I studied music at university with a guy who was tone deaf, truly. He used an electronic tuner to tune his guitar, and essentially failed all the listening/singing portions of our classes. And he was an INCREDIBLE guitar player. Wild.
@@alphabettical1 I likened it to playing a drum set. Lots of distinct sounds, you can definitely really get into a drum beat, you can distinguish different beats and fills, have favourites and ones you don't like... But then when it comes to singing, everybody but you can beatbox
Singing is one of my life's joys. I would be crushed if I lost my singing voice. You've got to sing for yourself, no one else matters. As Joe Raposo once wrote: "Don't worry if it's not good enough for anyone else to hear, just sing, sing a song." We all have a song to sing. Sing yours loud and strong!😊
Take comment as encouragement to view your singing less critically, cause your voice represents who you are (It's the way you make your self heard) and even if it's not used to carrying a melody, that doesn't mean it can't. It means it's not had the training yet. You might also consider giving it training if your situation alowes. Voice lessons do work.
"And if there comes a day when my fingers dont work, or my voice loses sound, gives me grief, gives me hurt, well I swear on that day when I lose whats worthwhile, from that day forth, I never shall smile"
Don't worry. If you don't have perfect pitch or technique, a vocal coach will be your best bet. I see one. They help. Not only is my pitch waaaaaaaay better than it used to be (there was a dark time when I didn't even sing in the right octave...), but my breathing, positioning and tone as well. If you really love to sing, and that's the path you want to take, see one. You'll feel much better knowing you can improve.
Alex Greene there’s one part of his hair on the upper left (his right) that’s distracting to me at just one angle. It’s like round smooth, small angle, round smooth. I’m trying to laugh at myself for being smol-kine upset at a little break in a pattern.
I used to sing under the shower when I was young until my mom once thought our cats are fighting and screaming in the yard when in reality it was me singing 😅
it starts with 1 cat meowing but then its longer then the normal meow its extended and it doesnt sound friendly, if ur close enough you can also hear some hissing but its not going to make much more noise
@@leagueaddict8357 I've heard many fights of street cats. It's either rather quiet, like hissing and scratching and biting, or 5 minutes of intense meowing and done...
@@partacanna I used to be bad at singing and now I'm not. So my anecdote cancels yours. How did I get good, you might ask? I strengthened by vocal chords and diaphragm by belting out songs alone in my car rides to school. Eventually your vocal chords and diaphragm are strong enough to do what you intend. Just mess around if you don't like the tone, usually you just need to put more air into the note. It was really that easy, but here are some things I learned along the way: Sing with the music at a very low volume, just enough to stay in sync, but you need be able to hear yourself to make adjustments. If you didn't hit a note right, practice that interval from the note before. Conscious effort and practice does wonders, I promise. When you think you sound good with the music. Try singing the lyrics without music or just the instrumentals instead of along with the original track (MUCH harder). Start with your favorite parts and eventually you will carry over those strengths into the rest. Most importantly, have fun! Sing like no one's around, especially when there actually isn't.
@@RubixB0y but why are some people better at singing than most without practice? I used to sing constantly as a kid but never learned to sing well. I didn't stop belting when I sang until I was like 11 and the bullying from my siblings started to hit lol. meanwhile I have a friend I grew up with who did not sing nearly as much as I did and she sounds much better, and then there are 5 year olds who sing like angels. there has to be something physically or psychologically limiting me here, right?
@@grass666 I mean why are some people naturally better than others at anything? Some people are naturally talented in anything artistic, drawing, painting, cooking, writing, etc, and others have to work hard at it and really practice to become good. It's the same for singing. Hell there are some musical prodigies that can pick up playing an instrument almost instantly, but that doesn't mean it's the norm or regular people can't learn to do the same thing. Some people are just naturally good at certain things, but any one can learn to do the same with practice and effort. Almost anyone can learn how to sing, unless you have some sort of health issue to get in the way
There were two kids in my high school who'd taken years of voice lessons and were still horrible, but kept insisting on singing at people because, having worked so hard at it, they thought they were great. I wonder what part of the brain is responsible for that.
Most likely you don't :) I've only heard 1 person whose voice wasn't pleasing so much that I could say it was awful (and he was one of my professors at university) and after several of his lectures I got headaches. If people don't get headaches after you speak to them, your voice is fine :)
oh mood. Like I have great control over my voice and rarely just miss a note, and I can maintain a good vibrato too. But when I hear my own voice singing the vast majority of songs, I hate it so much. All throaty and nasal at the same time somehow
What if what people hear in their ear is not the same tone that is coming out of their mouth? In other words, they have a stronger perception of the tone that is modified by passing through the flesh of their head. Maybe they ARE on key for the dominant sound that they hear.
