| A long held opinion of many educators is that instrumental musical training must be begun in childhood if excellence is to be attained, and that this goal is impossible if training is begun in adulthood. To research the validity of this opinion, a meta-analysis of anthropological, behavioral, and brain research in the two domains of language (with its known critical periods) and music were investigated, since evidence exists that language and music arose from a singular communication system in pre-history, and because they share many brain substrates. Results of this analysis reveals significant evidence supporting age-related critical periods for music acquisition corroborating the above opinion. Personal implications of this research and applications to practice are also shared. |
