A question for people who can’t sing….

I would class myself as someone who can't sing, in so far as the basic sound of my singing voice is not nice in any way. I have no natural tone or timbre or technique. But it's not because I'm getting the notes wrong, I'm reasonably confident the notes and rhythm are OK. It's just the lack of anything beyond that.

Wow!

My singing is horrific. But I hear exactly how horrific it is. I've got a pretty good idea what the notes should sound like - I'm just incapable of producing them.

So how do you know you can't sing?

"WhenI think of middle c I can think only of head" what?

It's good to know I'm not the only one. One noise I really can't cope with is the crowd noise at soccer matches. It's just so discordant. There are a lot of songs that I can't cope with either. It's not that I don't like them - I really can barely stand the sound of them. I also can't bear earbuds or headphones. I don't like noise that close to me. I don't know anyone in real life who feels the same.

Being able to sing a middle c just from memory is actually quite difficult and not many people have perfect pitch. I’m an ex music teacher. I play an instrument but I always have to use a tuner to get it in tune as I struggle with being slightly sharp or flat. As a child I struggled to sing well apparently but thought my training and time as a teacher I’ve been expected to sing and I enjoy singing in choirs. In a group I can always sing well and in tune but as a soprano o can sit next to an alto as it puts me off. I would never sing solo into a microphone - no idea why but the sound that comes out is not what I think I’m singing. I can tell when other people are singing out of tune as my kids both like to sing and have lessons and when they practise I can tell them where they’ve gone wrong.

it’s the same as being a musician and keeping time. I can not clap out of time to music. It’s just an innate part of me to be able to move in time. However I’ve worked with children and adults who have no concept of timing and I find it fascinating.

Edited to add. I can pitch match but know a lot of people who really can’t.

That’s how good of a singer you are!

Exactly. Being able to hear a middle C in your head is different from being able to replicate it.

I'm not tone deaf, but I'm not great either and I can hear that a bit. Doesn't stop me singing for fun!

I wish! I would love to be able to sing but know I can't. I did learn to play the piano so would probably recognise middle C and can read music but it doesn't help. The notes just don't come out right. I love singing, but not in public because I was told how bad I was as a child and failed to get into the school choir.

Oh, I also can't identify instruments! Well, I could recognise a saxophone solo, or guitar solo, but for a piece of music with lots of instruments playing together I couldn't say it's a guitar and a keyboard and a bass guitar - I'd have no idea, it all just becomes one sound.

I remember being played a piece of pop music at secondary school and having to write down all the instruments we could hear. I just wrote 'drums' because that's the only one I was sure of and was really confused by everyone else confidently writing down loads of things.

I have a lot of singing experience and some training but I don't have perfect pitch/absolute pitch although I can copy notes accurately when I hear them.

I think the two skills are independent of each other.

Like others - I can tell I’m not doing it right, I just can’t make my voice actually do it!

I did do piano as a child and I remember having to sing a little bit for for the exams. I hated it but I think I was ok at it. I never got told I was terrible anyway, but I’m definitely not actually good at singing. I never got above about grade 3 I think so maybe they just weren’t very hard tunes to replicate.

I'm autistic and can sing, but I have had singing lessons for years. I believe that the voice is an instrument and one learns to play it like any other instrument.

Not at all - all sounds exactly the same to me!

yes this is a common ND trait. It’s linked to pattern recognition.

I consider myself a reasonably good musician (keyboards, guitar and also write my own stuff) but when I’m really tired I develop a very specific form of ‘tone-deafness’: I can’t tell the difference between a note and its fifth, or mess up which octave a note is in.

Sometimes if I’m transcribing a song or learning it by ear I end up playing a phrase an octave up, or playing a G instead of a C, B instead of an E etc. I think the mixing up octaves is kind of understandable but the fifths one is not one I’ve heard other people having!

Oh interesting. I can't sing. I can tell my singing is crap but I can't tell what's wrong with it or what to do differently. I'm also not at all musical.

My youngest is fairly musical and sings much better than me. She usually tells me what is wrong with my singing but it doesn't make any sense to me. I also can't identify instruments from music either (I remember finding it impossible at secondary school music lessons) and that's something she's good at.

Interesting.

I can sing and pick up languages really quickly. I am ND.

My twins often sing along together, both have short vocal ranges and not amazing singers. However if they hit a part of the song that doesn't suit their own range they automatically adjust by dropping or leaping up an octave or a 3rd / 5th (not sure what it's called) and they continue on in perfect harmony like they've rehearsed 100 times. Ds has a very deep voice, dd quite high. I think its from being a twin and so in tune literally with each other all their lives that they know how to harmonise.

I can hear when I sing off key. I don't have a good or strong singing voice, I have an embarrassingly limited vocal range and am not a singer but I generally can sing in tune. When I get a note wrong I hear it. Sometimes when I sing along to a song in my range I think I sound OK. I did karaoke a few months ago and was awful I couldn't get the right pitch and just flustered and confused so sang out of key the whole time jumping up and down the notes. I finally got there for the last 30 seconds and it was embarrassing cos I could hear how bad I was. That said karaoke is about having fun and I did have fun. I went back twice more with songs that suited me better.

It's interesting isn't it. My mum is always adamant she can't sing, despite actually being perfectly capable of replicating a note as she heard it, so I guess it sounds bad in her head. I have decent enough pitch and a good musical education, so I am reasonably confident I'm a good singer (although couldn't necessarily identify a middle c without some context!). I also have a child who is working through music grades so I'm back to practicing aural exam portions with them, and interestingly despite being a decent player her ability to hear and replicate pitch is currently quite iffy but I firmly believe that this is something you can improve with practice!

Ah, I guess if you can’t do it for every note, and can’t hear a note and say what pitch it is, then that wouldn’t be classed as perfect pitch.

I can't sing. I can hear a nice tune or lyrics and try to replicate and it just doesn't come out sounding that way or any good. I will be belting along to Hamilton in the car and the song skips and I hear myself and it's bloody terrible. I also run out of breath if trying to copy big notes, just can't do it

I know a tune when I hear it, but if I think about it I can't hear it in my head and I certainly can't sing it. I can't remember tunes, think like work blindness I have note blindness.

I can't always tell who is singing though I know, I know the song.
I am useless at music quizzes.

I can tell I am out of tune when I sing, there is no doubt in my mind, I have a deep flat voice and I can't breath properly.

I think I would be a great challenge for Gareth Malone.

I am slightly dyslexic and have very little sense of smell (I can smell sweet things but not country smells or farts - very useful life skill!) so I am wondering if that is all connected.