I actually knew someone who has this disorder but LOVED to sing! He seriously could not understand why people didn't like to listen to him "sing." He had a vocal coach attempt to work with him. The coach played a note on the piano and asked him to repeat the note. He never came close. The coach tried this sever times, and he could never get it - BUT he thought he was getting it! So sad!
While I'm trying to sing, I can't recognize how much inconsistent my voice/notes are. Then in the recordign I can hear EVERYTHING....and it's awful!!! It's like looking it with a microscope, you see all the trembling and voice cracks and weird noises at fine detail. So I sing when nobody's home 😭
I have ADHD, got Diagnosed with 27. Hearing different instruments, melodys, separating it was impossible to me. The first time I tooked ADHD meds was eye opening. I could suddenly differentiate the different instrument, seperating it, meds allowed to learn this skill. Now I can do this without medication
They can't even recognize music as anything but noise, so I doubt they enjoy it. And I agree, it would be super depressing. Though I guess it's a little better if you're born with it and don't know what you're missing.
@@SuviTuuliAllan I get your point, but if getting together to view patterns of gamma rays was a huge part human culture, and I was unable to participate in that, then I might feel a bit left out. That being said, I do think others are overestimating just how "depressing" this would be. Lack of enjoyment in one art form can be made up for by increased interest in another.
I studied music with a tone deaf guitar player (he was excellent). He could sort of perceive melody, but only how we perceive a foreign language: lots of different sounds that we hear but can't remember or repeat back. He couldn't sing back a note you played, but he could appreciate tone and tempo and rhythm and lyrics... There's lots more to music than melody.
Even worse if they are visually-impaired! A friend of mine lost his sight as an infant, but has perfect pitch both in hearing & singing, which is why we both absolutely agree that 'good' karaoke nights don't exist!
I have been singing karaoke about once a week (and it used to be much more often like 3-4 nights a week) and I have gone from being a terrible singer to a mediocre singer. There are some songs that I am able to do an okay job on, but whatever. I enjoy it, the people in the bars I go to don't hate it, and it is fun. Everyone should sing if they have fun doing it. And even if you don't sing, karaoke crowds are among the most friendly and accepting people in the world.
I have my great-grandmother’s piano from when she was a child (early 1900’s). It has a beautiful tone, but it has been tuned to B flat instead of C. When my parents brought it home in the 1970’s, the piano tuner said it would break several of the strings to bring it up to C and he hated to change the tone of it. So, B flat. When asked to pick out every C on a musical test, I always completely failed because I would pick out every B flat instead. I don’t know if that has affected my singing or not. It’s not pretty. I still love to sing, though, just when others aren’t around.
"they may have simply already forgotten the note" Damn son, you got me there. Worst part is, I can hear the freaking correct note in my head... But the brain to mouth but just doesn't always play out. Kind of pathetic since I had so much extensive musical training growing up.
I'm like that not with singing but with physical movement, like copying dance moves or martial arts forms. I can't translate what I see to my own body, for some reason. Do you by chance happen to be extremely good at physical activities? Maybe we're opposites, balancing out! XD
Sounds like me !! I've got two left feet, and I'm always tripping over both of them. As a singer... let's just say I'd make a pretty good air raid siren. No amplifier required 😁.
@@Victoria-dh9vb XD Well, you took away my hope that I had a purpose in my ineptitude, in balancing out someone else's overly-awesomeness, lol! But at least I'm not alone in that, then! ; )p
I'm curious about wheater this affects the abillity to speak tonal languages. I can't sing and I've learned mandarin as an adult, I have a really hard time correctly pronuncing the tones from reading the pinyin (the system for writing chinise pronunciation) but can learn from listening to the words and copying
Interesting. I find listening to people speak in other languages to be literal music to my ears. I can correctly pronounce foreign words that I can see someone say. I am also musically inclined. I might have read somewhere that music and language are connected?
Steph W Interesting! I'm fairly good with pitch and a half-decent singer, but am struggling with Vietnamese, language of the thousand glottalisations. On the other hand, pj's as day wear is clearly genius.
Genuinely wondering because I dont get why some people cant sing, for me its so easy, including opera etc, I've always had a powerful voice but I know many people cannot sing high or loudly....
Some voices, particularly female voices can make me feel queasy, and when hearing some other voices or certain musical harmonies, they cause me instant tears, it's really weird. But I can't sing to save my life.😥
I don't go to karaoke to hear good singing. I go to karaoke to get drunk with my friends, listen to the multitude of bad singers and the few good singers, and applaud after they are done: either cause I liked their singing or I'm glad its over. But they get applause regardless.
