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Subscribe to RSSMathieu takes dorky dancing to a whole new level. Not only does the Canadian graduate student not get into the groove, he can't even clap in time to the music. That's because he's beat-deaf.
Beat-deafness is when your arms, legs and body can't move in sync to music -- and you can't tell if another dancer isn't in the groove, either. (And it's different from the brain chemical we wrote about earlier this month that messes with your moves.) Plus, you have a hard time recognizing the "strong beat" in music. While many people feel like they have "two left feet" or "no rhythm," in Mathieu's case, some of his concerns are valid. He's not only a mess on the dance floor, he also has trouble clapping in time -- or tapping his fingers or foot -- to the beat of a song.
Scientists recently wrote up Mathieu's musical misfortunes in a paper considered the first documented case of beat-deafness. (Researchers identified him only by "Mathieu.") It also may be the first documentation to show that the majority of the population really is capable of synchronizing their body in time to music.
The researchers believe that beat-deafness is a newly-discovered form of congenital amusia -- the most well-known form of this condition is tone-deafness. Beat-deafness is rarer than tone-deafness, and is likely a quirk in brain connectivity between the auditory cortex and inferior frontal cortex. Both beat- and tone-deafness likely have a genetic origin, explains Jessica Phillips-Silver, a postdoctoral researcher with the International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research at the University of Montreal and the study's lead author. "Even babies can feel the beat of music," she says, so considering how uncommon a disorder it is, she was surprised to find a real case of beat deafness and confirm it in the lab.
This research, to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Neuropsychologia, recruited volunteers who felt they can't keep a musical beat. Most participants had some musical training, including Mathieu, who had music, voice and even dance lessons. He also has no intellectual or hearing problems.
In one experiment, the researchers looked at how well 34 adults, including Mathieu, could bounce up and down to a Merengue beat, and they compared these results to keeping tempo with a metronome, a ticking device that marks musical time. Although Mathieu and his fellow participants did well bouncing to the metronome, he was totally out of sync -- and bounced too slowly -- to Merengue.
In another test, Mathieu was asked to follow the beat when dancing with a partner, which he could do. But when told to dance alone -- without a partner's moves to mimic -- he had no rhythm.
So, maybe he wasn't digging the tunes? Researchers then had Mathieu and 10 others dance to the beat of eight different kinds of music, everything from rock and swing to techno and world. Mathieu's timing was off with five of eight musical genres. (Ironically, he moved reasonably well to the song "I Like to Move It.")
Mathieu doesn't completely lack musical talent. He can sing in tune and has a lovely voice, says Phillips-Silver.
It's worth noting, there are some subtle differences between being beat-deaf and being a rhythm klutz, Phillips-Silver explains. On the one hand, consistently failing to clap in time at a concert might actually be a diagnostic criterion for beat-deafness. "This is something that Mathieu describes -- he actually had to watch other people clap, to imitate them," Phillips-Silver says. "Being on the beat requires the kind of anticipation that comes from perceiving it in the music and knowing when to expect the next one. So he never was able to keep up."
But those women in your Zumba class who insist on stepping right when everyone else is lunging left probably don't have a genetic excuse."Those gals could be just struggling with the coordination required to perform the routine and do it in time with the music," Phillips-Silver says.
While there's no remedy yet for Mathieu's beat-deafness, researchers now have a better idea of what it looks like. Phillips-Silver hopes future study will help scientists to understand how music is processed in the brain, and how people synchronize to music and to each other, when dancing.
Know someone who's totally beat-challenged? (Or is that someone you?) Tell us about it.
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I am one of those. In the Army, even with Left, Right, Left, Right I was always just a little bit out of step. Love music, but can't maintain a beat. Friends don't understand because it comes naturally to them. Oh well, all things considered it's not a very serious problem, just an interesting condition. Glad there is finally a name for it.
No, as I stated on March 3rd:
I disagree....as your dance teacher, you are fine with rhythm, you just aren't as spry as you used to be!
