{"id":48552,"date":"2017-10-24T19:58:52","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T23:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=48552"},"modified":"2017-11-02T14:17:46","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T18:17:46","slug":"feature-think-you-cant-sing-science-doesnt-believe-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/10\/24\/feature-think-you-cant-sing-science-doesnt-believe-you\/","title":{"rendered":"FEATURE | Think You Can’t Sing? Science Doesn’t Believe You"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo:
If you think you can’t sing you’re wrong: A singing story (Photo: Jason Rosewell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I<\/span>\u2019m tone deaf. I can\u2019t sing.<\/em> It\u2019s usually accompanied by a smile or laugh, but the message is both clear and absolute. And wrong.<\/p>\n

Lorna MacDonald is Professor of Voice Studies and Vocal Pedagogy at the University of Toronto, and she puts it even more strongly. \u201cThat\u2019s a blatant lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of all creative endeavours, singing is perhaps the most poorly understood. To the chagrin of vocal teachers everywhere, singing is the one pursuit where you will be told, you can\u2019t sing, so don\u2019t bother.<\/em> Parents will readily pony up the resources for acting lessons, or soccer, but when it comes to the ability to sing, many people are still under the impression that it\u2019s something magical \u2013 you either have it, or you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

A study of undergrads at Queen\u2019s University, found that about 17 percent reported themselves as being tone deaf. It\u2019s such a common fallacy in our society that it has led to a world of singers \u2014 the small minority \u2014 and non-singers \u2014 the vast majority. But is that really based in reality? Science \u2014 and those vocal teachers \u2014\u00a0 say no.<\/p>\n

Sean Hutchins is the Director of Research at Toronto\u2019s Royal Conservatory of Music. His lab looks into how music affects the mind, and how the mind affects music, in essence. He calls singing a \u201cstructured coordination of vocal muscles\u201d at its most basic level. \u201cJust like any type of muscular activity, it\u2019s amenable to practice. We know that practising motor control can help. You can certainly learn to be better.\u201d As he points out, speaking is already a form of muscle control. So, why is it that our society has put singing into such a rarefied category?<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the reason that there has been a source of anxiety over singing is inadequate music education.\u201d He points out that in older generations, in particular, the sole emphasis was on performance. When school children who couldn\u2019t naturally hit the right notes, rather than training them, they would simply be told to mouth the words, and not sing at all. \u201cThere\u2019s no better way to make sure someone is bad at something than to tell them they can\u2019t do it.\u201d In contrast, at the Conservatory, they\u2019ve studied children who begin singing lessons, and even a year of instruction produces definitive results.<\/p>\n

\"Monica
Monica Whicher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Monica Whicher, a teacher at the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School, Lecturer: Voice Studies at the University of Toronto, and an active performer (soprano) grew up in a small town with a mother who was a vocal teacher. She saw the fallacy of tone deafness firsthand from an early age. \u201cSinging is not this far off, unattainable thing. After one or two lessons, they changed their minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also quickly understood the need for adequate training. \u201cPeople want to enjoy the way they sing,\u201d she says. \u201cThe obvious benefit of instruction for non-professionals is better confidence.\u201d Monica points out that singing instruction is a process, and that you can\u2019t push for it all at once. \u201cYou have to get your ducks in a row, and understand what those ducks are.<\/p>\n

Lorna MacDonald cites breath, posture, and vowels as the essential elements that are integral to vocal training for anyone. \u201cIt\u2019s very much a physical process,\u201d she explains. \u201cOur larynx isn\u2019t necessarily made to create those beautiful sounds, any more than our legs were designed to kick soccer balls.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about physical conditioning, in other words, and exploring the interior architecture of muscles and bodily forms that produce the sound to improve coordination. \u201cWe get to know our bodies well,\u201d she says, \u201cwhat we have control over, and what we don\u2019t have control over. When you learn an instrument, you have to know how to put it together. In singing, we have an instrument we can only sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

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