Intelligence 31 (2003) 509 – 518

An extraordinary memory: The case study of

a musical prodigy
Joanne Ruthsatza,*, Douglas K. Dettermanb
a
Department of Psychology, Notre Dame College, South Euclid, OH, 44121, USA
b
Case Western Reserve University, USA

Received 1 November 2001; accepted 16 March 2003

Abstract

Prodigies are children under 10 years of age who perform culturally relevant tasks at a level that is
rare even among highly trained professionals. While there is no lack of fascination or speculation
about the origins and underpinnings of musical prodigies, little work and less actual data exist to offer
much in the way of an explanation of this rare phenomenon. The present study investigated a 6-year-
old musical prodigy. A new summation approach was used as a framework to investigate the cognitive,
musical, and practice elements that are involved in becoming an exceptional performer. The results
support that general intelligence and domain-specific skills are vital for prodigies who, given their
young ages, have not had the opportunity for extended practice.
D 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Memory; Prodigy; Intelligence

1. Introduction

There has been a great deal of recent interest in exceptional performers; individuals who
are considered elite in a culturally relevant domain. Perhaps the most impressive of all
exceptional performers are those individuals who rise to world class levels of achievement as
children. These children are often referred to as prodigies and they seem to defy the natural

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jruthsatz@ndc.edu (J. Ruthsatz).

0160-2896/03/$ – see front matter D 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0160-2896(03)00050-3
510 J. Ruthsatz, D.K. Detterman / Intelligence 31 (2003) 509–518

laws of development. Prodigies are children under 10 years of age who perform culturally
relevant tasks at a level that is rare even among highly trained professional adults in their
field.
Children who can perform at this level are rare. To encounter a child who is capable of
extraordinary achievements in a culturally valued domain is spellbinding. Explanations for
prodigies in the musical domain thus far have been descriptive by nature. Two famous
musical prodigies, Mozart and Erwin Nyiregyhazi, are characterized by Revesz (1925) as
displaying abundant musical talent early in life. Revesz’s descriptive account of both
individuals is remarkably similar. Both these boys, who were considered musical prodigies,
were reported as having an early onset of musical ability coupled with an extraordinary
memory for musical pieces. Historical accounts of both individuals described the boys as
above average in general intelligence. However, recently developed theories offer different
opinions about what precedes outstanding precocious achievement.
Feldman (1986) explains the extraordinary accomplishments of child prodigies through
an unusual lens. Feldman portrays prodigies as children who are ‘‘special purposes
organisms.’’ Unlike extremely high-IQ children who can perform well in many domains,
he sees prodigies as highly specialized children with a narrow window of opportunity.
However, in his book, Nature’s Gambit, one of the six prodigies, Adam, is described at the
age of three-and-a-half by many unusual talents including composing for the guitar,
speaking several languages, reading, writing, and an intense interest in mathematics. Adam’s
abundant proclivities really speak to the issue of precocious general abilities, not a
specialized talent.
Feldman (1986) is more on the mark when he states that the opportunity for a child to
become a prodigy depends on several factors. First, the child’s unique talent must be nurtured
in a highly supportive environment. Second, the talent must be displayed within a culture that
appreciates that particular skill at that precise moment in time.
For this reason, Feldman is disenchanted with the current trend to label prodigies as just
high-IQ individuals. He states that prodigies may or may not have elevated IQ’s. He offers an
evolutionary explanation of their existence, seeing prodigies as nature’s edge against abrupt
change within the environment.
Howe (1990), on the other hand, believes that child prodigies are the product of intense
environmental interventions usually initiated by their parents. He states, as does Ericsson
(1996), that the production of a prodigy is not that difficult to accomplish, especially when
one considers the current improvements in training techniques. In every case, Ericsson
believes that a teacher, usually a parent, provides the child with extensive training and is
immersed in the activities that are necessary to produce a child prodigy.
The present study set out to examine the underpinnings of a child prodigy with
extraordinary musical achievement based on a current theory first proposed by Detterman
and Ruthsatz (1999) and later tested in a group of self-selected high-school musicians
(Ruthsatz, manuscript in preparation). The investigation hypothesized that the first two
variables, general intelligence and domain-specific skills, would be significantly elevated in a
child prodigy to compensate for the lack of the third predictive variable of accumulated
practice time.
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The proposed regression equation, Y 0 = Xgc + Xds + Xp, suggested in the article by Detter-
man and Ruthsatz (1999), is no more than a culmination of the information available in the
fields of intelligence and musical performance. The equation predicts that musical perform-
ance will be influenced by these three factors. Musical achievement will be better understood
from this eclectic view of human ability than from any singular viewpoint posited thus far. To
continue to argue for musical performance that is entirely mediated by general intelligence,
domain-specific skills or practice is to take a step backwards into a less informed time frame.
The following is a review of the work done that supports the relevance of each of these
underlying components that are important to musical achievement.

