the times | Saturday June 11 2022 21
News
Before a performance the violinist
Nicola Benedetti likes to hairdry her
fingertips to get them to the right
temperature.
The jazz musician Charlie Parker had
a different concert preparation:
supposedly whisky, amphetamine,
marijuana, then “sweat for five min-
utes” and go on stage.
There is a persistent stereotype that
while classical musicians are conscien-
tious control freaks, their equivalents in
jazz are more freewheeling.
A study suggests there may be some-
thing in this. Researchers have looked
at the personalities of different musi-
cians and found that while they are sim-
ilar in many ways, jazz musicians are
consistently less conscientious.
The research, published in the jour-Nice (but naughty): why jazz
musicians really are free spirits
nal Psychology of Music, looked at more
than 200 musicians, recruited from
college ensembles, and gave them a
standard test of personality traits.
Zahava Heydel, a psychology re-
searcher from the Metropolitan State
University of Denver, began the study
because of the persistent griping of her
boyfriend, a percussionist. “He would
not stop complaining about how the
jazz students at his music school always
leave the doors open during rehears-
als,” she said.
Heydel found there were subcultures
among musicians, and that they dispar-
aged the jazz musicians as “jazzers” —
shorthand for inconsiderate.
She thought there might be some-
thing in this, given the genre. “The
qualities my boyfriend was annoyed
about in jazz musicians were probably
advantageous to the style of music theyplay,” she said. While classical musi-
cians follow a rigid piece of music with
precise timing, jazz makes a virtue of
improvisation. Dave Brubeck, the jazz
pianist, once said: “Get out there and
improvise, and take chances, and don’t
be a perfectionist — leave that to the
classical musicians.”
But is it that jazz attracts this kind of
player? Or is it that it creates them?
Heydel thinks it’s a bit of both.
Yet, she thinks, the findings are still
surprising. In particular, she found that
male classical musicians scored lower
in openness. While playing classical
music well requires discipline, being a
classical genius sometimes requires the
reverse. “For example, how Beethoven
revolutionised and helped evolve clas-
sical music,” Heydel said. “His open-
ness to new ideas helped to shape clas-
sical music today.”Tom Whipple Science EditorSIMON DACK/ ALAMY LIVE NEWSof England Show, which runs until Sunday at the Ardingly Showground in Sussex
Hunt after boy ‘killed defending mother’
Detectives launched a manhunt after a
14-year-old was stabbed to death as he
tried to defend his mother from a
“ferocious attack”.
Officers and paramedics were called
to a home in Miles Platting, east Man-
chester, on Thursday evening after a
“domestic-related incident”, GreaterManchester police said. The boy, who
has not been named but is believed to
be of Polish heritage, died of his injuries
an hour later while his mother is now in
a stable condition, police said.
Detectives warned the public not to
approach the suspect, described as an
Asian man in his mid 40s, of medium
build and height. Police said they
believe the suspect was known to bothvictims. It is thought that the boy was
trying to defend his mother from the
attacker when he was killed, the
Manchester Evening News reported.
The boy is believed to have two
brothers, aged ten and 18.
Detective Chief Inspector Gina
Brennand described the attack as “fero-
cious”. Her officers were working at a
“tremendous pace” to catch the culprit.Tom Ball Northern Correspondent