Most people could be geniuses if they practised hard enough, says a
psychologist at the University of Exeter. In Michael Howe鈥檚 opinion, we
put people with exceptional abilities on too high a pedestal. 鈥業t is all
too easy to be so impressed that we assume something totally miraculous
is involved,鈥� he says. Howe is inclined to go along with Thomas Edison鈥檚
view that 鈥榞enius is 99 per cent perspiration and 1 per cent inspiration鈥�.
Howe looked at the cases of 76 composers. Most of them had at least
a decade of painstaking training before they wrote any masterpieces. Mozart,
for instance, was drilled incessantly in techniques of composition by his
father before he composed his first work of genius at the age of 12.
鈥楾he young Mozart had few opportunities to play outdoors or make friends
with other children . . . it is probable that from his earliest years a
large proportion of the child鈥檚 time was devoted to musical activities,鈥�
says Howe.
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Leaving the great composers aside, 鈥榦rdinary鈥� people can perform feats
of recall equivalent to those by 鈥榞eniuses鈥� if they practise long enough.
In experiments, people with 1000 or so hours of practice were able to recall
lists of around 80 items. Psychologists had for years believed that 9 or
10 items was the limit for ordinary people 鈥� but then they gave their subjects
no more than a few hours of training.
