A friend of mine is tone deaf - he cannot sing at all, yet he tries anyway and often embarrasses me in public and in front of my professional musician friends. Sometimes, he starts on the right pitch, and after a few sentences, he's completely in a different key from the pianist! If the pianist transposes to try to catch up, he will transpose his singing again and even sing in-between keys! I have "absolute pitch" and while he obviously does not, he claims that he might since the recent discovery of my abilities. I tested him once to try to end this and out of ten tones, he "guessed" one right, one miss by the semitone, three missed by a fifth, and the rest were complete guesses with no similarity. I tried again with chords and he could not identify the root at all - and he used to be a music major. Despite this, he continues to tell everyone that he is an extremely competent musician at the end of all of my concerts and tries to take the credit for my hard work.Why does he do it?
2006-08-25 03:34:04 · 5 answers · asked by Coolperson P 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Performing Arts
He is probably jealous of you and tries to be as good as you because he is competitive. Try getting him into a sport or hobby he can have as his own that he doesn't have to compete with you to do. Maybe he'll be good and love it!
2006-08-25 06:30:51 · answer #1 · answered by ♫ singin_gurl1200 ♫ 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well as far as being tone deaf, it seems to be a growing trend among music majors nowadays, but i wouldnt push it as far as just saying he cant hold a tone while singing, i myself have that problem, spurred on by my range, and as a result, usually dont sing. Others have rythem issues and stumble off key, therefore sounding tone deaf. Whichever the problem may be, practice is likly the issue at hand. And as far as recognizing notes, i sometimes stumble, yet am still able to play music both by ear and by written music. With the right training and the want to do the hard work, where I am guessing that yearning may be missing, you may be able to resolve the problem. As far as the bragging goes, i would say sit him down as a friend and tell him that is bothers you, any real friend will realize that what they've done is making you angry and stop.
2006-08-25 10:52:37 · answer #2 · answered by Kent H 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you've probably got it right. I possess perfect pitch myself, and my roommate (in the navy) possesses some degree of tone deafness, yet is so full of himself as well, so I share your predicament.
Perhaps your friend is just reluctant to admit that he just doesn't have what it takes to be a musician, which is extremely sad if he has the passion (but not the ability to go with it). This could have been fueled in part by the tone test you conducted on him.
2006-08-27 00:23:04 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunatly someone has 'gassed' his head up and from a small child. His parents probably made him perform at parties and get togethers, and everyone cheered. So as he got older, he thought he was good. So, this will go on until he 'really' hears himself.
2006-08-25 10:42:32 · answer #4 · answered by ~2Sxy4u!~ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have the same problem with my freind. She wants to become a singer but i cannot tell her she cant sing because im worried that i would hurt her. ill let her parents talk to her
2006-08-29 08:24:24 · answer #5 · answered by Argent 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