How does tone-deafness work in countries like China and Japan where they use tone to differentiate words as sememes? Can't they talk properly? Or is does it work differently?
So, why do most people sound terrible when they sing out loud while listening with earphones on? Or, people who experience physical pain when others sing off-key?
I love singing, i do it all the time on my own. But I'm such an atrocious singer i never do if people can hear me any more. Not being able to sing is awful
My experience says that you can practice all you want, if you are not talented, you will never be a good singer. You can get better, but you will always hear, that it's "forced". I've heard many people sing, and the ones that sang good from the beginning, we're truly the best. The ones that "learned to sound good" we're just okay. I'm sorrry to break that to you. I take singing lessons for three years now and I think if you have to "learn" it from scratch, you are not talented and therefor you will always be mediocre. If you are offended, sorry not sorry. It's like how I have to accept that no matter how much I practice, I'll never be a really good dancer. Everyone has different talents.
I used to be pretty bad but after yeeeeears of singing (i’m now 35) in my car I’ve actually become kinda ok 😛 so practice and become old that’s the secret haha! Also find bands that have a singer in the range you most feel comfortable with. I’m definitely a Maroon 5 kinda voice..
I think we need something like a sequel to this topic. Something along the lines of "why some people just can't play instruments even though they don't necessarily have amusia". I myself, in particular, can distinguish between the different 2 tones/pitch but I have a hard time remembering what's the name of that pitch/tone if presented alone. Or I just easily forget which one is C or D or just that my brain just can't tie the sound with the names/key they're called with or vice versa.
As a musician who sings and plays some instruments, I think most people who are bad at singing are bad at it because they haven't practiced and/or there's that disconnect between their vocal chords and mind. The latter is probably a case of the brain saying that the throat's C is, say, a B flat (just a physical discrepancy between the mind and throat). But for practice, it's like if you've never practiced throwing free throws. Like yeah, you've probably picked up a basketball to go play with the lads, but you haven't spent years honing that physical skill, which means that when you try to make a free throw, your body only kinda knows what it's doing, and you'll make mistakes.
If you are reading this, please search up Ice JJ Fish. He is a prime example of someone who could be a great singer/songwriter, but the notes don't come out right. Literally the human equivalent of nails on a chalkboard! But I can hear the potential if an accomplished singer sang his songs.
College music majors may major in performance, music education, music business, composition, etc. There's a minority of these students who can't replicate a tune with their voice. They do not have amusia, as this condition would seem to preclude even wanting to be a musician. Music majors in most colleges are required to take ear training/aural skills, which entails that they be able to vocally match pitch and sight-read melodies. I have been frustrated several times over the years trying to help certain students who seem unable do this. According to the video, it can be extremely difficult to pinpoint the reason. I'm glad to hear that because for the longest time, I thought I was lacking the skill (as a music teacher) to fix their problems. I hope more research is done to help musicians who can't sing!
This video is misleading. With proper technique and years of consistent training, anyone can sing. They may not sound like Elvis or a Celine Dion, but anyone can sing. Music is innate but it’s also a skill. Frank Sinatra is a great example of that. He wasn’t always a good singer he was known to be.
I'd bet it's a variety of things for people who are just bad. I've been told by a music teacher that anyone can learn, as long as they're not actually tone deaf
who doesn't enjoy a good karaoke night? uhhh, me. also, i can't sing, i may not have this condition, but i'm a terrible singer.and i don't love singing, though i wish i could, i just am not capable.
Who doesn't enjoy aa caraoke night? I don't. Not singing feels awkward and singing after being pressured into at least giving it a try even more so. Especially, when you see the others regretting it.
It isn't always a matter of practice, though. Some people's voices just don't sound nice for singing, even when on-key. My voice is a great example. There aren't may songs I can sing in-key, but even when I can, it just doesn't sound nice. Mine is not a nice singing voice. And that's okay. :]
@@wezul I ve listened on a video that almost of people could sing well if they practiced. Maybe the voices aren't good enough, but if you sing more and more you will improve
@@adaplay13 Oh for sure, I have no doubt that if I practiced or took lessons, I would get BETTER at singing. I'm just saying that even if I were good at it, I don't have the kind of voice that is nice to listen to. ;)
yeah, like i can sing in my head just fine, i can hear myself singing fine when i imagine it, and i can hear songs by actual artists really good, i can even imagine hearing an artist singing a song they've never sung before by another artist, but i cannot for the life of me sing myself
I recorded myself, and found I have an amazing voice, but a bad speech problem with my s and th Which I use to work on in speech class after getting surgery on my ears because I was deaf, Sonos I need to work on my speech before I can be a good singer
Can't carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it. Glad I'm not alone. In elementary school I was 'invited not to come back' to community choir after 2 years. My mom relayed that choir was for those who can sing or could improve. I sing my heart out while driving so apologizes if you had to hear it. I 'dance' with enthusiasm so you can giggle at that 😄
I feel like I have a very good musical hearing, not perfect pitch of course but still. However, I suck at singing and I realise how off I am when I sing, but I just can't control it, I don't control my vocals. Exactly like what you described with larynx and so on
Does scishow have a required words per minute so that people can keep up? I feel like all the hosts do a good job keeping a pace that most people can keep up with.
