What happens in the brains of bad singers?
October 4, 2016
Soumya Radhakrishnan
All of us can recognize bad singing whether we are musically trained or not. At the same time, musicians who play instruments sometimes, cannot sing, despite having the musical aptitude. This article talks about the complex phenomenon of singing.
The majority of self-diagnosed bad singers aren’t quite as inept as they think. Even though nearly all of us are equipped with the biological hardware to produce a broad range of notes, bad singing is rampant. Singing is a complex expression. The majority of people, around 60 percent, have a difficult time with it. Some people with musical aptitude struggle to carry a tune.
What is bad singing and what causes it?
Bad singing has a scientific definition. It involves a deficiency in three areas: pitch accuracy, the ability to keep time and note memory (remembering the words and how long a note is sustained). Most people, regardless of musical training, are quite good at two of the three elements: timing and note memory. That’s why we can still recognize the song someone is trying to sing, even though we might regret hearing it.
The usual cause of bad singing is a problem with pitch accuracy, also called intonation. Being off by more than a half semitone (50 cents) is considered weak singing.
Most people really cannot carry a tune. Bad singers just have bad vocal cords (more accurately, vocal “folds”). The muscles in their throats were not to blame, and they were all physically capable of hitting a note.
Bad singing could also, be a matter of perception: Maybe people weren’t hearing the notes correctly, to begin with. Or it could be a difficulty with motor control — bad singers couldn’t control their vocal cords enough to duplicate what they heard. Error correction — the brain’s ability to compare its output against a target and adjust its activity in response — was at the root of the problem.
Our brains have the potential to signal the voice to produce the correct note but have mapped out the wrong output to match a perceived note. Our brains are quite good at perception, which is why so many of us enjoy listening to music without being great musicians. But those same brains give our vocal cords faulty instructions. The term for this error is the imitative deficit. The brains of bad singers associate a note we hear with the wrong muscle movement in the voice. The wires are crossed. Our ear knows better, which is why we cringe when we hear ourselves, but we cannot quickly reprogram our brain.
So, what is the solution? The age old wisdom: consistent and persistent hard work.
Remapping the brain is possible, but for adults it can be a very laborious task, requiring practice every day for years. Practice, practice, practice. A good vocal teacher and patience will help.