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If perfect pitch is passed down from parent to child, might musical genius be inherited too?

The answer could come in part from one of the world's greatest composers, Ludwig van Beethoven, who died in 1827 at the age of 56. Genetic material from strands of the maestro's hair, and possibly also from his bones, may offer clues to the origins of genius.

Chemical analysis of the hair, which was famously taken by a young musician the day after Beethoven died and preserved in a locket, has already solved the mystery of the cause of the chronic illnesses that led up to the composer's death. Scientists announced in October that he suffered from plumbism, or lead poisoning, which also probably was the cause of his death. The source of the lead is not known.

"Discover my disease"

"Beethoven saw physician after physician in search of a cure for his physical ailments," says principal investigator William Walsh, chief scientist of Health Research Institute in Naperville, Ill.

"He suffered from bad digestion, chronic abdominal pain, irritability and depression. It was such a concern to him that years before his death he wrote a letter to his brothers that said, 'As soon as I am dead, if Dr. Schmidt is still alive, ask him in my name to discover my disease, and attach this written document to his account of my illness so at least as much as possible the world may be reconciled to me after my death.' "

The eight strands of hair examined by Walsh and his colleagues amazingly still had hair follicles, or root bulbs, which gave researchers enough skin tissue to start an examination of Beethoven's genetic makeup. Says Walsh, "We want to look for the genesis of brilliance, and we want to look at his human genome as well."

Walsh's team is now examining DNA he says researchers have extracted from pieces of skull bones that may be Beethoven's.

"The test results so far indicate that chemically, the hair and the bones are from the same person," says Walsh. He expects the results of that analysis to be completed in three months. Review and verification of the findings, whatever they are, will take longer.

Perfect pitch

In the meantime, the most convincing evidence of musical genes comes from the finding that at least one critical musical talent is inheritable: perfect pitch. That's the ability to identify the pitch of tones in the absence of a reference pitch.

Scientists at the University of California at San Francisco found in one study in the late 1990s that people with perfect pitch were four times more likely than those without the ability to be related to someone else with perfect pitch. The researchers also have concluded that both early musical training and genetic predisposition go into the development of perfect pitch.

That finding makes sense to psychologist David T. Lykken of the University of Minnesota, author of Genius and the Mind: Studies of Creativity and Temperament in the Historical Record. He points out that focused effort is a hallmark of work produced by people we think of as geniuses.

"There are psychologists who think genius is extraordinary application, and if there is anything genetic about it, it is motivational," he says. "But I think there's more to it than that; it is a mixture, a group nation of attributes, some of them specific to the subject."

Specialized brain modules

Lykken describes the brain as containing specialized "modules" that control areas such as language and music.

"I think that, assuredly, people like Beethoven and other musical geniuses have some of these modules that make them able to do the kind of wonderful things that are required to create this sort of material," he says. "All cases of genius involve not just one or two specific talents, but a combination. To be a Beethoven or a Mozart, you can't just have a module that enables you to play the piano backwards. You must, in addition, have other genetically determined characteristics, including a wonderful ability to focus your attention."

The idea of modular intelligence contradicts the assumption that every brain can be assessed with a single I.Q., or intelligence quotient. I.Q. tests compare a person's general ability to solve problems and understand concepts with that of the general population. The scoring uses a standardized scale with a median of 100. A score between 90 and 110 indicates average intelligence. A score above 130 indicates high intelligence, and a score below 75 may indicate retardation

The notion of modular intelligence could help explain the extraordinary abilities of so-called savants in fields such as mathematics or music. Take the well-known example of "Blind Tom," a slave child born with neurological defects in the 1850s. Tom was unable to speak until he was five or six years old, but from the age of four he could play the piano beautifully.

He was tested at age 11 by musicologists, according to psychologist Oliver Sacks' account in An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales. Someone played for the child two new compositions, 13 and 20 pages in length. The little boy reproduced them perfectly, and like Mozart, he could play the piano with his back to the keyboard.

Lykken calls the quest to identify the genetics of musical genius "fascinating." But, he adds, "There are many traits that define genius. I think it will be a long time before anyone maps the way it all works."

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