something originating in genetic structures by trained people who can recognize it before a person's performance is exceptional

2 To investigate it , we study the development of skills in children

Main idea: Tài năng là đặc điểm bẩm sinh (nguồn gốc di truyền) → được người có chuyên môn nhận ra sớm, trước khi cá nhân đạt được trình độ biểu diễn xuất sắc.

-------

Step 04: Compare meaning with meaning

❌ A. who is aware of being set apart from other people:

--> Sai vì bài nói về người khác nhận ra tài năng, không phải bản thân người đó tự ý thức được điều đó → "identifiable by trained people"

❌ B. whose brain structure is unlike that of other people:

--> Sai vì bài nói “genetic structures”, không nói cụ thể về “brain structure” → "originates in genetic structures"

✅ C. who can perform extremely well in early childhood:

--> Đúng vì “identifiable … before a person has achieved exceptional levels of performance” → có thể được nhận ra sớm → biểu hiện năng lực vượt trội từ nhỏ.

❌ D. whose essential skills are more varied than those of ordinary people:

--> Sai vì bài không nói đến sự đa dạng kỹ năng, chỉ nói về nguồn gốc bẩm sinh và khả năng được nhận biết sớm → "originates in genetic structures"

=> ✅ Đáp án đúng: C

Xem full giải thích

IELTS Reading Practice

Gồm làm đề, xem giải thích chi tiết, học từ vựng của những bài thi IELTS Reading phổ biến nhất trên thị trường

What makes a musical expert? - IELTS Reading with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation

📖 Bài đọc (reading passage)

❓ Câu hỏi (questions)

🔥 Answer key (đáp án và giải thích)

Giải thích chi tiết

IELTS Reading Practice

Bài viết liên quan

The thylacine - IELTS Reading with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation

Does education fuel economic growth? - IELTS Reading with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation

Bats to the rescue - IELTS Reading with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation

The Dead Sea scrolls - IELTS Reading with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation

A second attempt at domesticating the tomato - IELTS Reading with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation

📖 Bài đọc (reading passage)

🔥 Answer key (đáp án và giải thích)

Giải thích chi tiết