“I am tone deaf. You are non-auditioned, but you don’t understand… I am TONE DEAF! DID YOU HEAR ME? ARE YOU DEAF? I am TONE DEAF!!!!!!”
Tone deafness: Definition (from Wikipedia): “Tone deafness is the lack of relative pitch, or the inability to distinguish between musical notes. Being tone deaf is the difficulty of being unable to correctly hear relative differences between notes that is not due to the lack of musical training or education.”
I am going to challenge this notion that tone deafness is something innate that is “not due to the lack of musical training”. Do we all have different levels of talent with music? Yes. Do we all have different levels of talent with anything? YES. Some of us a mathematical, others are kinetic, some are intuitive, others are logical. I admit it, I am not a natural talent when it comes to gardening. Does that mean I should never pick up a pitch fork or a flower bulb? “Oh but, I am completely agrnonomically challenged”…
There is this fear in music of being ridiculed for being “tone deaf” so those who think they are, are very quick to be self depricating, so as to avoid embarrassment.
Having worked with people over the years who think they are “tone deaf” has made me realize that this is an over-diagnosed symptom. It is one that comes from lack of musical training, specifically vocal training, not from a innate inability. This then develops into a full fledged insecurity, mental blockage which can often last a lifetime.
I have what is commonly called as “perfect pitch” – “absolute pitch” is the PC word… not a blessing but a curse in many ways for musicians. People confound this with great musical ability when really it is simply the ability to recognize frequencies as certain pitches. Can I “sing an A”… no. That is a different skill altogether. Sure I flew threw ear training in university, but to be honest I have met pop, folk, gospel and blues singers who have better natural ears than most of my university colleagues, who do not have “perfect pitch” nor do they have a theory degree in music. The ability to hear a note and sing it, is a skill that you develop. It is a muscle memory, you hear this note, you cognitively recognize that note, and your brain tells your vocal cords exactly how to constrict to re-create that pitch.
I was at a workshop recently where someone said to the clinician, “I am tone deaf”… the voice teacher asked this person to sing 5 notes, C, D, E, F, G… the person sang C,C,C,C,C… he then whistled 2 notes and said “can you whistle those notes?”… the person did just so, perfectly in tune. The teacher then said “well, if you were indeed tone deaf, how could you have known to match those two notes?”. This got me to thinking that we often as musicians and teachers confound the concept of tone-deafness with lack of musical talent. When really… the ability to replicate pitch is only a skill. Some of us have better skills and some of us have lesser than skills.
Musical pitch replication and musical talent are not synonymous, and I will never understand why community choirs audition singers to make sure they can sing “on pitch”. f Personally I would much prefer to have lively people with great spirit and enthusiasm, and who love to sing in front of me each week, (many of whom by default are fabulous singers) than those who I have screened to have a skill which is irrelevant to the act of “Playing music”. Playing music should be just what it is… “play-ing”. My job is to bring out the best in each singer regardless of musical training and skill. Music is all about passion, love, and joy, and skill can be developed over time. Passion is far harder to come by.
