Ian -- Interesting... Yes, that does seem familiar, and very much like what's going on in my head. It's almost as if rhythm were a sort of fish, which is sliding out of my hands whenever I try to grab hold of it.

Paul -- thanks for the clarification. Yes, what I'm talking about here may not be actual tone deafness, but I'm borrowing from the common vernacular.

Though I once knew a teenager (the eldest son of one of my early aides), who had no problems putting inflection into his speech, but once, when he plunked out (what he intended to be) "Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star" on my old Yamaha keyboard, he wasn't even close to the correct tune -- if I recall correctly (this was many years ago), he didn't even go up and down the scale in the right places -- or even got the notes between C and A. Yet after his attempt, he was so proud that he had "nailed it just right." He could sing the tune. But he just didn't seem to recognize that the notes he hit on the keyboard did not match up at all.

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Now, as for myself, I'm not really that interested in "fixing" my problem; I'm just fascinated every time I get a new glimpse into the workings of my brain and mind.