Now this article makes a lot more sense relative to whether or not a person can dance or not than the previous one (http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/03/6172473-cant-dance-brain-chemical-throws-off-your-groove). The GABA one before might have prevented you from learning the waltz easily, but it said nothing about looking spastic / out of synch to everyone else. This article and Bob's comment above is exactly what I was talking about in my comments on the GABA article - you either feel a beat inately or you don't - and to be clear I'm not taking a shot at Bob. He might not be able to maintain a beat, but he still appreciates music!
i am, myself, the beat deaf.. i sent you an email. can you read it? i'm suffering cuz of beat-deafness.. :'(
I have been told I dance like robocop...honestly I think robocop has more rhythm. I can identify with the person that said they had a hard time learning to march in the Army as that was my biggest challenge too.
actually i found an e-mail of Jessica Phillips-Silver. how am i able to get some answers of my questions. should i send an e-mail to a certain address? i really am suffering cuz of beat-deafness. is it impossible to cure it?
It was a long time ago, but I can still remember Remedial Marching. Embarrassing to say the least. Never was able to get the hang of it.
Now I know the name for my disfunction - beatdeaf. I had piano lessons but was missing the beat. When dancing I had to watch others to get the rhythm. I have many more examples.
I could never hit a baseball, get the cymbals to hit at the right moment during the Star Spangled Banner in high school, dance to any kind of beat, do any of these group exercise classes etc etc. Oh Well. No cure, no huge loss, just a better understanding.
I have a small problem with the way the study was done. It relies on participants who already feel they have a problem keeping time. When they come into the study they know it is for "beat-deafness" and they know they will be measured on their inability to keep time. They could be consciously or subconsciously making a poor show of it in the tests, exaggerating their clumsiness out of a desire to impress the scientists or legitimize their lack of skill.
There needs to be a way to blind the test to the participants and provide some incentive to clapping in time or following a beat. The participants also need to be randomly selected to compare the performance of normal individuals to any beat-deaf individuals. They could be given a questionnaire that includes questions about their own feelings on their ability, but they shouldn't be made to feel that it is their time keeping that is the subject of the study. They could also be made to perform visual tests for example as a way of confusing them to the nature of the study. The study should also include beat learning. Can these people actually practice and improve their time keeping? They shouldn't just be tested right out of the box due to some people's prior experiences with music or dance, which would make them perform better. A truly beat deaf person would show an inability to learn rhythm over several trials regardless of prior experience. Only then will we know if there are people who really do perform in a statistically beat-deaf way.
Wow, someone commented who actually knows what they're talking about. Must be snowing in Hell right now.
I would gladly take part in a study like that... even though I already know - and I'm guessing others who have this syndrome - already know that they have it. I have never been able to keep a beat. The only way I can clap in time is to watch others - and still it's a struggle. I tried being a pom pom girl with the band - and totally couldn't march or keep time. I actually flunked the test in elementary school they gave to see if I had an aptitude for band - and I think I was the only one that had done that! Embarassing! I can dance if holding onto a partner - well, maybe not dance, but shuffle along with them, anyway. I admire when I see others who can clap - but I can't tell you how many times I got in trouble in elementary school when the teacher thought I was messing around when I couldn't snap my fingers or clap my hands in time. I was a good student otherwise. I think most of my siblings also fall into this category. Sad. Where is the test? Sign me up!
I'm wondering is there any slimmed down test that we could use online? That would be great - even if it was just to give a general indication on whether I might be in the ball park of 'tone deaf'.
I'm currently doing a swing dance class - and I just don't get it, I don't get beats, rhythm or time. I knew it was going to be difficult because I had tried salsa a couple of years ago (didn't get it, gave up. And tried to play guitar numerous times (with lessons) but I can't even play a simple tune). I find it really, really hard as when I leave my swing dance class that I’m doing, I feel IMMENSELY frustrated, angry and disappointed in myself because I don't get what everyone else is getting. The frustration is almost unbearable. I have my class tomorrow night, but I’m thinking of not going - it has beaten me (excuse the pun!). Giving up on something is really soul destroying too... But I think this is what I must be suffering from, and if it is, well then why put myself through the agony. It so disappointing because I really wanted to learn how to dance. I knew I’d never be an amazing dancer, but I thought I could learn a few steps and improve my social life (in a new city) in the process. It would be great if someone could develop some sort of short, interactive online test that might indicate there is at possibility of being beat deaf. Any suggestions anyone for some kind of improvised test...?
Sorry, obvioulsy meant 'beat deaf' above, not 'tone deaf'...
