Bad Singer: The Surprising Science of Tone Deafness and How We Hear Music

by Tim Falconer

Overview

In the tradition of Daniel Levitin’s This Is Your Brain on Music and Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia, Bad Singer follows the delightful journey of Tim Falconer as he tries to overcome tone deafness — and along the way discovers what we’re really hearing when we listen to music.

Tim Falconer, a self-confessed “bad singer,” always wanted to make music, but soon after he starts singing lessons, he discovers that he’s part of only 2.5 percent of the population afflicted with amusia — in other words, he is scientifically tone-deaf.

Bad Singer chronicles his quest to understand human evolution and music, the brain science behind tone-deafness, his search for ways to retrain the adult brain, and his investigation into what we really hear when we listen to music. In an effort to learn more about his brain disorder, he goes to a series of labs where the scientists who test him are as fascinated with him as he is with them. He also sets out to understand why we love music and deconstructs what we really hear when we listen to it. And he unlocks the secret that helps explain why music has such emotional power over us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487002305
Publisher:	House of Anansi Press
Publication date:	06/05/2018
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

TIM FALCONER is the author of Bad Singer: The Surprising Science of Tone Deafness and How We Hear Music, which the Globe and Mail named to The Globe 100 Best Books of 2016. He’s also written books on activism, our love-hate relationship with the car, end-of-life ethics, and parenting. Falconer teaches creative nonfiction at the University of King’s College in Halifax, is a faculty editor in the literary journalism program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and taught magazine journalism at Toronto’s Ryerson Universityfor two decades. A former writer-in-residence at Berton House in Dawson City, he returns to the Yukon as often as he can, but lives in Toronto.

Table of Contents

Side 1 Music and Human Evolution

Track 1 "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" 3

Track 2 "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)" 9

Track 3 "For the Sake of the Song" 29

Track 4 "The Harder They Come" 47

Side 2 The Science of Tone Deafness

Track 5 "I've Got News for You" 63

Track 6 "Tell It Like It Is" 83

Track 7 "Can You Hear the Music" 99

Track 8 "Blue Highways" 117

Side 3 How We Hear Music

Track 9 "Cum on Feel the Noize" 141

Track 10 "Wordy Rappinghood" 161

Track 11 "Small Change" 181

Track 12 "Come Undone" 199

Side 4 Unlocking a Surprising Secret of Music

Track 13 "Teacher Teacher" 221

Track 14 "If I Only Had a Brain" 237

Track 15 "Smells Like Teen Spirit" 247

Track 16 "Higher Ground" 259

Bonus Track: "Silver and Gold" 277

Endnotes 289

Acknowledgements 311

Index 315

About the Author 327

What People are Saying About This

John Colapinto

In his journey to understand why, exactly, he can't hold a tune — while having the ears and taste to appreciate great singing and songwriting — Tim Falconer takes us on a deeply absorbing journey into the worlds of brain science, singing coaches, music psychologists, ethnomusicologists, and into his own keening, music-loving heart. Bad Singer is a fun, fascinating, beautifully written, and strangely moving tale of a melodically-challenged man who yearned to sing. And it has much to say about the mystery of how music moves all of us, good and bad singers alike.

From the Publisher

PRAISE FOR TIM FALCONER AND BAD SINGER:

“Bad Singer deftly combines a memoir of Falconer’s personal musical history with a scientific look into how humans hear music.” — Maclean’s

“A remarkable story of dogged determination to prove his own body wrong and, as such, is one of the more illuminating cultural studies of modern times.” — Globe and Mail

“An engaging, step-by-step look into how scientists study tone deafness . . . an essential tale about how human beings, even those of us with tin ears, can’t help but be drawn to music . . . Over the last decade there have been a number of books published about the science of music — such as Daniel Levitan’s This Is Your Brain on Music, Oliver Sacks’s Musicophilia, and David Byrne’s How Music Works — and Bad Singer is a doubly successful effort because it doesn’t retread the same ground of these books, with Falconer couching his subject in a personal journey that’s enjoyable to follow.” — National Post

