Not being able to "hear" the key of a song is a problem that is not limited to singers, by the way. In the last couple of years I've had the painful experience of hearing musicians blithely accompanying singers, playing in a different key. In black churches, it is commonplace for a singer or a group to get up and start singing, unaccompanied. It's the job of the instrumentalists to figure out what key they're singing in, and add the accompaniment. There are two men... one very short who plays electric bass, and one tall and thin who plays "lead" guitar. I keep coming across them. When the singers launch in to a new song, they quickly figure out a key that they can play in and they're off and running. Never mind that it isn't the key that the people are singing in. They are so transfixed by their guitars that they rarely even look up, other than to look at each other. Meanwhile, the singers are left twisting in the wind. I've seen this happen so many times in the last couple of years that I am convinced that they simply cannot hear that they are playing in the wrong key. They're nice enough guys when you talk to them. Just oblivious.

Can you teach someone how to find their own harmony? I know I couldn't. I've been a teacher for long stretches of my life, but I know that I don't have the education to do it. I don't even know how you'd go about it. Seems like it's more productive for all of us to discover where our gifts lie and develop them. And where they don't lie. I could never be a good dancer because I'm not graceful enough. But I can sing harmony...

Ya takes what ya gets and does the best ya can with it.

Jerry