Bad Singer

Book cover of Bad Singer: The Surprising Science of Tone Deafness and How We Hear Music

Book description

In the tradition of Daniel Levitin's This Is Your Brain on Music and Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia, Bad Singer follows the delightful journey of Tim Falconer as he tries to overcome tone deafness - and along the way discovers what we're really hearing when we listen to music.

Tim Falconer, a…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Bad Singer as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Adriana Barton

Author

Like most readers, I like my science sandwiched between stories.

Tim Falconer delivers a winsome tale of a writer diagnosed with “amusia"—the clinical term for “tone deafness”—who nevertheless longs to sing. Bashful yet determined, he delves into the science of auditory deficits and musicality on a quest to uncover why he can’t sing in tune, and whether anything can be done about it.

I couldn’t help but cheer him on as he endures remedial singing lessons and a nail-biting buildup to a public performance. Will he pull it off? And is there hope for other bad singers out there? I…

From Adriana's list on memoirs on music that explore the agony and the ecstasy.