[Dixielandjazz] Are you tonedeaf? - TEST

[Charles Suhor]

I don't know this test but decades ago the Seashore Test of several 
musical abilities was fashionable. Trouble was, it isolated elements 
like pitch, timbre, rhythmic memory. etc., in little Martian-sounding 
snippets so that there was no telling how the test-taker functioned in 
either hearing or performing in real musical contexts. I gather that 
the same flaw exists in this test. The Seashore Test was an okay rule 
of thumb but unreliable in that some very accomplished and famous 
musicians did very poorly on it, and students who did poorly were often 
unjustifiably deflated if they weren't warned about its unreliability.

Charlie


On Dec 7, 2006, at 11:42 PM, Gluetje1 at aol.com wrote:

>
> Thanks Dick,  This site was certainly interesting to me even  though it
> brought as many questions as it answered.  The  first test seemed to my
> understanding to be a test of musical memory, not of  tone deafness.  
> Also curious about
> the reliability of the test.  I  tried it yesterday while in my usual
> rattle-brained mode, scored low normal on  the first test.  That made 
> me mad to put it
> simply.  So tried it again  tonight in a more focused mood and scored 
> twenty
> points higher, or in the range  that the designer says, "excellent 
> musicians
> rarely score above".  Then for  the first time I tried the second test 
> which is
> on pitch perception--which  is my understanding of what it is to be 
> tone
> deaf; i.e., not to be able  to discriminate very well between pitches. 
>  And boy
> was I surprised by  where he has the average plotted which is at 3.98 
> hertz.  He
> presents 16  herz as a semi-tone difference from middle C.  Then when
> musicians talk of  quarter tones they would be speaking of 8 herz 
> difference,
> correct?  And  the population average is twice as good as that?????  
> Hard to
> believe.  I suppose I have listened far too long (and  indiscrimately) 
> to bent notes.
>  Course if it works like the first test  and I try again in 24 hours, 
> maybe
> I'll beat the average.
>
> Any comments from music educators who have taken a look at this?   The 
> site
> developer says he is a junior med student--just ask some  PhDer some 
> time how
> good a researcher the usual junior med student is in  their eyes.  
> Starting a
> war and chuckling.
> Ginny
>
>
> In a message dated 12/6/2006 4:11:11 A.M. Central Standard Time,
> d.sleeman at hccnet.nl writes:
>
> Hallo  Musiclovers!
>
> Some learned person developed a test to ascertain whether  you are 
> tonedeaf
> or not - or just a little. In case you're not sure about your  
> faculties in
> said region or if people doubt your abilities, visit
>
> http://jakemandell.com/tonedeaf/
>
> and find out!
>
> What  will they think of next??
>
> Dick Sleeman, Lelystad, Holland.  <d.sleeman at hccnet.nl>
>
>
>
>
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