I wholeheartedly agree with Stephanie. Judy's position that tone deafness is a myth. She makes this clear in her book, Making Music for the Joy if It Tarcher Press, ISBN 0874775930

It stands to reason that a person who can't hear pitch probably couldn't understand spoken language. He or she might be able to recognize individual words, but it's unlikely that the meaning of sentences could be understood.

Consider the following two sentences: "You did fine," and "You did fine?" Each contains the same three words. The only difference between the two sentences is the spoken pitch. The voice lowers throughout the statement "You did fine," offering an expression of reassurance. In the second example the pitch rises through out the length of the word "fine?" thus conveying a questioning expression of surprise or disbelief.

Linguists know that the meaning of sentences change dramatically depending the pitch inflection of various words or phrases. (For instance, as we all know, in English most questions end with an upward inflection) .

We constantly rely on pitch recognition to convey and determine meaning. In order to converse fluently you must be able to hear pitch and speak with pitch. So it follows:

- If you can communicate verbally, you can hear pitch.
- If you can hear pitch, you're not tone deaf.
- And since you're not tone deaf, you can learn to sing, and you can learn music by ear!

There are many instances of pitch in our everyday activities. People sing musical intervals without even knowing it. For instance, when a person hollers out the supper call, "Am—y! … Din—ner!" invariably they sing each pair of syllables in a descending minor third. Ask a self-proclaimed "tone deaf" person (anyone who claims they can't sing) to give a friendly call to their pet from afar. When they yell out the name, "Skip-per! … Skip-----per!" they will probably sing a descending minor third. And if they call twice in a row, they may transpose the minor third a whole tone higher as they "sing" the call the second time. (People don't always sing this a descending minor third when calling — but the longer they hold the first syllable, the more likely that they will.)

Indeed this is a lengthy opinion to append to a short book review. But I wish to underscore a significant point. In they're youth far too many people were told by teachers and choral directors that they were "tone deaf." I've heard so many sad stories. Like the music teacher who asked each student to stand in front of the class and sing to determine if they were qualified to practice along with the class. If they failed to perform well, they were instructed, "Don't sing! Just move your mouths and pretend to sing! The rest of us will carry it." Worst of all, this "lip-sync" restriction applied not only to performances, but to practice time as well!

How were these students ever to improve? What if a math teacher asked each student to stand in front of the class a solve a single math problem? Then those who struggled to produce the correct answer were instructed, "You don't do math! Just wiggle your pencil while the rest of us study and work." Clearly this would be a case of a teacher failing to perform his or her job. But somehow, year after year, countless music teachers have brushed students aside who needed attention the most. (Who knows, maybe if there were public math performances, and if the math students performed before the friends and family, math teachers would opt for "pencil wiggling' over math education.)

What's worse, regarding the stories above, some students performed poorly only because they were nervous. Not many people sing their best when they're put on the spot and asked to stand and sing in front of a group of their peers. Probably few of them had ever sung solo before. Other kids fail when a teacher forces them to sing outside of their natural vocal range, or simply because they couldn't quickly find the first note! And some failed simply because they had never heard the song — they'd been absent the previous day when it was taught to the class.

Given a firm admonition to remain silent, the very ones who most needed the opportunity never got the chance to practice singing during class. Countless singers of unlimited potential have been excluded from developing their talent and have been made to feel deficient.

Later when they tried to sing, many of them found that indeed they had less skill than their peers— this makes sense, their classmates had lots of practice; they didn't. Unfortunately, at some point, many would conclude that the teacher was right -- that they weren't good singers.

For many, so it goes throughout life. Their undeveloped potential keeps them from trying, practicing, and participating. Lack of participation keeps them from improving.

Perhaps something like this happened to you. If so, it's truly a shame. Much like our innate ability to develop language, people have an innate ability to sing, but for most it flourishes only with good example in a supportive environment, and these skills are most easily achieved at an early age.

Whatever the case, if for any reason you think you can't sing, or if you've been told you can't, don't believe it. It is a skill that you can learn — and you can do so at any age! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Even if you think your speaking voice is unbecoming, don't doubt your potential for singing. I've heard individuals with an unusual speaking voice who have a fantastic voice in song.

If you pursue singing but have trouble learning to use your voice, have faith. You just need more opportunities, perhaps some good guidance, persistence and patience.

And a final point. While you don't have to sing to play a musical instrument, it's very helpful. Nevertheless, I've known many people who don't sing, and won't sing, but make great strides with a musical instrument.