1.1. General intelligence

General intelligence has a long history in psychology. Often, the center of much
controversy in the field, the notion of general intelligence, has withstood the test of time
as a valid predictor of achievement. While it has been argued that IQ tests are only valid
predictors for school achievement (Gardner, 1983), others have demonstrated real-world
validity for general intelligence (Herrnstein & Murray, 1994; Jensen, 1998). Perhaps Seashore
(1919) said it best: ‘‘It is possible for a person, strong in other capacities, but with relatively
low intellectual power, to assume fairly important roles in music within restricted fields of
activity; but the great musician is always a person of great intellect.’’
The current theory of elite performance would predict that individuals who are exceptional
musicians like Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven are likely to possess elevated levels of general
intelligence. According to Cox (1926), the group estimate on these individuals for general
intelligence was between 125 and 155. Current research that surrounds musical aptitude and
intelligence has supported a relationship between general intelligence and musical ability.
Lynn, Wilson, and Gault (1989) tested 217 10-year olds in a primary school and found a
positive relationship between simple musical ability and intelligence that ranged from .27 to
.40. A positive correlation between general intelligence and three separate tests for musicality
was also reported by Lynn and Gault (1986). Shutter (1968) in his review of independent
research projects reported a similar relationship between intelligence and musical ability of
around .35.
Converging evidence from studies of people with mental retardation validate the
relationship between intelligence and musical ability. People with mental retardation have
been found to have delayed musical ability (DiGiammariion, 1990). People who were
profoundly retarded had fewer musical abilities than individuals who were only moderately
retarded, and individuals with mild mental retardation were found to possess the highest level
of musical skills within this group.
In summary, intelligence appears to be related to musical ability. However, the existence of
musical savants, individuals of low general intelligence who perform musically above their
expected level, provides evidence of factors other than general intelligence that must also
influence musical achievement. Gardner (1983) has stated that there are seven separate
intelligences that are independent from what we think of traditionally as intelligence. Gardner
believes that traditional intelligence, the type measured on IQ tests, is only predictive of
512 J. Ruthsatz, D.K. Detterman / Intelligence 31 (2003) 509–518

school achievement. He states that music is one of these autonomous intelligences. These
separate intelligences can also be thought of as domain-specific skills, skills or abilities that
are not related to the type of intelligence necessary to do well in school. Gardner points to
musical savants as evidence to support his theory of multiple intelligences in the musical
domain. Two recent savant papers, one by Young and Nettelbeck (1995) and the other by
Sloboda, Hermmelin, and O’Connor (1985), offer insight into this theoretical question of
multiple intelligences or as it is called in the summation theory domain-specific skills.

