Singing from memory unleashes a surprising super power: you remember the precise key of your earworm:

https://phys.org/news/2024-08-memory-common-musical-superpower.html

@evamarie
I'm not at all surprised to learn this. I've always found this to be the case, even if I couldn't name the key.

@evamarie
One thing not mentioned is that many people who think they "can't sing" may be able to audiate the song in the correct key, but are not able to physically vocalize what they are hearing in their head at the same pitches. That can happen for different reasons.

@voltronic

That would be me 😁

@evamarie
We can rebuild you. We have the technology.

In all seriousness, you aren't broken. You just need the right teacher to help you.

@voltronic @evamarie John Bell used to say that if you hadn't learned to sing as a child, someone had stolen your song. I.e., if you needed help to sing and no one helped you learn, that was a theft of joy.

@t_heislen @voltronic @evamarie
That limits singing to a certain pre assigned standard.. we must recognize that singing comes in many forms.

@JazzCrafter @voltronic @evamarie I did not (and neither did John) intend to imply any standard other than the confidence to sing out.
Sorry if you misunderstood.

@t_heislen @voltronic @evamarie It's OK.. I just wanted to add a different, creative angle to this.. I have met those who, through many other activities, actions, thoughts, art, dance, meditations, quiet kindness and understandings .... "sing."

@JazzCrafter @t_heislen @evamarie
If I may redirect back to the kind of singing most people understand:

The greater harm / trauma I have encountered far too often in my years of teaching music are people who were told at a young age that they cannot or should not sing. Unless there is a physical problem with your vocal tract or you have a rare neurological condition where you cannot differentiate pitch or timbre, you can sing.

@voltronic @JazzCrafter @evamarie Yup - that's it. By the way Herald Stark, with whom I was privileged to study (and namesake of the Nation Assn of Teachers of Singing Library), believed the very same thing.