Multiple studies have linked music education to academic success. What is it about music training that appears to be associated with high success in other areas?
This is not a coincidence. Because I asked, I knew. I asked top-flight professionals from media to finance and tech, who all had a long, if not well-known, history as musicians. Nearly all of them connected their professional accomplishments and their music training.
This phenomenon goes beyond math music. Surprisingly, high achievers shared with me that music opened up new avenues for creative thinking. Their experiences show that music training can improve other qualities, such as collaboration. Ability to listen. The ability to combine disparate ideas into one thought. An ability to simultaneously focus on the past and the future.
Your school’s music program could make your child a billionaire like Paul Allen (guitar) or Woody Allen (clarinet). Or Woody Allen (clarinet). Most likely not. These visionaries are exceptional. It is fascinating to see how these visionaries and others process music. They also apply the lessons of music’s discipline and focus on new ways of thinking, communicating and even problem-solving.
You’ll find musicians in the top tiers of nearly any industry if you look closely. Woody Allen performs weekly in a jazz band. Paula Zahn (cello), a television broadcaster, and Chuck Todd (NBC chief White House correspondent) attended college on music scholarships. Andrea Mitchell, a professional violinist at NBC, trained to be a professional violinist. Roger McNamee, the venture capitalist at Microsoft, and Mr Allen of Microsoft have their rock bands. Larry Page, a co-founder of Google, was a high school saxophonist. Steven Spielberg is the son of a pianist and a clarinettist. James D. Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank, has performed cello at Carnegie Hall.
“It’s not an accident,” Mr Greenspan says. He gave up the jazz clarinet but still plays the baby grand in his living room. “I can tell ya as a statistician that the probability that this is just chance is extremely low.” The former Fed chief added, “That’s all you can do about the facts.” What is the connection?
Paul Allen has the answer. Paul Allen says that music “reinforces confidence in your ability to create.” He started playing the violin when he was seven years old and then switched to the guitar at seventeen. He would always pick up his guitar after a long day of programming, even in the early days at Microsoft. Music was his emotional analogue to his day job. Each channelled a different creative impulse. He says that both are urging him to see beyond the current reality and find a way to express himself differently.
According to Mr Todd, there’s a link between years of competition and practice and the “drive for perfection.” A veteran advertising executive, Steve Hayden credits his cellist background for his most famous work: the Apple “1984” commercial that depicts rebellion against a dictator. He says that he was inspired by Stravinsky when he came up with the idea. He says that his cello playing background has helped him to work collaboratively. “Ensemble play trains you to play well with other people, to know when it is best to sing and when it is best to follow.”
Many of the top achievers I spoke to saw music as a “hidden languages” that helps them connect disparate ideas or even contradictory ones. Wolfensohn was the World Bank’s chief executive. He travelled to over 100 countries and took in local performances, sometimes borrowing a cello, which helped him understand the culture of each country.
This is where the often-discussed link between math and music shines brightest. Both are fundamental modes of expression. Bruce Kovner is the founder of Caxton Associates, the hedge fund, and chairman of Juilliard’s board. He says there are similarities in his playing of the piano and investing strategy. Some people can extend these paradigms to other senses.
Both Robert Taub and Mr Kovner describe a kind of synesthesia, where they see patterns in three dimensions. He is best known for his Beethoven recordings. Since then, Mr Taub has founded MuseAmi Music Software Company. This skill translates intellectually to making multiple connections in multiple spheres.
Others I spoke with said that their passion for music was more important than their talent. Woody Allen said bluntly to me that he is not an accomplished musician. The fact that I am in movies gives me total traction.
Allen views music as a distraction from his day job. Allen likens himself to a “weekend tennis player” who only comes in once per week to play. I don’t have an ear for music or a good sense of timing. I have a strong sense of rhythm in comedy. Music is a different story.
He still practices his clarinet for at least half an hour every day. Wind players can lose their embouchure (mouth position). To be as bad as me, I must practice every day.” He also performs regularly and tours internationally with his New Orleans jazz group. He says, “I never imagined I’d be playing in concert halls around the world to 5,000 or 6,000 people.” It has enriched my life immensely, I will tell you, and it was quite unexpectedly.”
Mr Wolfensohn started cello lessons at the age of 18. Music is a way to find balance. You aren’t trying to win any races or be the leader or any other group. It’s all about the enjoyment and joy that music brings to you, which is completely unrelated to your professional standing.
Roger McNamee, best known for his early investments in Facebook through Elevation Partners, says that music and technology “have converged”. After using Facebook to promote Moonalice’s band, McNamee became an expert and focused on live-streaming its concerts. He said that musicians and top professionals share an “almost desperate need to dig deep.” This ability to obsess seems like it unites top performers in music and other areas.
Ms Zahn recalls that she spent up to four hours per day “hijacked up in cramped practice areas trying to master a phrase on her cello,” and it took her up to five hours to do so. Now 41, Mr Todd recalled in detail his solo audition at age 17. He got the second-highest score, rather than the highest. However, he was still the principal horn in Florida’s All-State Orchestra.
He says, “I have always believed that the only way to get ahead is by working harder than others.” This skill is learned by “playing the solo one more times, working on that single section one more time” and translating into “working on something over-and-over or double-checking and triple-checking it.” The results are obvious.
This is a valuable observation in a country where music education and a serious pursuit are in decline.
These high achievers claim music has improved their collaboration, creativity, discipline, and ability to reconcile opposing ideas. These are all qualities that are often lacking in public life. You may not be a genius, rich or a better person because music isn’t for you. It can help you think differently, have different process points of view, and, most importantly, enjoy listening.