Is it possible to be beat deaf and tone deaf at the same time? I know what it feels like to have to watch the crowd clap to make sure you're clapping in sync with the rhythm, can't dance because I'm always offbeat with the music. Can't sing either -- always off key and can't carry a tune. I can't even hear that I'm off key when I try to sing along. It's horrible. I actually lip-synced my way through four years of concert choir in high school.
I think a large number of caucasians suffer from this unfortunate condition -- just check out the lounge at the nearest hotel -- LOL!
P.S. I'm caucasian
Race has nothing to do with it.
When it comes to musical rhythm republitards are at a total loss. I rememer Reagan at a church in which everyone was singing and clapping to the music and Ronnie boy was clapping completely and totally out of rhythm and has a "I'm so lost" ook on his face.
I agree. I don't think this is a reliable study. Furthermore, I don't believe in the conclusion that this is a genetic predisposition.
"If you can walk, you can dance."
It is a lie when people say they have no rhythm. If you didn't have rhythm, then you couldn't walk, couldn't speak intelligibly, drive a car, or perform other normal functions. They all rely on one's ability to perceive and anticipate sounds and movements occurring within a temporal framework, and to act within that framework.
I agree that certain people are rhythmically challenged (I am a drum teacher; I know it well), but I have found it is purely a question of practice. If the person never learned to perceive rhythm, it's because they weren't exposed to it as a young person and never felt the desire to do it.
As a drum teacher, you've obviously had a lot more experience with beat-deafness than I have. But as much as I wish I could agree with you, my experience has been different. I've been studying music since I was a kid, learned to play piano from age 5, and can keep a beat without a problem. My husband however, has also been involved with music as a kid (his mom was a musical theatre actress and had all the kids involved), listens to music constantly, and can't keep a beat to save his life. He tried playing the French Horn as a kid, but only lasted one year.
I suspected that it might be genetic, so I have made sure to have a lot of different types of music playing for my daughter to be exposed too, beginning when I was pregnant. We talk about the beat, we make rhymes and clap to them, and we talk about syllables in words. (She is 5.) While she can clap along if we are just talking, it all goes out the window once any music comes in. I don't get it and it is very frustrating! I want her to be able to participate in music as I did, but it looks like she's following my husband's lead despite my best attempts.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you perceive things a certain way, that's how it must be for everyone. I'm color blind, and went all through school undiagnosed. Oh, I can see color, but anything that has red or green in it I have the chance of not seeing the same as everyone else. No one who is not color blind has ever been able to understand how I could seem perfectly normal in seeing come colors, but be completely unlike them when seeing others.
I have no problem beleiving others have a similar problem with sound. People can learn to mask their symptoms by mimicing others through learned behavior, but don't assume everyone can "feel the music".
The classic and hilarious case of this malady is shown at the beginning of the Steve Martin film "The Jerk."
Know someone who's totally beat-challenged? (Or is that someone you?) Tell us about it.
I've suffered with "totally beat-challenged" all my life; just thought it was me. I can close my eyes to prevent watching others clap, and I'm always out of time. Didn't know such a condition existed with others.
i have a friend who absolutely-without-a-doubt has this problem. it's bizarre to watch someone who is literally incapable of even tapping a finger in time - EVER. I am a drummer so it's even more odd to me. He was a 'bass player' in a band i was in (which obviously didn't last due to his inablility to function as a musician), and his nickname became 'shoes in the dryer'. I think that shoes in a dryer might actually have more of a rhythm than this guy. The truly sad and tragic part is that he is obsessed with music and he is and will always be incapable of doing it. Very sad and embarrassing to watch actually.
that's the part that is really, really tragic - he spends all of his money on musical equipment, he spends hours per day trying to make music, and it is just not going to happen. his dad was a big musician type so I think that's why he wants to be good at it, and it can't be a coincidence that he is so obsessed AND completely incapable. Maybe the inablility to play drove the obsession to want to play, and became like a feedback loop. He keeps trying, can't do it, tries harder, never gets anywhere, becomes more obsessed, etc, etc.
i am pretty sure he feels same as i feel.. I tried hard and hard to get the rhythm right, but became more obssessed. The same thing is i have a really huge passion of music, singing. I, myself, tried to look for people who might have ideas how to correct my beat-deafness, but any. I was a band vocalist once with my best friends, but should stop it by (myself and themselves). cuz I have to memorize the rhythm of song whenever we are going to perform. It took me almost a month to MEMORIZE the rhythm, not feeling it. but even memorized it, i can't sing with sync. it's always out of rhythm a bit like 16bit faster or later. I still wonder why the god gave me the passion of music if he won't let me feel rhythm which everyone else can do but me. I practiced hours and hours. made me cryin for nights and nights, made me thinking about killing myself and reborn.. i'm realllly obssessed cuz of beat-deafness. but i could not give up cuz there was a little tiny hope that i might overcome it. but it seems there's not and if it is, i should let it go.
