The secret is not to choose your go-to song. Instead, scientists indicate there is a type of song that you will sing better than your favorite.
Have you ever encountered someone who sang karaoke terribly, unable to hit the right pitch of any song? But then, after a while, when they picked up the mic and started to sing, did you find yourself impressed by their remarkable improvement?
This friend or neighbor suddenly sings in perfect pitch without missing a note compared to the original recording – the highest level an amateur singer can achieve.
It’s possible that this person has discovered a way to “unlock” their hidden potential, a potential that scientists say can help almost anyone sing karaoke like a professional.
Singing karaoke. (Illustrative image).
A recent study published in the journal Attention, Perception & Psychophysics reveals that nearly 70% of the population possesses what they call “hidden potential.”
The challenge is simply finding a way to discover and unlock that ability. So, if you have a neighbor who has sung karaoke poorly for years, try sharing this article with them.
Who knows, they might not belong to the 30% of the population who cannot, and they may also unlock their hidden potential.
Relative and Absolute Pitch
To begin to understand the hidden potential that scientists are talking about, we must first discuss the concept of pitch perception. Most singers, musicians, or anyone involved in music has undergone a test known as pitch perception.
In this test, they are asked to identify the notes or pitches produced by various instruments – from pianos and guitars to brass instruments, and of course, vocal performances.
While most people possess relative pitch – meaning they can sing along and recognize which notes are higher than others when listening to a piece of music – only a very small number have an innate musical talent known as absolute pitch.
Absolute pitch is the ability to hear a musical note or a sound independently, just once, and accurately identify the pitch of that note.
Those with absolute pitch do not need to hear a sequence of notes played together to know which is higher; they only need to hear a single note from an instrument, a horn, or even a doorbell or car horn to identify its pitch.
Charlie Puth’s absolute pitch recognized from a cup tap.
Research shows that only 1 in 10,000 people possesses absolute pitch. Among them are famous singers like Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, or Charlie Puth.
Absolute pitch enables singers to catch the beat and match the music perfectly. They never sing out of tune and can identify whether a song has been transposed from its original recording – something relative pitch individuals cannot do.
Moreover, individuals with absolute pitch can perform acapella, or sing “dry,” without any instrumental accompaniment. All these advantages help those with absolute pitch develop their musical talents more easily than average individuals.
Only 0.01% of the population has absolute pitch
As mentioned, absolute pitch is found in only 1 in 10,000 people, which translates to 0.01% of the population. Children who do not possess this ability from a young age must undergo rigorous training to acquire it in adulthood if they wish to become professional singers or musicians.
Nevertheless, the number of people who can train to develop absolute pitch is still quite limited. A study published in the journal Music Perception found that only 4 out of 100 music students could train to achieve absolute pitch.
Another study published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience even indicated that to “reopen” the ability to learn absolute pitch, adults might need to use a drug called valproate to rejuvenate their auditory nervous system, restoring its “plasticity” to help them learn pitch better.
| Valproate is an anticonvulsant medication that has some common side effects such as dizziness, insomnia, reduced platelet count, hair loss, and impaired vision. So, it shows the extent to which you might have to go to gain absolute pitch like Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, or Charlie Puth. |
The good news is that we don’t need absolute pitch to sing karaoke.
However, the good news is that not everyone among us needs absolute pitch to become a singer. We only need relative pitch to sing karaoke in tune.
This means that the percentage of the population possessing relative pitch – to a nearly absolute degree – is much higher than previously estimated. For example, in a study published in the journal Cognition and Emotion, scientists asked volunteers to choose a “go-to song” they knew well and sing it loudly.
The results showed that 26% of the people singing their go-to song had good relative pitch. They could sing in tune or within a half step of the original recording, compared to just 8.3% of the random population.
However, that’s not the most surprising figure. Now, a new study in the journal Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics indicates that the number of people who can sing karaoke perfectly could rise to nearly 70%. The secret lies in the song and the timing of when they choose that song.
Not your go-to song, this is the song you will perform best
The new study conducted by scientists from the University of California involved recruiting 30 college students who claimed they had no musical talent and no absolute pitch, to take part in a two-week experimental process.
Participants were asked to provide their phone numbers. Then, researchers randomly sent them SMS messages six times a day from 9 AM to 9 PM.
The message simply asked them: “Is there a melody of a song playing in your head right now?”
If the answer was “No,” the volunteers continued with a survey of 19 questions about their mood at that moment.
If the answer was “Yes,” meaning a melody was playing in their head, they were asked to immediately sing that song and record it on their phone, then send it back to the research team along with a 22-question survey.
The results showed that out of 1,920 instances when students were asked, there were 462 instances where they encountered melodies playing in their heads.
Analyzing those 462 recordings, scientists found that up to 68.9% of the recordings achieved a good level of relative pitch, deviating by at most a half step from the original recording. In fact, 44.7% of the recordings had a pitch error margin of 0, meaning they were perfectly in tune.
“This indicates a surprisingly large portion of the population has latent absolute pitch” – said Dr. Matt Evans, a cognitive psychologist and author of the study at the University of California.
Songs you suddenly sing in the shower could be the songs playing in your head.
Therefore, the secret to achieving absolute pitch is to sing the song that is playing in your head at that moment, not your go-to song. Researchers refer to this song with a concept called “involuntary musical imagery – INMI.”
INMI refers to melodies that automatically appear in your brain without your conscious effort to recall them, unlike trying to remember an old favorite song. And scientists show that when you sing this song, you will achieve a better absolute pitch, closer to that of a professional singer.
What does this study mean?
First, the new study by California scientists adds evidence refuting previous theories that absolute pitch only develops in children and does not emerge once a person reaches adulthood.
Second, some previous studies suggested that regular pitch training can help an individual overcome their pitch weaknesses on their journey to becoming a singer.
However, new research shows that even without the need for training, a general population average of up to 70% may possess absolute pitch or near-absolute pitch capabilities.
“The interesting thing is that if you ask people how well they think they sang in this test, they might be quite confident that they sang the melody correctly, but they will be uncertain whether they sang in the correct key,” Dr. Evans said.
“Thus, the reality is that many people have very good pitch memory but cannot accurately self-assess that hidden potential.”
Additionally, these new findings open up a field of research into how musical memory is formed in the brain. This type of memory may differ from other memories, which are often selectively remembered or compressed in our brains.
It seems that our brains capture haunting melodies intact in our minds, what are known as “involuntary musical imagery” (INMI), distinct from everyday memories and even old musical tunes, including the songs you think you would perform best.
Future studies will further clarify these issues. For now, the experiments conducted by scientists at the University of California have indicated that your singing voice may be better than you think – and most of us have a hidden innate musical ability within our brains.
“Music and singing are unique human experiences that many people do not allow themselves to participate in because they think they cannot, or because others criticize them for singing poorly,” Dr. Evans noted.
“But in reality, you don’t have to be Beyoncé to sing. Your brain may automatically remember melodies that help you sing accurately, even though a part of you thinks you cannot do it.
As long as you confidently sing the song playing in your head, you will achieve a level of pitch perception better than your favorite song.
If you have a neighbor who sings karaoke very poorly and has been doing so for years, try sharing this article with them.
Keep this little tip in mind to remind yourself and your neighbor. When you feel like you are being tortured by your neighbor’s off-key singing, call over and ask them the exact question from the University of California study:
“Is there a melody of a song playing in your head right now? If so, please sing it for me.”
If you feel you continue to be tortured, then I’m sorry to say, your neighbor is not among the 70% of the population with hidden pitch perception. They may have fallen into the remaining 30%, those who are “tone-deaf.”
