But I Can't Sing! Well Then... Learn.
06/12/2024
If you struggle with hitting the right notes, feel like you just can’t seem to sing in tune or even believe that you’re “tone-deaf”, I’ve got some insights that might help you out. In a recent Ask-Me-Anything webinar, I dived into this topic that a lot of us can relate to.
What we discussed in the webinar is packed with valuable, science-backed tips that can help you improve your pitch accuracy.
But before I dive into the tips… Let’s not use the term “tone-deafness” anymore, and replace it with “amusia”. Calling somebody “tone-deaf” is just rude and judgemental; and the effects judgement will have are far from helpful!
How Did This Topic Come Up?
This whole conversation started because of a question from Tamara, a member of The singsing! Sofa Library. Tamara is both a singer and a voice teacher, and she asked, “How do we teach those who don’t have a good sense of pitch?” She described working with students who struggle to hit the right notes, no matter how much they practiced. After a lot of work with solfège, scales, and intervals, she was still left with the same question: “Why can’t they improve, and what can I do to help them better?”.
This is a great question, and if you’re a voice teacher, I’m sure you have asked yourself the same question at some point! So, during the webinar, I gave my answer, based on what I have learned from Dr. Boris Kleber, a neuroscientist at Aarhus University, department of Clinical Medicine – Center for Music In the Brain.
His work has completely shaped how I approach this topic in my voice studio. I am incredibly grateful to Dr. Kleber for giving me permission to share what I have learned from him with you.
Poor Pitch Singing, or Amusia?
Some people have no trouble hearing the difference between notes, but simply can’t reproduce them correctly. Dr. Kleber calls those people poor pitch singers.
But then, there’s a small percentage – around 1.5% of the population – that has amusia, a condition which makes it impossible to hear the difference between notes. People with amusia don’t even regognize whether a melody is going up or down. It’s a cognitive disorder of information processing in the brain, meaning that the brain doesn’t process musical pitch the way it does other sounds. For example, people with amusia have no problem with recognizing aspects of speech.
I explained in the webinar that the brains of people with amusia do perceive the difference of the two notes, but they are not aware of it! They have a lack of conscious access to what they have perceived, because the info doesn’t transfer from the auditory cortex to other brain areas. So you might call amusia a “disconnection syndrome”.
People like Theodore Rooseveld and Che Guevara said they didn’t care about, didn’t enjoy music – and they also didn’t sing well. Sounds logical, right? You need to be able to process music in order to enjoy it!
But Why Can't I Sing on Pitch Even Though I Can Hear the Difference?
First things first: It’s not your fault, it’s simply how your brain works. Don’t worry, you’re not doomed to be off-pitch forever! The issue doesn’t necessarily lie in your hearing. It’s more about how your brain maps the sounds it hears to the motor control required for hitting the right pitch. So no, ear training will not necessarily help.
Your brain processes sound in various areas, not just the auditory cortex. The processing also happens in places responsible for visual recognition, memory, emotional responses and much more. It might be that the communication between these areas is interrupted in your brain.
Let’s not forget, singing is a learned motor skill. So, if you’ve been told you can’t sing since you were a kid and you believed it, it’s no wonder you felt discouraged and gave up. Subsequently, your brain may have just “shut off” the neural connections necessary for accurate pitch production. This negative reinforcement may have prevented you from using the muscles you need to improve your pitch accuracy, leading to a cycle where you get worse at singing, even if you weren’t naturally a poor pitch singer to begin with.
If you don’t use a muscle, it atrophies. For example if something hurts, you stop doing the movement. So you become worse at that movement. If you believe that you’re “tone-deaf” because of bad feedback, you’re not going to use the muscles. That results in you being “a bad singer”, even though you are not. It’s like any other skill: if you don’t use it, you lose it. But this can be retrained! We talked about how to do this elaborately in the webinar.
Is There Hope For Me?
Amusia makes it impossible to ever sing in tune, no matter how much training you undergo. But remember: Only around 1.5% of the population has amusia! And those people probably don’t care about music anyway – remember Theodore Rooseveld and Che Guevara At least 50% of the population sings “accurately”, which means that they sing at least 90% of all pitches correct.
The rest are poor pitch singers that can absolutely be trained to improve their pitch accuracy! The good news is that vocal muscles and neural connections can be strengthened again with practice. Consistent, focused training can help rebuild pitch accuracy. The not-so-good news is that it requires a lot of time and patience from both you and your teacher.
