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On the fourth page he talks a bit about inability to sing a certain note. My first ever exposure to learning an instrument was a particularly cruel violin teac
by lvturner 7y ago
On the fourth page he talks a bit about inability to sing a certain note.
My first ever exposure to learning an instrument was a particularly cruel violin teacher - before he would let me pick up the violin he pressed a note on the piano and have everyone sing it. Everyone could do it, except to my shock, me.
We went through this routine for weeks, (while my friends were actually being taught how to play their instruments) every time I sang I knew I was singing the wrong note - the problem wasn't that I couldn't hear the note, it was that I couldn't replicate it with my voice - I also couldn't fathom what the relationship between singing and violin playing was (and still couldn't until I wrote this up where I see now that it is obvious, but hilariously misguided) - but I persisited, fighting back tears of frustration until I eventually got right.
I still can't play violin - but I do have a lifetime hatred of singing.
- markvdb 7y agoPro guitar teacher her. TLDR: Pitch skills are incredibly hard to reliably improve. Inability to vocally reproduce pitch is a reliable filter for limited musical talent, _but_ it should always be used together with other filters because on its own, it produces some very important false positives. Your teacher was being lazy filtering students based on just that filter. He was probably trying to discourage you from continuing to study with him. That's cruel, the opposite of what a good teacher should be, whatever your abilities. You being able to catch the right frequency, but not being able to reproduce it by voice is very rare, but not unheard of! Anecdotal evidence: I had a friend at music conservatory with perfect pitch hearing, and zero pitch control of his vocal cords. Our professors came to this conclusion in very early screening. Another interesting to know is that there are incredibly many pro musicians who have less than optimal pitch recognition. I'll tell you even more: most are bad at recognising chords, let alone imagining them. I can tell, because I'm in the top decile of pro musicians on this. And before you think I'm bragging, I'll admit I'm situated much lower when it comes to fine motor skills...
- lvturner 7y agoYes - it took me a long time to realise he was cruel and lazy, years later I picked up the saxophone and was always lauded for my intonation. I can hear the notes (and I also seem to be way more sensitive to key clashes than anyone else I know) I just can't sing very well.