Abstract
The aim of the review paper is to describe the issues connected to identifying musical talents and to entrance exams for university programmes specialized in music. The first part introduces the terms giftedness and talent and their relationship.
The second part deals with musical giftedness, musical talent, and musical skills. In the third part we analyse the entrance exams to three university programmes specialized in music in the Czech Republic (Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, and Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Ostrava).
The paper draws attention to the problems arising from the fact that the entrance exams are evaluated by a committee and suggests possible solutions. The fourth part focuses in detail on the advantages and disadvantages of accelerating the development of musically talented students, i.e. instances when students are accepted to university without having passed their secondary school leaving examinations, and supports them with data.
The authors then conclude that should the entrance exams fulfil their predictive role in choosing the best applicants, they have to draw on a much broader spectrum of valid information than they do now.