The key to making lasting changes to your pitch is consistency. It’s not about being perfect every time. If you try to rush the process or give up too soon, you’re only going to get frustrated. In the webinar, we discussed how every little bit counts, even if you feel like you’re not making progress. The brain is adaptable, and with regular practice, those neural pathways will strengthen. Trust me, your pitch will improve, but you need to stay patient and consistent.
So How Can Training Help Improve Poor Pitch Singing?
I already mentioned that poor pitch singing is not a matter of bad ear training. An interesting study by Zarate et al from 2010 showed that recognizing pitch training made the hearing improve, but NOT the singing. Because processing auditory feedback is only one part of the game. You have to process it in context with the motor task!
It’s all about remapping the sensory information (the sound you hear) to your motor actions (how you produce that sound) and the association with the whole body perception. If these elements have not been trained correctly, then they become very established in their faulty ways. This means that all of this happens automatically without attention. So in order to correct this, we need to work on attentional refocusing, breaking up the sensorimotor feedback circles, because they’re really embedded in the brain.
Dr. Kleber’s research from 2010 shows that an important key is kinesthetic feedback, feeling your body’s movements and how it relates to the pitch, rather than relying on what you hear. It’s like learning to ride a bike by feeling the balance of your body, rather than only listening to instructions about balance. If you focus on how it feels to sing in tune, you can actually improve your ability to do it.
If you’re a voice teacher working with poor pitch singers, I suggest even removing the auditory feedback entirely by for example headphones with white noise to ensure that they don’t hear the sounds they’re producing. This will help them direct all their attention to the kinesthetic feedback while you guide them towards balanced and comfortable singing.
Watch the movie “The King’s Speech”, based on the true story of Britain’s King George VI overcoming his stammering for inspiration!
Last but not least, I suggest also experimenting with directing the singers’ focus towards visual feedback with programs and apps like Sing & See and voice-controlled games. And what about lax vox? For example, guide the singers you work with towards awareness of how the bubbles in the water react when they change the airflow they’re sending through the tube or straw while singing.
Talking about games… Playful exploration is the way to go! Research shows that learning through play is the most effective strategy for learning every kind of motor task. Watch the webinar for much more practical tips on how to work with poor pitch singers!
The Power of Constructive Feedback
In the webinar, I emphasized that the right kind of feedback is essential for improvement. Instead of being judgmental or critical, the teacher’s feedback should be constructive and encouraging. It should point out what the singer is doing well while also gently suggesting areas for improvement, without making them feel bad about their abilities.
Positive reinforcement helps build confidence and motivates to continue practicing and improving their singing, rather than giving up. So, the message is clear: Avoid harmful labeling and instead focus on encouraging growth and progress!
Like I said before, we need to avoid the sole focus on the produced pitch. So, once you introduce the auditory feedback again, praise the balanced movement in their belly, the stability of the sound, the comfortable feeling in their troat, the game they’ve accomplished by voice-control, their tongue position, the continuous bubbling in the water bottle,… and NOT the pitch. Their pitch will improve “magically” alongside all of this.
So, there you have it. If you’ve struggled with pitch, know that it’s not a matter of being “tone-deaf. Poor pitch can be improved with patience and consistency!
I want to give a special thanks to Dr. Boris Kleber, whose research on the brain and musical ability formed the foundation of this presentation, and I’m grateful for his permission to share this knowledge with you.
If you’d like to learn even more tips about singing in tune, including how Dr. Kleber’s work applies to all of this, make sure you check out the full webinar recording available to members of The singsing! Sofa Library.
I lead these Ask-Me-Anything webinars once a month, and members get to participate for free. Join us to get access to the recordings of all the webinars I’ve ever led and hosted, not just this one. I can’t wait to see you there!
This session was a great add-on to my voice lessons with Sarah!
M.J. Johnson - Singer & Voice teacher
M.J. Johnson - Singer & Voice teacher
Susanne Vahle - Vocational singer
Susanne Vahle - Vocational singer
Susanne Vahle - Vocational singer
Susanne Vahle - Vocational singer
Ariane De Dom - Vocational singer
Ariane De Dom - Vocational singer
Ariane De Dom - Vocational singer
Ariane De Dom - Vocational singer
This session was a great add-on to my voice lessons with Sarah!
M.J. Johnson - Singer & Voice teacher
M.J. Johnson - Singer & Voice teacher
Bec Tilley, Voice Coach & Singer
Bec Tilley, Voice Coach & Singer
As always, feel free to send me your thoughts, questions, and feedback in the comments below this blog, via the contact form or in the singsing! online community
Cordially,
Sarah