1.2. Domain-specific skills

The existence of musical savants, individuals who have advanced musical achievement
despite low levels of general intelligence, speaks to the issue that other factors besides general
intelligence must also mediate musical performance. Sloboda et al. (1985) tested a musical
savant who they refer to as NP. NP was 21 years old at their initial contact. His descriptive
historical data are similar in many ways to that of the few musical prodigies that are reported
in the literature. He had an early obsession with music and was able to memorize musical
pieces well beyond what would be expected of someone with an IQ of 60 on the performance
section of the WAIS.
The aim of their study was to investigate the role memory played in the development of
NP’s musical ability and to see if his profile matched the description of the musical prodigies
currently available in the literature. NP did have an extraordinary memory for musical pieces.
NP was able to memorize and replay musical melodies with limited exposure. Further, his
performance was extraordinary when compared to a professional pianist used as a comparison
for this study. Sloboda et al. (1985) state that NP’s memory was specific to the musical
domain and did not generalize to other memory tasks. This statement is based on the fact that
NP’s extraordinary memory skills did not generalize to a digit span task or a sentence
repetition task. NP was only able to repeat five digits forward and four backward and to recall
seven word sentences, a performance that was consistent with his general IQ. However, a
word of caution may be in order. The authors report earlier in their article that NP had no
spontaneous speech. NP’s memory outside the musical domain may have been better gauged
using tests that did not require verbal output.
Young and Nettelbeck (1995) also tested a musical savant called TR. TR was an autistic
musical savant. His musical ability became apparent by his fourth birthday and his parents
supported his talent with the best music teachers they could find. TR was almost 13 years
old at the time of their initial contact. In their study, Young and Nettelbeck found a
remarkable memory for musical pieces, as did Sloboda et al. (1985). However, TR’s memory
generalized to the digit span test (eight forward and seven backwards), which is beyond what
is expected for a 13-year-old autistic savant. Unusual memory has been repeatedly
implicated in several studies that have investigated the precocious musical development of
savants.
Young and Nettelbeck (1995) went on to investigate TR’s domain-specific skill for
musical aptitude. TR was tested using the measures of musical ability (Bentley, 1966). The
test is intended to measure pitch, tonal memory, chord analysis, and rhythm. The authors
 J. Ruthsatz, D.K. Detterman / Intelligence 31 (2003) 509–518 513

concluded that TR had perfect pitch, a rare ability even among talented musicians. TR’s
memory for musical melody was superior to both the musical savants tested in the Sloboda et
al. (1985) study and their comparison professional pianist. The new summation theory
( Y 0 = Xgeneral intelligence + Xdomain-specific skills + Xpractice) would account for TR’s superior per-
formance as a function of having elevated scores on all three of the factors when compared to
NP, the first musical savant. Both savants’ ability to recall the musical piece better than the
professional pianists can be explained by an exceptional memory.
In both cases, the musical ability of each savant could be explained by the summation
theory. The savants displayed advanced musical recall ability considering their low general
IQ’s. However, in both cases, these individuals had elevated domain-specific skills, as
measured by the generally accepted tests of musical aptitude combined with years of intense
and deliberate practice.

1.3. Practice

Ericsson and Charness (1994) have stated that the mediating difference between expert
musicians and lower level musicians is the amount of time spent in deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice is defined as time spent with the intention of improving your performance
in a specific domain and differs in content from both work and play. They believe that to
become an expert in any domain, all one must do is begin young and engage in 10 years of
deliberate practice. In a study of violinists, Ericsson, Krampe, and Tesch-Romer (1993)
reported historical data to support their hypothesis. Three levels of violinists were questioned
about the age in which they began to play the violin and the age they began to engage in
deliberate practice. There was a monotonic relationship between the amount of time spent in
deliberate practice and their level of musical achievement. The most acclaimed violinists
historically reported engaging in the longest lengths of deliberate practice. However, upon
further analysis, other factors emerge that must be considered. At the age of eight, 67% of
their elite violinists won open competitions when compared to the second level of violinists
who reported winning only 54% of their early competitions, which is more often than the
third group of violinists who reported winning only 18% of their early competitions. In their
youth, the groups differed in ability long before 10 years of deliberate practice had
accumulated.
A second study aimed at testing the role of deliberate practice in a sporting domain
produced additional interesting results. A study of championship wrestlers revealed that the
most elite group did not begin deliberate practice any earlier than the average comparison
group of wrestlers (Hodges & Starkes, 1996). Both groups began to wrestle at 13 years of age
and while the elite group of wrestlers remembered spending more time historically in
deliberate practice, current accumulated data did not support that trend. Diaries that were kept
by the wrestlers as part of Hodges and Starkes’ study actually recorded that the lower level
wrestlers spent more time in deliberate practice than the elite wrestlers. While it is easy to
recognize the importance of deliberate practice and the substantial role it plays in the
development of experts, it has not been proven to be the only or even the most important
factor.
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The summation theory provides a framework for the investigation of elite performers. It is
highly possible that all of the current theories of expert performers hold a piece of the truth.
General intelligence, domain-specific skills, and practice are variables that may interplay to
produce exceptional achievement. Musical savants may be individuals who are low on the
first variable, general intelligence, but compensate by being high on the second and third
variable. Savants can be partially understood as individuals who perform above their
expected levels, given their low general intelligence, by exposing their precocious domain-
specific skills such as perfect pitch or exceptional memories to a great deal of deliberate
practice. Therefore, a low general intellect can be compensated for by the enhancement of the
last two factors in the equation. It is logical to assume that prodigies will be understood as
individuals who can compensate for their lack of years committed to deliberate practice by
the enhancement of the first two variables, superior intelligence and enhanced domain-
specific music skills.
Accordingly, the present study predicted that in the case of a musical prodigy both general
intelligence and domains-specific skills would need to be elevated to compensate for a lack of
practice time, the last variable in the regression equation. The present study investigated the
application of the summation theory in the musical domain.