“In his journey to understand why, exactly, he can't hold a tune — while having the ears and taste to appreciate great singing and songwriting — Tim Falconer takes us on a deeply absorbing journey into the worlds of brain science, singing coaches, music psychologists, ethnomusicologists, and into his own keening, music-loving heart. Bad Singer is a fun, fascinating, beautifully written, and strangely moving tale of a melodically-challenged man who yearned to sing. And it has much to say about the mystery of how music moves all of us, good and bad singers alike.” — John Colapinto, author of Undone

“Falconer’s self-deprecating humour keeps Bad Singer’s tone lighthearted and as entertaining as the photos of him hamming it up as a singer on the book cover. Lines like ‘I’m a bad singer. And deep down, it matters’ produce an undercurrent of sorrow, but far more pronounced are his curiosity, vulnerability, and perseverance. It’s a deeply human book, and his most personal.” — Quill & Quire

“An engaging tale.” — Winnipeg Free Press

“Falconer is old school in his traditional approach to journalism. He conducts lengthy interviews and fluidly articulates complex scientific concepts. He’s the protagonist yet he doesn’t digress into self-indulgence. The result is fresh, intelligent prose. While he may be a bad singer, he’s a thorough researcher and gifted raconteur. What Falconer lacks in pitch he makes up for in curiosity and passion.” — Toronto Star

“As a reader you can’t help but empathize with Falconer as he struggles through his singing lessons, learning to control his voice even though he can’t always hit the pitches. And you cheer him on when, at the end of his quest, not exactly cured of amusia, he finally faces his audience — and the music.” — Montreal Centre-Ville Magazine

“A fascinating read that combines personal narrative with scientific and cultural research.” — Chart Attack

“A spirited, even adventurous look at the mysteries of how the human brain perceives and processes sound — and even, on occasion, manages to make beautiful music.” — Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

Falconer’s self-deprecating humour keeps Bad Singer’s tone lighthearted and as entertaining as the photos of him hamming it up as a singer on the book cover. Lines like ‘I’m a bad singer. And deep down, it matters’ produce an undercurrent of sorrow, but far more pronounced are his curiosity, vulnerability, and perseverance. It’s a deeply human book, and his most personal.

Quill & Quire

Bad Singer deftly combines a memoir of Falconer's personal musical history with a scientific look into how humans hear music

Maclean's Magazine

Falconer is old school in his traditional approach to journalism. He conducts lengthy interviews and fluidly articulates complex scientific concepts. He’s the protagonist yet he doesn’t digress into self-indulgence. The result is fresh, intelligent prose. …While he may be a bad singer, he’s a thorough researcher and gifted raconteur. What Falconer lacks in pitch he makes up for in curiosity and passion.

Quill and Quire

As a reader you can’t help but empathize with Falconer as he struggles through his singing lessons, learning to control his voice even though he can’t always hit the pitches. And you cheer him on when, at the end of his quest, not exactly cured of amusia, he finally faces his audience-and the music.

Montreal Centre-Ville Magazine

...a fascinating read that combines personal narrative with scientific and cultural research...

Chart Attack

In his journey to understand why, exactly, he can't hold a tune — while having the ears and taste to appreciate great singing and songwriting — Tim Falconer takes us on a deeply absorbing journey into the worlds of brain science, singing coaches, music psychologists, ethnomusicologists, and into his own keening, music-loving heart. Bad Singer is a fun, fascinating, beautifully written, and strangely moving tale of a melodically-challenged man who yearned to sing. And it has much to say about the mystery of how music moves all of us, good and bad singers alike.

author of Undone John Colapinto

an engaging, step-by-step look into how scientists study tone deafness… an essential tale about how human beings, even those of us with tin ears, can’t help but be drawn to music…Over the last decade there have been a number of books published about the science of music – such as Daniel Levitan’s This Is Your Brain on Music, Oliver Sacks’s Musicophilia, and David Byrne’s How Music Works – and Bad Singer is a doubly successful effort because it doesn’t retread the same ground of these books, with Falconer couching his subject in a personal journey that’s enjoyable to follow

National Post - Jay Hosking

Falconer is old school in his traditional approach to journalism. He conducts lengthy interviews and fluidly articulates complex scientific concepts. He’s the protagonist yet he doesn’t digress into self-indulgence. The result is fresh, intelligent prose. While he may be a bad singer, he’s a thorough researcher and gifted raconteur. What Falconer lacks in pitch he makes up for in curiosity and passion.

