Why do people who stutter, don’t stutter when singing?
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It’s complicated and this is one of those areas where there are theories, but nothing is categorically proven yet. But here are the main theories (and the answer is probably a combination of all three:
1) Language is handled by the left hemisphere of your brain and music is handled by the right.
Basically, when you’re singing, you’re using a different region of your brain…and while singing is technically language, your brain deals with it in a different way. One way to think about it is your brain deals with singing like it’s ‘advanced whistling’, you’re not holding a two way conversation, you’re just making sounds in time to music…and this is also reinforced by:
2) Singing is different to holding a conversation.
A conversation is two way communication that is unpredictable, you’re using language to respond and express yourself. You don’t know what you’re going to say from moment to moment. Singing is different. It’s one way and you’ve memorized the lyrics, so you always know exactly what you’re going to sing next. Again, it goes back to the ‘advanced whistling’ thing. You’re not having to think about what to sing in the moment, you’re just making sounds in time to music.
Think of it like this: If I learn a song in a language I don’t understand, because I’m just memorizing how the words sound instead of the actual meaning, I’m not actually using the part of my brain that deals with language. So, even if I do understand the language, learning a song relies more heavily on my right brain than my left brain.
3) We use our mouths and vocal chords differently when we’re singing.
Singing is a learned talent. As a musician, I often hear people say they ‘can’t sing’, when that’s the equivalent of picking up a guitar for the first time and deciding that because you can’t play it right now, you never will be able to. For most people, in order to sing well requires practice and training. Learning to sing teaches you how to project your voice, how to shape your mouth and tongue to get the tone you want…so learning to sing is very different to learning to speak. Because the way we engage our vocal chords and enunciate differently could also be a factor in why people don’t stutter when they sing.
In fact, when you think of it, asking why people stutter when they speak, but don’t when they sing, isn’t all that different between asking why there are people who can talk, but can’t sing a note… it’s because singing and talking are not the same thing.
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