6 Minute English / Are artistic brains different?

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I m Neil.

And I m Sam.

Would you say you re artistic, Sam? Can you draw or paint? Do you dance or play music?

I play the piano a bit. Yes, I d say I m quite artistic. How about you, Neil?

Well, if you count playing football as artistic then yes, but basically no I can t paint.

We ve been wondering why artistic ability comes more naturally to some people than others, so in this programme we ll be asking: are artists brains different? We ll hear two expert opinions, and as usual, we ll learn some useful new vocabulary as well. So, what do you think, Neil? Are artists brains different from other people s?

I m not sure, Sam, but it s true that many artists behave differently, often in very strange ways. For example, did you know that Michelangelo worked so hard he never took a bath! Or that guitar legend, Jimi Hendrix, once set fire to his guitar on stage!

We ll hear more about the artist s brain soon, but first I have a question for you. As you said, artistic ability comes naturally to some people, including the famous composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart was considered a child prodigy - a young child with very great musical talent. So, how old was Mozart when he composed his first piece of music? Was he:a) five years old?b) ten years old? or,c) fifteen years old?

I ll guess he was a) five years old.