Tone Deaf

[J Patrick Draine]

>Just a slight detour off the perfect pitch thread.
>I don't have perfect pitch and have no concept of how it's achieved.
>But what's even more inconceivable to me is being  tone-deaf.
>How is this possible?
>
"Tone deaf" is a term used very loosely, most commonly to indicate 
that the individual feels completely ignorant when it comes to things 
musical. For example, parents who have no notion as to how their 
wildly out of tune piano should sound, but they've called the tuner 
because their child or the child's piano teacher has 
requested/demanded it. They probably aren't particularly disabled, 
they merely aren't paying attention to the situation, and have seldom 
been exposed to a nicely tuned (and voiced) piano at close range.
"Tone deaf" may also be a label given to those who have neither 
"perfect pitch", nor "relative pitch". Most folks with some level of 
relative pitch can sing along with reference to other singers' pitch, 
etc. "Tone deaf" folks may drift out of key, crash and burn awfully, 
etc. In the latter situation it may just be a bad case of nerves.
My 2 cents worth.

Patrick Draine