I’ve had a few years of formal musical training, and I have a pretty good ear for music. I can usually sing on pitch pretty accurately, even by myself. I’m more of an instrumentalist than a singer though. I get more enjoyment from playing piano or guitar than I do from singing. Part of that might just be because I don’t like my singing voice that much though.
I can't remember musical pitch, only broad range: Low, Middle, & High. Nor can i tell if the same note is played on two different instruments. If you play two similar notes on the same instrument side by side, I will probably be able to tell you which is higher, but not always. Sometimes music that sounds good to others sounds "off-key" to me, and vice versa. So I am not tone deaf, but it is not just practice. Other people can hear music better than me.
@@VeronicaGorositoMusic I suspected someone would suggest I need more practice. I cannot produce a note with my voice since I can't hear if it the same or different to a note played on an instrument, so my only choice is to use an instrument like a piano. I had one for the first 36 years of my life and used to play with it all the time. I still can't reliably tell you if two similar notes played upon it are higher, lower, or the same with any reliability. Even seeing the notes played didn't help me hear any difference.
@@philwood5288 Try something different... hold your hand on your throat, and the other hand on the back of an upright piano. Have someone press a note within your talking voice pitch. Then hum raising or lowering until the vibration in your throat feels the same as the vibration on the back of the piano. Some people that are completely deaf learn to sing this way. You then need to practice matching the vibrations over and over until you create memory to match your voice vibration to the piano vibration.
@@voiceofreason9258 Yeah, my high school music teacher was frustrated that I just can't hear pitch. All the techniques you describe gave no result after four years. Music was required in my school from 1st form to 4th form (year 7 to 10). There is nothing to match to. You are trying to teach a colour blind person to tell colours. They just do not have the same senses as you do. I like music - beat and melody, but tune just isn't there.
@@VeronicaGorositoMusic I am an IT guy. I find it hard to understand that some people just can't see a code structure in their mind. You are a music person. You find it hard to understand that some people just can't hear well. Please understand that some people cannot do things you find natural. It is not training, it is not practice, it is the differences in human biology.
@@philwood5288 so you are saying that you also can not feel vibration frequency differences through touch in your hands either (does not involve hearing). Interesting.
That's me, I was given a pity c- just to let me get my GER's It sucked because I'm the only one in the family with no musical ability But I compensate, I love music and because I'm not distracted by different tones I hear more separate instruments. Music is a beautiful foriegn language full of color and motion.
Is there any chance that some people just truly don’t have any voice for singing? Cause I love music, recognize pitch, am really good at impressions because I have such good contrôle over my voice/larynx , yet I cannot sing in a way that is pleasing to anyone lol.
Singing is a whole topic of its own! Singing talent of any kind can only go so far, even people born with great voices must practice to improve. Truth is, almost everyone can sing but not everyone can sing well. However, anyone/everyone can improve - there are many people who thought that they sounded horrible before but had improved a lot. It just takes some dedication :)
I hate that I can sing I literally love to sing. And it makes it worse that when I sing from what I hear myself I think I sound good. But when I record myself singing I sound so bad..
Hey, don’t give up on it if you love it. If you don’t want to get vocal coach you may have to put in a little work yourself. When singing, try listening to what you think you do well in, then try to distinguish what you may need to improve on in the recording. If you just can’t tell, that’s fine - just keep trying this method.
The only person I ever met who was truly tone deaf could play the guitar well but could not tell that when he sang along with his playing he was completely out of key. That’s different than what this video suggests. Music was meaningful to him but he could tell that his own tone was off. Can you be deaf to only the sounds you are making?
