DS8 started Chinese a couple of weeks ago when school started. His teacher pulled me aside to let me know that my son has crazy ability when it comes to determining "tones" in chinese. For those of you that don't know, there are 5 tones in chinese and the tone with which a word is delivered gives the meaning of the word.

He also started piano 3 weeks ago and his teacher is flabbergasted by two things. First, he learned how to read sheet music in two weeks, but second she commented on his tones. When asked to clarify she stated that he knows instinctively what tone each note should possess. Her words "It's crazy, most people study for years and still don't get it right"

Crazy.....Twice in a week. I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience with Sound IQ (for want of a better term)

Tricky. Of course, when you think about being able to hear/produce the tones in Chinese, you do have to remember that all Chinese toddlers do this as a matter of course, so in that sense, an 8yo doing it isn't crazy in itself; what may be crazy is retaining the abilities that let you do that, even though your native language doesn't require it.

I don't quite understand what the piano teacher meant by her remark. For a start, presumably it's about what musicians call pitch, not what they call tone, since that's what's analogous to tones in Chinese. Does she mean that your DS is reading the music in the sense not only that he knows what key to press but also that he knows in advance what it will sound like? (E.g., if asked to sing the music instead of play it, can he do that?) Or is she talking about his ability to guess what logically must come next, if he's given the start of an unfamiliar tune? Both interesting abilities, but rather different.