Originally Posted by dcuny
But this singer has caught on to my ploy. So if he's got trouble singing his part, his first thought is that the problem is that the key has changed, rather than the more probable we're all getting older and he's not listening closely enough.

As a youngster in church, I quickly figured out that my Dad and my Uncle Rich (seated a few pews back) weren't just singing loudly because they were into the hymn.

No, each was trying to out-sing the other.

To them, singing was a competitive sport. crazy
David, we seem to be talking past each other.
I can’t add meaningful value by drawing conclusions or offering opinions about the individual people close to you. Even if I tried, such conclusions would only apply to them, not more broadly. That’s called anecdotal and subjective and not what science is interested in.

I, and Levitin's book are more interested in how science seeks to understand the generalized big picture. In this field, that means longitudinal studies, brain imaging, animal research, and cross-cultural observations. The book that we’re discussing here aims to explain how humans experience music and which areas of the brain are responsible for processing, interpreting, and enjoying it.

So while your uncle Rich and your dad may have a personal singing competition going on, I can’t see how that fact contributes to the scientific knowledge base about music at our species or brain level. Science isn’t interested in individuals unless they are so exceptional that they warrant specific investigation; think of the interest in dissecting Einstein’s brain, for example.

The paper I shared by Graham Welch illustrates this point: the initial phase of the study assessed 3,510 children across 77 schools. A sample of that size provides far more insight compared to two individuals in a singing rivalry or one person who has figured out your piano ploy.

Of course, exceptions exist, but exceptions don’t make general conclusions. The weight of the data does. And one conclusion that many have made is that humans, even young children, can blend and emulate in singing when a simple song (like Happy Birthday) is started in an unpredictable key. It suggests that music, and our ability to understand and produce it, is deeply rooted in the brain. As far as we know, crayfish can’t do this. 😊

And who knows? Could it be that we all come out of the womb with some innate understanding of music? If so, an A440 basis is where I’d put my money 😉

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For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.