Toronto Star

An engaging, step-by-step look into how scientists study tone deafness . . . an essential tale about how human beings, even those of us with tin ears, can’t help but be drawn to music . . . Over the last decade there have been a number of books published about the science of music — such as Daniel Levitan’s This Is Your Brain on Music, Oliver Sacks’s Musicophilia, and David Byrne’s How Music Works — and Bad Singer is a doubly successful effort because it doesn’t retread the same ground of these books, with Falconer couching his subject in a personal journey that’s enjoyable to follow.

National Post

Bad Singer deftly combines a memoir of Falconer’s personal musical history with a scientific look into how humans hear music.

Maclean's

An engaging tale.

Winnipeg Free Press

A remarkable story of dogged determination to prove his own body wrong and, as such, is one of the more illuminating cultural studies of modern times.

Globe and Mail

"In his journey to understand why, exactly, he can't hold a tune – while having the ears and taste to appreciate great singing and songwriting – Tim Falconer takes us on a deeply absorbing journey into the worlds of brain science, singing coaches, music psychologists, ethnomusicologists, and into his own keening, music-loving heart. Bad Singer is a fun, fascinating, beautifully written, and strangely moving tale of a melodically-challenged man who yearned to sing. And it has much to say about the mystery of how music moves all of us, good and bad singers alike." – John Colapinto, author of Undone

"Bad Singer deftly combines a memoir of Falconer's personal musical history with a scientific look into how humans hear music." – Maclean's

"an engaging, step-by-step look into how scientists study tone deafness... an essential tale about how human beings, even those of us with tin ears, can't help but be drawn to music...Over the last decade there have been a number of books published about the science of music - such as Daniel Levitan's This Is Your Brain on Music, Oliver Sacks's Musicophilia, and David Byrne's How Music Works - and Bad Singer is a doubly successful effort because it doesn't retread the same ground of these books, with Falconer couching his subject in a personal journey that's enjoyable to follow" – National Post

From the Publisher

2016-12-06
"I'm a bad singer. And deep down, it matters." Falling down a rabbit hole in B-minor, Canadian science writer Falconer (Magazine Journalism/Ryerson Univ.; That Good Night: Ethicists, Euthanasia and the End-of-Life Care, 2009, etc.) explores all that bad singing entails. The author grew up in the golden age of pop music, but he lacked the ability to carry a tune. As he writes, his siblings were similarly unable to distinguish notes and pitches, to the point where one sister could not even tune a guitar well enough to take the lessons that might have given her a fighting chance. Once grown up, Falconer marched into practice rooms and laboratories to figure out what's taking place between the ears—and, to boot, what's happening at the intersections of music and technology. We don't really need to sing in order to enjoy a song, he writes, "any more than we need to paint to enjoy Vermeer or Monet or Basquiat." But that equation doesn't quite hold up, since we don't gather around to group-paint but do, as Falconer notes, come together in song—or at least once did, since group songs are harder to come by, given the fragmentation of the market. Back on topic and in quest of the dulcet tone, the author examines the neurological and physical tricks that go into our ability to match pitch to voice control—to sing on key, that is, a talent not everyone has. At the far fringes of his amiable researches are amusiacs, those who for whatever reason cannot process music but few of whom admit as much lest "other people will consider them inhuman." At the nearer edge are such wonders as software that allows even the most tone-deaf among us hit the notes, tortured though they may be in real life. So look out, Kayne…. A spirited, even adventurous look at the mysteries of how the human brain perceives and processes sound—and even, on occasion, manages to make beautiful music.

Kirkus Reviews