2. Method

2.1. Subject

The subject was a 6-year-old musical prodigy. At the time of testing, the subject had played
in numerous concerts, appeared several times on national television, and been in two movies.
He had released two musical CD’s in which he sings in two languages and plays several
musical instruments. Unlike the mechanical flat performance often reported in the savant
literature, his performance was expressive. He is able to entertain large paying audiences with
his musical skill. He is capable of many instruments but prefers the piano and accordion. He
is the only child of an intact family from the Southern United States. No one in his immediate
family reported any knowledge of accelerated musical ability. However, his mother has
played the piano. The young music prodigy, Derek,1 has not engaged in structured musical
lessons but masters his music by listening to other performers and improvising his own
musical pieces.
While other researchers have suggested that prodigies are the products of overzealous
parents creating extraordinary opportunities for their children, Derek’s musical behaviors
appear self-propelled. During our testing session, Derek would engage in spontaneous
musical behaviors not prompted by any adult. He would often run to play the piano in his
classroom when there was a brake in the testing. One evening at dinner, he joined a
performing musical group and entertained an audience of over two hundred people. The

1
Name has been changed.
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satisfaction he personally receives from his talent seems to be the driving force behind his
obsession to engage in musical behaviors.

2.2. Materials

The subject was tested at the elementary school that he attends. The data were collected
over a 2-day period. The Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scale (Thorndike, Hagen, & Sattler,
1985) was used to test the subject’s verbal reasoning, abstract/visual reasoning, and
quantitative reasoning and short-term memory.
The Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation (Gordon, 1986) was administered to
measure the subject’s musical aptitude or ability to benefit from musical instruction. The test
consists of two sections. The first section measures tonal aptitude and the second is thought to
be a measure of rhythm aptitude. The intermediate test is intended for children who display
advanced musical ability and was selected because of the subject’s musical talent. A
composite score is used to identify children who would benefit the most from advanced
musical instruction.

3. Results

Derek was tested using the summation theory as a theoretical framework. Information was
gathered on each variable that is believed to be important in the acquisition of exceptional
musical performance.

3.1. General intelligence

Derek’s scores on all sections of the Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scale were above
average. However, his cognitive profile was idiosyncratic. The score for the first three
sections of the test falls between 114 and 130. His score on the verbal reasoning section was
130 (M = 100, S.D. = 16). This section of the test has a reliability rating of .91. Derek’s score
on the abstract/visual reasoning section was 114 (M = 100, S.D. = 16) with a reliability rating
of .92, and his score on the quantitative section was 120 (M = 100, S.D. = 16) with a reliability
rating of .80. Derek’s short-term memory score was 158 (M = 100, S.D. = 16) (Table 1). The
reliability rating was not given for 6-year olds who take all four sections of the short-term
memory task. However, there is a reliability rating of .90 for 6-year olds who take only two

Table 1
Cognitive profile for Derek: a musical prodigy
Derek’s score Mean score S.D.
Verbal reasoning 130 100 16
Abstract reasoning 114 100 16
Quantitative reasoning 120 100 16
Short-term memory 158 100 16
516 J. Ruthsatz, D.K. Detterman / Intelligence 31 (2003) 509–518

sections of the short-term memory task. While his score for the short-term memory section is
remarkable, it is interesting to note that on the reversed digits, he asked to stop after he
repeated only three digits backwards because he was tired of the test, while he was able to
repeat eight digits forward. The investigator believes that Derek could have repeated more
digits backward on a separate occasion.

