This roundtable considers how musical talent/musicality has been institutionally constructed within Euro-American culture(s) and critically examines ideological mechanisms that perpetuate these constructions in ways that exclude intersectional identities relative to disability, d/Deafness, and race/ethnicity. Drawing upon their ethnographic fieldwork with neurodivergent musicians, Presenter 1 proposes a counterpoint to ableist understandings of musical talent through the framework of neurodivergent musicality, which centers the neurodivergent experience and privileges nonnormative musical and creative exchange. Presenter 2 critically examines constructions of amateur and professional as applied to the work of rappers involved in dip hop. Based on their ethnographic work documenting the early formation of this style, this presenter problematizes notions of amateur and professional as tied to performance expectations, musical value, and financial longevity. Presenter 3 draws from a case study in the early twentieth century in which musical talent fueled a landmark experiment in racist science. Her analysis of the 1927 report “Race Crossing in Jamaica” underlines how medicalized talent has historically been used as a metric of racial potential in clinical spaces. Presenter 4 interrogates the role of standardization in the Suzuki method of music education, drawing upon fieldwork with learning communities across the U.S. They consider how the method’s repertoire, teaching points, and modes of evaluation can promote equity in some contexts, and exclusionary, normate conceptions of musicality in others. By melding ethnographic and historical case studies this roundtable facilitates a conversation that reveals and disrupts hegemonic understandings of musical value rooted in ableism and racism.