You're defining talent tautologically to give you the result you want. You're taking the things in which you admit disparities exist, and then defining them to be "not-talents." Talent is your natural ability or aptitude for a specific task. If there are abilities or aptitudes that I lack that prevent me from guarding LeBron (i.e. being able to jump really high), then I lack those talents. And your point holds for WRITING music perhaps (although I'm suspicious of the idea that creativity is evenly distributed). But PLAYING music is very much a physical discipline, that depends on physical traits much like playing basketball. And frankly, I think you're lying to yourself about intellectual aptitudes. Do you mean to tell me that there were not certainly school subjects that you found yourself inherently more suited for than others? That you were, conditional on equal time being spent, equally capabale at various subjects? If not, then at least comparatively speaking, you had a talent. I pick up math and logic-based subjects quickly. I am, however, poorly suited to foreign languages despite multiple years of instruction. Other people are the diametric opposite. I think it's crazy to suggest that this doesn't reflect some underlying fact about us. You've taken the very true point that people use the god-given-talent narrative as an excuse for not pursuing goals, and taken it to the extreme where you're denying that such talents exist in all but a few very specific areas.
Side note: playing an instrument is very physical. Inspiratory, expiratory, tongue, mouth, finger, hand, arm, shoulder, leg (for organ/piano) muscles are used. There is a great deal of motor control involved. Having strong motor skills for playing an instrument does not carry over to the motor skills involved with playing basketball, and vice versa. Completely different skills.
On school subjects- with full honesty and what I think is at least some measurment of self awareness, there wasn't anything that really stood out for me as being much better than the others. I liked history a lot, so my grades were a bit higher, but nothing that was hard ever struck me as "my brain isn't suited to this task like X". It was just laziness or the lack thereof. Which is my point- in terms of mastering a skill or a subject or something like that, talent is nothing more than a willingness and eagerness to learn, at the expense of other skills that one doesn't have the same will. You're right in that I'm using talent in the "god-given" sense, whereas you're using it in a broader sense. I don't regard Heidi Klum's facial structure as a talent in this discussion, nor Lebron's height. They're very much different from a concert violinists skills, which are similar to the skills that Heidi and Lebron practice, which are looking like not an idiot on camera and basketball. TX could get really really good at looking good on camera, but she might not look like a model (I have no idea) so it might not be a profitable idea, but it's the same work. As for instruments- yes, there is definitely a physical aspect, I can play quite a few of them. But even when I teach others how to play guitar, everyone starts from the same base level, everyone makes pretty much the same mistakes, everybody has to be told to use your fingers like this, not like that, no matter what size their hands are. The same things are needed by those who are already very skilled in writing music (but not in performing) and those who have never done anything musically related before, and the ones who succeed will have that will to get better. Unrelated- why is holding a concise idea in your head and then writing it down much easier on an actual computer than on a smartyphone?
1. Cooking. Specifically, seafood. The difference between great seafood and mediocre seafood is unbelievable. I've had an opportunity to try my hand at most other things, but being able to cook great seafood is my holy grail. 2. Skiing. I'm doing the park rat thing right now, and that's fun, but I'd really like to be able to rip some BC when i'm a little older and outgrow this stage. 3. Drawing/sketching people. 4. Driving motorcycles. I wrecked a bike during my license exam when I was 18 and it's still on my to-do list for after I graduate. 5. Wine tasting. I've learned enough about good cigars to be satisfied, but I have no clue how to tell the difference between wines. (other than between complete shit and decent ones) 6. Surfing. Once I get the opportunity to move close enough to the coast, the first thing I'm buying is a surfboard. Never tried it but I've done everything else (snowboarding, skating, skimboarding,etc.). It's the perfect complement to my winter pastimes. 7. Gardening, specifically growing my own hot peppers and herbs for cooking.