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That's why we sing!

As if by the interference of the divine forces, in two seemingly unrelated events, coincidences happen. In the first, the name Giorgio Moroder was mentioned within a span of a day (after not having heard the name mentioned since the 90s). In the other, two podcasts featured on the same topic - speech difficulties and singing. The general understanding is that stammering and singing are apparently not compatible. Unlike 'The Who' who came up with their 1965 hit song "My Generation', where the lead singer tries to sing with a stutter, the general consensus is that stammerers cannot string the words before the next beat. Wrong.

 In a documented case, as can be heard in the podcast below, an Indianapolis local resident, Ellen Spencer, was admitted for a neurological condition and came out of the hospital with a slurred speech. Even though at one look, her speech may sound like a French-accented English but on greater scrutiny, she had problems pronouncing certain syllables and had a bad lisp. Having no French ancestry or sojourn outside the country, her condition became what was considered a medical mystery. It was later found that she was suffering from 'Foreign Accent Syndrome'. As her life did not revolve around reading dialogues or reading news, her life went on by. She was thankful. However, she could still sing like an angel like she always had in the church, with all the right pronunciation, intonation and perfect pitch as well as modulation of voice. Amazing.

 In yet another instance, a young man from Mumbai, Aditya Narayan (a.k.a. Aditya N.), with a stuttering problem faced a lot of difficulties trying to convince people in the Indian music industry to take him in. Despite his handicap in not being able to string complete sentences without hesitations, he persevered. Testimony of his achievement is his CV includes being amongst the doyens of the multi-billion movie and music industry. On top of all that, he sings, as seen in the link below the photo.

 The wiring in our brain is somewhat different between speaking and singing. When one speaks, the sentences are strung in a particular manner which is open to choices. In singing, however, vocalisation works in tandem with preset beats and rhythm and not so open-ended. Hence, there is no pressure for all thoughts to be squeezed out through a single sentence. Perhaps, the brain is having difficulties of coordination as too many are trying to come out. Maybe, stammerers are teeming with ideas, and they have problems putting the best one forward.

 N.B. Ed Sheeran, the two time Grammy Award winner, has the same stutter problem.

BBC Podcast: My Indian Life by Kalki Koechlin


https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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