Hi T. Kim
I understand your suffering. I have/had the same problem like you for 30 years trying to keep the beat so i would be able to play with others. Sometimes with years apart I could suddenly keep the beat, but then again after a few hours i dissappeared. When I entered that 'state of mind' it was so obvious when to put the beat. But I have now found a solution that works for me.
The secret is NOT to focus on the beat itself but let your brain imagine pictures and visualize when you
are playing, then it become more obvious where to put the beat. I have verified my 'beat accuracy' recording with Cubase and when I push my brain to use it's imagination I can keep the beat for minutes dead on. I just had to share my discovery with you... hope it will help you.
Lars Mortensen, Denmark
I hope the people who conducted the study have a fairly sophisticated sense of rhythm themselves.
Wouldn't it be interesting if these supposed beat-deaf people turned out to be polyrhythmical geniuses who instinctively groove on a plane so far beyond us mere mortals who tend to be slaves to the bar line?
Beat actually triggers seizure for me. I can hear it from miles away, it seems - well, really FEEL it. And my brain just goes into violent seizures from hip-hop, rap or heavy bass beats that are offset from traditional beats of 1 and 3. It's a very sad time for me with so much heavy bass, driven "beat" "music" - I have to forget eating out or even going into any kind of stores. I can't even go for a walk anymore as when cars come by I wind up literally in the ditch. Not a pretty site. So, for those of you who can rock out with the beat, I beg you to keep the intensity to a happy space for your ears. I'd love to be able to go out again, someday.
I know this might be a little off-subject, but is there a malady for someone who cannot work with his hands? I always said my hands are registered as deadly weapons with the FBI and it's not because I know martial arts. I am a complete and total klutz when it comes to working with tools or trying to do anything that requires co-ordination with my hands. I lost count of how many things I've dropped (much to my wife's dismay when I dropped and broke one of her antiques). We take a lot of vitamins and watching me trying to get all those pills together is a laugh a minute. Is there a name for something like that (besides klutz, clumsy or un co-ordinated?
For those of us who have suffered the embarrassment of not being able to dance or clap appropriately don't need a blind, or double blind, study to know "if there are people who reallly do perform in a statistically beat-deaf way." Having lived with the condition makes us know it's real. Having a name for the condition won't correct it, but it does give us some solace that we're not alone.
I propose that those of us with congenital amusia organize our own dances--where people aren't expected to dance, but to just socialize without the fear of being asked to dance.
It has been my experience that not only un-synced people are just 'off', they are emotionally unbalanced too.
I am 65 and finally know what the heck has been wrong with me all my life! I love music and have a vast collection of it from the 40's to the 80's, anything past that is not really music in my opinion. I am an absolutely miserable dancer and was worried about dancing that first dance with my daughter at her recent wedding but the man upstairs got me through it. I have no rhythm and cannot tap in sync with a song and oh yes, I can't sing worth a lick either. My wife is a musician and teaches piano and also is a church organist and choir director and it totally astounds her that I have no rhythm. One time, she said she needed some male voices for her choir and I readily volunteered and she said 'no thanks John, I have enough monotones'! Ouch!
So that's why I could never learn to dance! I have zero sense of rhythm or "beat". I really don't care, but it's always interesting to find out "why" you can't do something.
This is very real and true. My wonderful boy friend has "beat deafness" It was my first time every meeting anybody like this I was blown away. I dance salsa and music is so much a part of my life, then enter my Peruvian Papi. (I thought all latins knew who to keep time) I was so wrong. He's a good sport and I always lead if we dance. Just like the article, he can mimic what I am teaching him, but left alone, he's a wreck and forget about dancing with anybody else.. LOL I was happy to read that there is actually a neurological term. Happy Dancing everyone :-)