Dread losing initial musical ability (3)
I believe the answer is:
ear
'musical ability' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'dread losing initial' is the wordplay.
'dread' becomes 'fear' (synonyms).
'losing initial' means to remove the first letter.
'fear' with its initial letter taken away is 'EAR'.
(Other definitions for ear that I've seen before include "Van Gogh missing body part" , "Corn seed-holder" , "A corny bit" , "cut" , "Musical appreciation" .)