I want to make music too!

Tone deafness and (how to) guides on conquering it

Hello Zeilver here, back again from King George’s Music Academy!

Today we are bringing to you the second episode of a brand new series we like to call- The Knowledge Pearls Initiative (The KPI).

The KPI would be bite-size knowledge content centered around music, music creation as well as music playing.

Wish to improve your music knowledge? Wishing to learn more about questions that are rarely explored upon? You have come to the right place.

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THIS WEEK’S

KNOWLEDGE PEARL

Tone Deaf: How do I OWN it?

OK, the title may have been a tad misleading, but the truth is that people who think they have tone deafness can actually be trained!

So... just to refresh the knowledge on “tone deafness” we are going to be taking a Quick time leap back a week:

*time travel noises*

“Tone Deafness”

is a very misused and misunderstood concept.
is usually poor pitch recognition which leads to not being able to tell different notes apart.
True Tone deafness, is known as Amusia, occurs only in 1 of 20 people.

Or… you can just read the article here.

Can Tone Deafness be cured?

Let’s jump right in and say:

YES! As mentioned earlier, Amusia is rare (present only in about 4% of the population).

Quick test: How to know if you are not suffering from Amusia?

Can you recognize and sing/hum along to your favorite song if someone were to play it?

If your answer is yes, then it’s just likely that you are just lacking in music training and that’s totally trainable.

< disclaimer: please consult a local physician/doctor if you suspect yourself having Amusia as we aren’t medical professionals. >

The Pearls

How do I train?

First off, let’s identify some issues that can cause people to think they are “tone deaf”.

Overpowering Voice

Do you speak with a BOOM? Do you make drill sergeants flee whenever you so much as raise your voice a lil’?

People with loud voices are mostly unaware that they are speaking loudly unless you were kind enough to enlighten them.

How does this make them tone deaf?

By having an innate loud voice, whenever you sing, you would sing at the usual volume as per your speaking volume.

This results in the inability to sing at a louder volume without going off pitch!

Simple diagram to help in your understanding:

Normal volume = Loud
Singing volume = Loud
Having to sing Loudly = Loud & out of tune

HELP ME!

Calm down~ This isn’t something that can’t be fixed. Somehow if you have realized that yes, you have an overpowering voice- congratulations! You are able to project your voice better, the more you train !

For now, make a conscious effort to speak at a much lower volume. As you get used to your new way of speaking, your tone control will improve over time as well.

(Random Fact: Even Musicians [YES, EVEN US] sometimes think they are tone deaf because of their inability to sing in pitch. It’s all in your head!)

Untrained Voice and/or Ear

Are you someone that can hear what you need to sing but can’t replicate it?

… Or perhaps people are telling you that your singing is hitting all the right notes at times and you have no idea what is going on?

As Amusia only occurs in a small percentage of the population, many of us go around life believing others telling us that we are “tone deaf”.

But in fact, it is just our voice and/or ears being untrained that’s causing this issue.

How does this make them tone deaf?

By having an untrained ear, it just means you can’t hear if you / someone else is singing at the correct pitch; while having an untrained voice, it just means that you cannot sing the notes you are hearing in your head!

HELP ME!

Like all issues, this is not without a solution too.

Learning an instrument

Most musical instruments, just like the Human Voice, have a remarkable range of pitch.

By learning to play an instrument, you learn to understand and master the pitches of the instrument. By doing so, the human voice is no different in terms of application !

A good comfortable instrument to begin your ear and voice training can be a Piano or a Guitar as:

They cover a wide range of pitches as there are voice types.
All instruments are born of the piano; which solidify your music knowledge if you have piano as your first instrument

I hope with this article that you will be reassured that even YOU have as much music potential as anyone else, and not dismiss yourself as tone deaf when you are just untrained.

Searching for classes and unsure where to go for quality one on one classes?

Have a look at ours here!

Thank you for coming to our KPI this week!