Tone deafness is the result of bad wiring in a person’s brain, according to a new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience. The study’s lead author, Psyche Loui, who studies music and the brain at Harvard Medical School, joins us to explain. And, we hear the boots-on-the-ground perspective from Deborah Lapidus, who teaches singing to actors at the Drama Division of the Juilliard School and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Weigh in: Are you tone deaf or do you have experience with it?
Weigh in: Are you tone deaf or do you have experience with it?
Comments [22]
This is great. I'm probably not quite all the way over to the tone deaf end, but pretty close. I tend not to sing Happy Birthday, instead I tell people my present to them is that I'll refrain from singing.
But I'm pretty good with language, so who knows.
they sort of remind me of the 1980s factory band called the wake
Do tone deafness and inability to be pitch discriminant have anything in common, or, are these totally different things?
Lest anyone confuse Bill Murray's character in "Lost in Translation" with Murray's own skills as a singer, google up some of his classic lounge singer performances from Saturday Night Live. He was ACTING tone deaf in Sofia Coppola's movie.
My father can't carry a tune in a bucket, but my mother can play piano by ear with no formal training. I grew up thinking I couldn't sing, which was verbally reconfirmed by my mother and actually failed miserably in attempts at trumpet in my elementary school band.
I then took a guitar class at 12 in middle school. Having a visual representation of the distance/relationship between pitches - by way of the layout of the fretboard- helped me grasp pitch and the relationship of the tonal distance between notes more acurately. After about 2 years it really clicked and I started to explore the possibility of having talent musically for the first time.
I grew up to attend college for Jazz and went on to start singing in bands and have made a decent living where people pay to hear me sing and play guitar and have released several albums.
Not sure if it was a cure for being tone deaf but I would certainly use it as an example of a reason for people to not brush off difficulty at pitch recognition as being tone deaf...
This is so interesting! My mom's the only one in the family who is completely tone-deaf. However, many of us are musically gifted but dyslexic! Is it possible these characteristics are flip sides of our neural wiring?
Help
I can here if someone else is off key and
can here differentiation in music and it's notes
I can not sing on key to save mylife
it is like I can here exterally but not internaly
How about people who speak tonal language such as Chinese? Is there's a genetic componenent to tone-deafness, wouldn't it be much less prevalant among East-Asians?
My father can't carry a tune in a bucket, but my mother can play piano by ear with no formal training. I grew up thinking I couldn't sing, which was verbally reconfirmed by my mother and actually failed miserably in attempts at trumpet in my elementary school band.
I then took a guitar class at 12 in middle school. Having a visual representation of the distance/relationship between pitches - by way of the layout of the fretboard- helped me grasp pitch and the relationship of the tonal distance between notes more acurately. After about 2 years it really clicked and I started to explore the possibility of having talent musically for the first time.
I grew up to attend college for Jazz and went on to start singing in bands and have made a decent living where people pay to hear me sing and play guitar and have released several albums.
Not sure if it was a cure for being tone deaf but I would certainly use it as an example of a reason for people to not brush off difficulty at pitch recognition as being tone deaf...
Spoken questions usually involve the "rising interrogative." Can tone-deaf people tell when someone is asking them a question?
My first day of singing lessons, the teacher had me to repeat vocally each note on the piano. I was exactly 4 notes off each time. The teacher said I was not tone deaf (being exactly 4 notes off told him this) but had most likely taken my voice from my father or brothers (I'm female). He had me buy a pitch pipe and practice imitating tones after each blow. I was
cured by the next lesson !
I am one of those "who think I am tone-deaf" but know that I am not. I have been told my problem is production and not ear. I love to sing ..sour notes be damned...I wish those who have more acute technique would let us, who do not, just have fun. Btw.. I am a director and will be directing Souvenir for the 2nd time in January. Florence Foster Jenkins -- love her.
I was asked to help a young girl (10) with her singing.
She did seem tone-deaf at first and then I realized that she was probabaly a true contralto, and most young girls sing much higher pitches.
When I started her singing low and went higher, she was able to relate those pitches.
I hear different pitches, but I can't match them. I love singing, but it really just sounds like I'm talking or, if I really "try" I sound like Florence Foster Jenkins. I'm really terrified to sing in front of people.
I also had a sever speech impediment as a child. Are tone deafness & speech impediments related?
quick question
do (or can) the tone deaf appreciate music in the same way?
I grew up in a family where everyone was born beign able to sing on key. My husband was "tone deaf". My firt two kids sprang from my womb singing on pitch. My last child was "tone deaf" but LOVED to sing. So when she was five I began a long process of training her ear.... I would ask her to copy a note and then say, "almost. a little higher". This took a couple of years. A success. She was in the Select Choral i High School. The voice is an instrument and one can learn to use it.
Can you develop tone deafness? I used to sing and had a naturally lyrical voice but now seem to struggle with tone.
I suspect it may be damage to my hearing. (?) Is that a possibility?
My experience is similar to Jack's, I think. I can HEAR whether something is not in tune. But when I sing, I cannot make my voice be in tune -- it is just a disaster. When I sing happy birthday, it's worse than your example. Am I tone deaf? Or just a terrible singer?
Re: #1 ... Jack: did you sing an original song, or was your band covering another artist?
Isn't there considerably less tone-deafness among people who speak tonal languages (like chinese)?
We just heard Dr. Loui tell us there's some evidence to suggest a hereditary aspect of tone deafness. Any evidence in your own family?
I think I need some help.
I am not exactly tone deaf.
I play the bass in a rock’ n’ roll band.
When I tried to sing... it was a disaster. The other members of the band suggested that next to «bass» I should write «no voice».
On the other hand, I can understand if an instrument needs to be tuned. I can also sing some tunes in the right way.
So, what's happening? Do I suffer from «selective tone deafness»?
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