Correcting Tone Deafness is for the modern voice teacher or choir director (or parent) who wishes to stay abreast of the most current methods in vocal pedagogy and contemplate more deeply the fundamentals of singing: hearing, listening, imagining and vocalizing. It harks back to the teachings of such great masters as Caesari, Marafioti and Lunn to inform a modern wisdom that addresses the human-emotional, and not purely mechanical or intellectual, needs of singers.

Correcting Tone Deafness is an indispensable volume for any vocal teacher who deals with pitch issues of any kind, not just those associated with what has been casually, and mistakenly, labeled "tone deafness." It unlocks the mysteries associated with intermittent, as well as consistent, pitchiness through a wholly unique, compassionate approach that encourages teachers to regard singing as a mental activity expressed physically.

It's for you!

                           "I'd love to, but it's really difficult to set aside time to read anything anymore."

Ain't it the truth! That's why we offer Correcting Tone Deafness as a book-plus-audio-book package, so you can listen to it in your car, on your phone, iPod, iPad...

[GUILT TRIP ALERT]

"That's cool, but with the price of things these days and then add shipping to that...plus, with the economy being what it is...I mean, I'd like to make the investment in my teaching and choir, expand my practice and understanding, stay current with the latest vocal methods and help all of my students learn to sing, like I said I'd do when I started teaching, but..."

ACTUALLY, through the miracle of modern technology, we're able to make Correcting Tone Deafness available as an e-book and accompanying downloadable audio-book, which allows us to offer everything electronically and at half the physical cost.

If we had to have the physical books printed, the audiobooks manufactured and then ship everything ourselves (whew!), we'd have to charge nearly

Do you have any idea how many people wish they could sing, any idea how many people have been told they can't sing but really can?

Neither do we. We just know it's a lot because so many people have told us heartbreaking stories about family members or friends or even music teachers who told them they couldn't sing, that they were "tone-deaf," couldn't "carry a tune in a bucket," that sort of thing. Even Paul, our founder, once told a student he couldn't sing and turned him away from his choir. The student felt so bad, Paul determined he would listen to that inner voice (the one we all must come to trust) for a way to help any student sing on pitch. And he found it, after a year and a half of listening for a way. Here's what happened:

One day, after addressing a group of students who had signed up for the junior-high musical, a boy from the group stayed back to tell Paul that, although he wanted so badly to be in the musical, he couldn't sing and would understand if he were not cast. Paul knew this student well, knew of his integrity, enthusiasm and character, and wanted him to be a part of the group. Paul invited the student to the piano. He played a tone and asked the student to sing it. The student sang a tone that was far from the original, so Paul played a series of tones and asked the student to sing those. Again, the student's tones were far from those played on the piano, even though Paul had selected tones he knew were in the student's range.

This was it. If Paul ever needed a sure method for helping someone to sing, it was now. Paul could see how much this student wanted to sing and how his esteem had suffered from what he believed was his "tone deafness."

In a burst of inspiration, Paul knew just what to do, and instantly the student sang on pitch!

That student went on to sing a solo in the musical and received a standing ovation but not just for the quality of his performance. He had been a part of that school community since kindergarten, and other members of the community were aware of what they thought was his "tone deafness." Seeing and hearing him sing each night with such enthusiasm and fantastic intonation moved people to stand and recognize both his voice and his achievement. That same student went on to study with a greatly-respected voice teacher in Los Angeles, "something," as he says, "I never imagined I would do," until he discovered his voice with Paul.

Since that day, the initial inspiration that helped that boy to sing has never failed to correct off-pitch singing, casually, but mistakenly, referred to as "tone deafness." Paul has expanded it, developed it and pulled it apart to look inside, but he has never needed to change or abandon any part of it.

And, yes, Paul did go back to that student who wanted to be in the choir and taught him to sing, as well.

                                                                            YAY!

                 Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
                                                                                        –Will Rogers 

The mental nature of singing

You can imagine a sound to listen to, as surely as you can imagine a song. Imagining singing is singing and the first step toward expressing singing physically...

Bodies don't sing; people sing. Without the mind, the body produces no tone. The premise from which this book advances is that a singer must be able to sing with her mind before she can sing with her body. Without addressing the mind of the beginning singer, it is useless to address her vocal mechanism. That is not to say a voice teacher must have a degree in psychology, but she must have a degree of understanding of how intimately connected voice is to thoughts and feelings, in order to lead beginning singers into song.

Hearing is a mental activity. "Dead men tell no tales." So the saying goes, but "dead men hear no tales" is equally true. A cadaver has ears but doesn't hear. Our minds are what turn vibrations into experiences–a part of life!

The term "tone-deaf" 

Precise, distinct definitions of to hear and to listen are critical to understanding how to work with off-pitch singers. The term "tone-deaf" is a misnomer for many off-pitch singers because the problem lies not with how well they hear but in how well, or how completely, they listen...Assume your off-pitch singer can hear everything you want her to hear. Then help her to value and make use of all that she hears. This is the path of least resistance.

Diaphragm, schmiaphragm!

Your beginning singer does not need support from her diaphragm to learn to sing on pitch. Telling a beginning singer to support from her diaphragm is like telling a four-year-old to water your daisies with a fire hose. She will likely interpret "support" to mean "push" and blast tones at an intensity her larynx is too underdeveloped to accommodate.

No pianos

Teach singing on pitch by singing on pitch. Do not use a piano when working with an off-pitch singer. It's like trying to teach hockey with a basketball. Your student has come to learn how to sing. She needs to listen to and watch you do it, in order to do it herself. After she has learned to sing on pitch, you may introduce a piano or other accompanying instrument. You may also employ a piano when your beginning singer's range is outside your own.

Tone on the range

When working with an off-pitch singer, it is not enough to know only the tones she is capable of producing; you must also discover the tones she is comfortable producing. All the tones your singer is capable of producing comprise her range. You naturally would not ask a singer to sing beyond her range, but it is as important not to ask a beginning singer to sing beyond her comfort zone. The comfort zone is the vocal area in which a singer feels mentally and emotionally comfortable when singing, and this is how you find it...

Imagined audiences

An adult, off-pitch singer subconsciously–and always–sings in the presence of everyone who has ever told her she doesn't have a good voice. Throughout all of your sessions with your beginning singer, let your first goal be to provide an environment in which she feels so safe, she will just sing without holding each tone up to be judged and rejected or accepted by her imagined audience. This breakthrough can happen in your presence...

Love the break

A beginning singer will often avoid tones near "the break," choosing instead to substitute more comfortable, albeit incorrect, tones.

To understand this better, imagine an artist who renders everything he sees in gray pencil. One day, he receives a box of multicolored pastels. Because he is not comfortable using the pastels, he continues to interpret the colors of the visible world through his gray pencil.

An off-pitch singer tries to interpret all the tones he hears using the limited number of tones he is comfortable producing. It is not that he doesn't hear all the tones–he is not tone-deaf–any more than the artist with the gray pencil doesn't see the colors around him. He is not familiar with this part of his range, doesn't know how to use it, so he sticks with what he knows and tries to express the musical world through his limited vocal palette. As explained in Chapter One, your goal is to make the uncomfortable areas of his range comfortable, especially the area around E-flat above Middle C.

        Be willing to make decisions. Don't fall victim to what I call the ready-aim-aim-aim-
        aim syndrome. You must be willing to fire.
                                                                                 –T. Boone Pickens