David Burton wrote:

>I am pretty certain that no exceptionally STUPID person has been associated
>with either playing or enjoying classical music.

I wonder why you'd suppose this.  Just because huge numbers of people
appear to have no patience for CM doesn't mean that mentally deficient
people (with good hearing) can't appreciate it.  I'd venture to guess,
and, for their sakes, to hope that a good proportion of bona fide idiots
are quite capable of enjoying CM.

Further, my hunch is that mentally incapable people might be more musically
susceptible than ordinary folks -- since only "mentally capable" people
tend to close down with prejudices and hasty judgements about certain kinds
of music (among other things).

Also, don't forget the clear counter-instance posed by idiots savants,
some of whom have an uncanny facility for playing music without any
training ...without being able to account for how they do it.

Lastly, to return to the gist of this thread -- namely: it's silly to
regard the musically able as all-round geniuses -- I'm also sure that even
deeply gifted geniuses are as prone to exceptionally stupid behaviour as
the rest of us.

Bert Bailey, in Ottawa