3.2. Domain-specific music skill

The results for Derek on the Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation were superior. The
test is used to identify first-, second-, third-, and fourth-grade children who display musical
aptitude. The author of the test believes that aptitude can be tested outside the realm of
achievement. No musical training is required to do well on the Intermediate Measures of
Music Audiation because it is designed to measure innate tonal and rhythm ability. The two
subtests do not correlate highly between .40 and .46 and are therefore thought to measure
distinct abilities.
Derek scored a 36 in the tonal section of the Intermediate Measure of Music Audiation.
This is at the 95% level for musically talented children. On the rhythm section, Derek scored
a 37, which is at the 98% level for musically talented children. The composite score is often
used to identify children who would benefit the most from musical instruction. Derek
received a composite score of 73, which is at the 98% level for musically talented children.
Children who score above the 80% mark are considered highly gifted and the most likely to
benefit from advanced musical instruction.

3.3. Practice

Derek has not received formal training and therefore has not engaged in what Ericsson
and Charness (1994) have described as deliberate practice. Deliberate practice has been
defined as an activity that is not inherently enjoyable but aimed at improving one’s level of
performance. Derek spends a great deal of time in playful imitation of other musicians but
improvement in his performance is a by-product, not the driving force behind his practice
activity.

4. Discussion

The results of this case study are interesting on two accounts. First, the musical prodigy
tested, Derek, is the first to our knowledge to be investigated within a theoretical framework.
Second, prior case studies of musical prodigies have been descriptive, not quantitative by
nature.
Derek’s profile fits well within the first authors’ theory of exceptional performers. Derek’s
general level of intelligence, 132, is elevated by two standard deviations when compared to
similar age mates, thus supporting the importance of intelligence to precocious musical
achievement. The most striking skill within his cognitive profile is his extraordinary memory.
 J. Ruthsatz, D.K. Detterman / Intelligence 31 (2003) 509–518 517

Exceptional memories have been reported consistently in case studies, both by descriptive
accounts of musical prodigies and by the two quantitative accounts of musical savants.
However, it is not just general intelligence that is predictive of Derek’s musical ability,
high scores on the Gordon’s (1986) Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation lend support
to the importance of domain-specific music skills to musical achievement. Current research
investigated the relationship between short-term memory as measured by the digit span and
the ability to score well on the Gordon’s test of music audiation. The research supports that
the ability to do well on the Gordon’s test of music audiation is significantly related in
musical novices to their short-term memory (r =.57, P < .01), while students at a competitive
music institute did not find a significant correlation between their ability to audiate music and
their short-term memory (r =.04, P > .05) suggesting that the ability to audiate music for
novices and beginning musicians is dependent upon innate short-term memory that can be
enhanced through practice in the music domain (Ruthsatz, Hanus, & Tiu, manuscript in
preparation). This current study casts a shadow on Gardner’s (1983) theory of multiple
intelligence. Gardner has stated that at the core of musical intelligence is the ability to audiate
music. Perhaps what Gardner has labeled as musical intelligence is nothing more than an
exceptional short-term memory transferred into the musical domain.
The practice component is especially interesting in the case of a musical prodigy. Derek
seems to compensate for an absence of formal training and deliberate practice by his
enhanced ability to remember melodies and recreate them. The lack of deliberate practice
is particularly damning for researchers such as Ericsson and Charness (1994) who posit a
theory of exceptional musical achievement based entirely on practice.
In review, the summation theory can account for musical performance in prodigies, savants
and adult musicians. Support for a multiple factor analysis of achievement can be found in the
current research for exceptional musicians in an orchestra setting, for musical savants, and in
the current study a musical prodigy. The lack of practice time for Derek seems to be
overcome by extraordinary memory and an elevated level of general intelligence.

Acknowledgements

Parts of this work were supported by Grants No. HD07176 from the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development, Office of Mental Retardation.

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