The Leading Ear

Oh, Dr. Tomatis. You kill me. You’ve complicated my work in the studio—ever since I learned (and observed) that the right ear really does process higher frequencies faster than the left ear.

I’m not making this up. The ears are not the same. They process sound differently—and with good reason. You know this if you’ve been reading VOICETALK for a long while: The singer who leads with the right ear sounds a lot different than one who leads with the left.

The biggest difference?

Ring, clarity, and projection of the voice. Add to that physical and mental ease and you have a very complex situation.

So, imagine what happens when a left-leading student wants to study bel canto vocal production. What do you think I do? Oh, I get out all my tricks—which include singing while standing on the ball of the right foot and leaning far forward in a lunge while on the right foot; techniques that use the force of gravity and elongation of the spine to jumpstart the right ear into leading at least momentarily: and therein lies the real problem.

The shift from left to right is fraught with difficulties. Why? Because how we process sound—how we hear and feel ourselves vocally, mentally, and psychologically—is deeply embedded.

Getting the ear to lead from the feet up is one thing. Getting it to lead from the head down? That’s a whole other matter, one which more often than not requires an intervention, that is, a course of listening training. That’s what this mixed-dominant man did in 1999 with life-changing results.

Change the ear and you change the voice.