In reply to Bill Pirkle's interesting post let us take as examples the Bach
and Mozart families.

So far as I know, Johan Sebastian Bach's father was a very competent
Musician and composer, he himself was a musical genius and several of
his sons, e.g. C.P.E and J.C. Bach, were highly competent musicians and
composers.  Similarly, Leopold Mozart was a highly competent violinist
and composer, Wolfgang Mozart was a musical genius and his younger son,
Franz Xavor, in turn, was a highly competent pianist and composer.

>From the above it would seem that:-

   (a) Competent musicians can sometimes beget musical geniuses.

   (b)Genius becomes "diluted" in the next generation.

Maybe some geneticists on this list can explain things.

John H White
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