Jeremey McMillan:

>When people discover that you can play a musical instrument (especially
>if you play well), they think you are bright and gifted.

Musical performance requires an ability to recognize and correlate several
different kinds of musical symbols and signals at an extremely fast rate,
and transfer these instantly into kinetic motions.  If that is not a sign
of intelligence I don't know what is.

>People tend to think you are gifted not only in music but everything else!

That's another matter.  Some mental abilities are specialized.  The most
extreme example is the "idiot savant."

>Parents even let their newborns and toddlers listen to classical music in
>hope of building their brain.

A well-publicized study seemed to show this, but the claim did not stand up
very well in a follow-up study.

A further thought.  The ability to concentrate on a lengthy and complex
musical composition, typical of classical music, also is a sure sign of
intelligence, it seems to me, even for listeners who are not performers.
Not sure what it means if the attention wanders, though!

Jim Tobin