So what do I mean by basic music knowledge? I mean being able to discern a trombone from a trumpet. Or to be able to sing in tune with everyone else at a birthday party. Or being able to name some of the more famous composers. (Bach or Beethoven anyone?) There are some music skills to be learned that help you avoid awkward or embarrassing situations later in life.
These are skills that are usually learned in a general music class during our school years. You know the singing and moving games most elementary students go through in class? They’re not just for fun or to fill time in class. This is musical development! It starts with pitch recognition with only a few notes and builds on that knowledge. (I’ve taught people who did not have the opportunity to go to such a class and they lacked the ability to match pitch or sing a basic tune.) This knowledge builds until about middle school (depending on where you went or go to school) when students start to have some choice over what they’d like to keep learning. This is when our individual intelligences and hardwiring comes into play!