Michelle Albert wrote:
>First off, Congratulations Emily on achieving your masters in voice and best of luck with your future aspirations. > >Your question was, >>> is there such a thing as "tone deaf"?<<< > >I think there is such a thing as tone deafness and there are other professionals better equipped to deal with it than singing teachers. And true tone deafness, like colour blindness is not "curable", rare though it may be. (If it can happen after a head injury then surely you can be born with it too.) > >What have other's experiences been? > Michelle, I have had similar experiences with "tone deaf" (ahem) kids and thinking I could get past any difficulty in a kids singing desires. I used to figure that if a kid wanted to sing bad enough he/she could accomplish it as if by magic. And I was sure I had the talent to help them to learn. (Wrong!!!) I even put everything I had including time into a totally deaf girl who wanted to learn to sing. I would never repeat that one. The frustration was much too much. I nearly quit teaching I was so discouraged. But then I decided upon auditions. If kids wanted me to work with them then they had to audition. If they failed the audition (couldn't carry a tune in a bushel basket) I refused to take them. And if I did take them, if they did not practice between lessons, with warnings naturally, I would ask them to find another teacher. Since I have now been training kids who want to sing professionally, their auditions are intense, and I will not take them if they don't pass all three. And even then I have problems. I just returned today from one 11 year old who made it all the way through the audition process, who had a great desire to be the best singer she could be. I have been working with her for two months (3 hour sessions once per week) and, as her mother said to me, "A----'s voice has improved so much. I can't believe she has come this far in this short a time." Then she called me a miracle worker. I'm not, of course. I just give then the right tools and they apply them. A---- told me today that her friends tell her, her voice has changed and so she recorded herself singing and said that her voice isn't hers anymore. Her mom and I tried to tell her that puberty does funny things to voices and changes them. I told her that her voice will change many times between now and 21 with or without vocal training. But now she's not sure she wants to continue. We left it up to her to make a committment. She has a tremendous amount of talent. I'd hate to see her give up because of a few remarks by "friends."
Any other experiences?
Dr Dean
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