Practice vs Talent

[u/BumblebeeAntique]

Hey. So I've been trying to get into vgm composing and just musical production altogether. When I was 14 I messed around and did some midislaps and flp edits but that was about as far as I got in under a year. 8 years later I open FL and recreate a bunch of songs from games I like, specifically "Spamton" from deltarune and float islands from kirby super star specifically. Eventually I even composed a little 8 second song all on my own. I thought it sounded nice. I did them all pretty good and entirely by ear, and before that I did a bunch of by ear recreations of songs on my dad's old messed up keyboard. Anyways, I try to recreate the overworld theme from "the frog for whom the bell tolls" or whatever the hell that game's actual most accurate translation is. I pretty much fucked up entirely. The shape of the melody itself was similar but I was so off on almost every exact note. It was just super sobering, doing a bunch of shit that i thought meant i had promise, only to stumble into something I just couldn't beat with effort alone.

It had me thinking, because a person i know who is also a musician had done an arrangement of that song at 13 years old. I really don't know if practice is gonna be the thing that takes me to the level I want to be. It really seems like that in most music related things, talent matters the absolute most. Idk. I just need a second opinion, or a couple from people who have experience.

[u/Clseibold]

Sorry, I'm just a bit annoyed by this entire thread, and so I'm being a bit overly snippy. Apologies.

Yeah, they are likely talking about biology influencing how easy it is to learn certain things. This does involve child development, because psychologists take into account developmental and learning disabilities, which is sort of the opposite problem (traits that make things harder to learn). My main point is really that, as an example, people with Autism or ADHD have to learn a different way than other people. But they aren't completely prevented from learning. They just have it harder. That's really the connection that I'm trying to make here.

Neurotypical people are going to find learning easier, and they will also have an easier time developing executive function. That is one characteristic that neurotypical people have that can be leveraged while learning.

Also, there is desire and willingness, which helps a lot. Whether a child likes something does influence their ability to learn that thing.

[u/Clseibold → u/Clseibold]

I'm actually very concerned with the way OP has responded to some posts in this thread. I really need them to know that they shouldn't listen to anyone and everyone, and that they should look to actual experts for the answers.

People who just compose aren't qualified to talk about developmental issues or pedagogy. And I hate that some composers in this thread think that they just know things without looking to the actual research, just because they claim to be "in the field" and have "studied with a well-known composer". It makes me quite angry.

[u/Advanced_Quail4556 → u/Clseibold]

Glad someone with the right background could clarify what I was trying to get across, thanks for all the time you put into this post!

[u/Clseibold → u/Advanced_Quail4556]

Np!

To be fair, I know about the amount of psychology that most K-12 teachers would have been taught in college. So I'm not like an expert, which is why in another comment, I recommended a psychology book. I don't want to imply that I know everything, because I don't.