I acutally never heard of the concept of being tone-deaf, and never really thought about it even though I can't sing; considering tones and melodie... Really interesting video, personally, I would "confirm" that I just can't produce the sounds I hear ... and can't really remember melodies that are more complex. :D
I was a pretty good singer when I was young. Then I hit my second puberty at 13 and my voice is permanently cracked, and hasn't changed in the 19 years since. I always wanted to be the frontwoman of a band, but that dream is long dead...
Simple answer: they don't have relative pitch. Relative pitch is a musician's term. You can sing a note, then, every following note is exactly (or the opposite) 'tuned' acording to the first one. You can't fail this way. Best live musicians have this ability, because when failing a note, it'ss instantaneously recognized and corrected, because it's compared to the internalized first note. You have to practice INTERVALS first, in order to reproduce ''right'' notes. Then, you just ''feel'' them without thinking. You can not only hear, you really feel when you're off key. That's what a mere musician does: feel the note, and express those emotions, in music.
Again, I really like this host, but I ALWAYS have to speed the videos up to 1.25, because his vocal delivery is slow. He seems to have the positive personality that fits the 1.25 speed though.
I’m really worst singer ever and I don’t care! I sing because I like it and I’m happy and sorry if your ears are bleeding. Don’t hate me because you’re not me.
I've told myself so much that I can sing to the point where when I try to sing i either whisper or no sound will come out so I ended up searching up if there's a such thing as a singing disorder lol 😂
I have a feeling one of my relatives has slight amusia. I could play a song she knows on my horribly out-of-tune, broken piano and chances are she won’t know the difference. Meanwhile I’m sitting on the bench cringing.
Hmm, it sounds like I'm not tone deaf then, but I wouldn't say I can hear differences in pitch "just fine" as the video indicated either. I CAN hear differences in pitch, but only striking ones. Subtle differences sound pretty much the same. Perhaps related, perhaps not, I'm also 'deaf' to subtle differences in the way words, especially foreign words, are pronounced. I can't count how many times someone's tried to help me pronounce a word right by slowly repeating, and I just don't get how the thing I'm saying isn't the thing they're saying...and a few times I've had someone say, "No, you're saying ___, but it's ___"...and yeah, what THEY'RE saying in those two instances sounds identical too.
My ex wasn't able to tell the difference between a major scale and a minor scale (or chords or arpeggios, no variation worked). Not even the level of "this one's happy, the other one's sad" - despite having "learned" the piano for 10 years(!!?). He enjoyed music though, I can just guess for more than just the rhythm.
On the topic of experiencing music...so I had watched the older video on Scishow-plain on ASMR and was wondering if that is the same as a "frisson." What are the differences between ASMR and a frisson? I admit not diving into the primary lit for this, yet, but my causal searches via Ecosia/Google only lead me to some Reddit threads and a BuzzFeed article. I definitely can experience the sensations best described as a frisson when listening to my favorite tunes but would that be the same as ASMR? I've listened to ASMR tracks and I find the ones with environmental sounds as really calming background audio while working alone, but I don't get those 'ASMR' tingles. Is there a physiological/neurological difference between frissons and ASMR? Has there been any new literature on ASMR since the older vid or any on frissons?
I love music so much and singing karaoke☺🎶🎧🎤on my phone "Smule"just for fun of course.I am not perfect but hope I don't hurt others ears🤭.There are a couple of people I know ,that no matter how much they sing the same song over &over ..they sing in one tone always😖🙉I think they do not recognize the different pitches or they just don't care to try to sing it right.🤷
I can sing at low volume, but besides my friends nobody likes my singing voice. I've played back my voice on a recorder and I hate both my talking and singing voice. I can't describe it. I'm not squeaky. The closest to it would be a child's voice but that's not quite right. I also have a poor lung capacity and even can't scream. If I scream on a roller coaster for example, no sound comes out of my mouth. Also can only give a quiet whistle, though I've tried plenty for a whistle that's loud. I had to take speech lessons when I was a little kid and to this day my mom says I don't always speak clearly when I'm talking. Also could never wrap my mind around musical notes (written and spoken) in a classroom setting [nor math I'd also mention]. I've always been "hard headed". I learn but it takes forever and my patience is short. I am jealous of people who learn so fast they believe they have photographic memory.
My babies used to cry when I sang lullabies. I know I can’t sing. If I could change one thing about myself, it would be hard to decide between perfect vision or perfect pitch.
OK but now I want to know if people with amusia can't hear the difference in pitch in non-musical contexts, like tonal languages. Do Mandarin speakers with amusia basically have a speach impairment? I'm sure they'd understand fine (we deal with homophones in English even before we're literate and can understand just fine based on context, so if they can't differentiate they just have extra homophones) but I imagine it would be pretty hard to learn to reproduce the different tones!
