This article may document a neologism in such a manner as to promote it. Please add more reliable sources to establish its current use and the impact the term has had on its field. Otherwise consider renaming or deleting the article. (May 2011)

Musical ear syndrome (MES) describes a condition seen in people who have hearing loss and subsequently develop auditory hallucinations. It is comparable to Charles Bonnet syndrome (visual hallucinations in visually impaired people)^[1] and some have suggested this phenomenon could be included under this diagnosis.^[2]

The occurrence of MES has been suggested to be very high among the hearing impaired.^[3]

Sufferers typically hear music or singing and the condition is more common in women. The hallucinatory experiences differ in phenomenology from that commonly experienced in psychotic disorders although there may be some overlap. The most important distinction is the realization that the hallucinations are not real. Delusional beliefs associated with the hallucinations may occur, but some degree of insight should be preserved. There should not be any other psychotic symptoms present, especially hallucinations in other modalities. There should be an absence of serious mental illness, although mild cognitive impairment is often associated with MES.

The likely cause is a small cerebrovascular event affecting the auditory cortex.^{[by whom?]} This "hole" in the hearing range is "plugged" by the brain confabulating a piece of information – in this case a piece of music. A similar occurrence is seen with strokes of the visual cortex where a visual field defect occurs and the brain confabulates a piece of visual data to fill the spot. This is described by sufferers as an image in the visual field which is patently nonsensical.

The hallucinations are usually not unpleasant but may cause irritation due to their persistent nature. It is common for sufferers to have a history of tinnitus.^[4] The condition may be associated with early stages of dementia.^{[citation needed]}

It is postulated that MES is caused by hypersensitivity in the auditory cortex caused by sensory deprivation, secondary to their hearing loss.^[3]

Investigations such as magnetic resonance imaging or CT scanning and electroencephalograms (EEGs) may be worthwhile, but will rarely show any serious pathology.

Treatment entails reassurance and maximizing hearing with hearing aids. Medications can be helpful, such as antipsychotics, benzodiazepines or antiepileptics, but there is very limited evidence for this.

Several historical descriptions exist that may possibly be explained by musical ear syndrome. Towards the end of his life, Robert Schumann said he heard angelic music and music from other composers, which formed the basis for his violin concerto. An alternative explanation is that his symptoms were caused by syphilis or mercury poisoning used for its treatment.

References[link]

• "Musical Ear Syndrome". Archived from the original on 2008-03-04. http://web.archive.org/web/20080304053336/http://www.drf.org/hearing_health/archive/2004/winter04_musicalear.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-12. 

Footnotes[link]

1. ^ Berrios GE and Brook P (1982) The Charles Bonnet Syndrome and the Problems of Visual Perceptual Disorder in the Elderly. Age and Ageing 11: 17–23
2. ^ Yuksel FV, Kisa C, Aydemir C, Goka E (2004). "Sensory deprivation and disorders of perception". Can J Psychiatry 49 (12): 865–6. PMID 15679215. https://ww1.cpa-apc.org/Publications/Archives/CJP/2004/december/lettYuksel.asp. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Goycoolea M, Mena I, Neubauer S (April 2006). "Spontaneous musical auditory perceptions in patients who develop abrupt bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. An uninhibition syndrome?". Acta Otolaryngol 126 (4): 368–74. DOI:10.1080/00016480500416942. PMID 16608788. http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&doi=10.1080/00016480500416942&magic=pubmed. 
4. ^ Berrios GE (1990) Musical hallucinations: a historical and clinical study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156: 188–194

This article is written like a personal reflection or essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (December 2008)

Musical aptitude (i.e. having a fine ear for music) is the ability to intuitively learn or appreciate music, and especially to distinguish off-key and off-pitch music.

Music is ancient and one of the most special characteristics of humans^{[citation needed]}. Some observations suggest that the ability to appreciate and to understand music does not require any musical training.^{[citation needed]} Since we can see octave-based scales or preference of consonance over dissonance in every single type of music in every human culture, this could be considered to be evidence of innateness of music.^[1] The rules of music have arisen independently in every human culture, and some of them also apply to the music perception of non-human species. This tells us that the rules have their basis in brain rather than in culture. Embryology researches have showed that basic auditory abilities, such as pitch discrimination and more complex capabilities like melody recognition, are already present in the early stages of development^[2].

In music, tonal memory is the ability to recall or produce a previously sounded tone with voice or an instrument. Tonal memory assists with staying in tune and may be developed through ear training. Extensive tonal memory may be recognized as an indication of potential compositional ability^[3].

Most of the music aptitude or talent described today is tonal memory, time discrimination and pitch discrimination.

History of musical aptitude researches and findings[link]

There is a long debate on whether one is born with a fine ear for music or whether one develops it over time by practice and training.^[4]. Studies have shown that people with musical talent have certain regions of the brain more developed than those of other people. Recent scientific studies suggest that experience, and not genetics, affects musicians' brain responses and development. ^{[5] [6]}

The researches about musical aptitude have been focused on the two opposite edges of the musical abilities which are 'Absolute pitch(AP)' and Tone deafness (Amusia).

Absolute pitch[link]

Absolute pitch (or AP) is defined as an ability to effortlessly name a note or a group of notes without comparing it with any external reference tone when the notes are sounded. People with perfect pitch can produce the note in instrument or via voice when it is told^[7].

In 1988 Profita and Bidder studied 35 persons with perfect pitch, from 19 families, with a questionnaire that is about note-recognition capacity and musical exposure and training. Profita and Bidder (1991) concluded that there was a strong correlation between the occurrence of perfect pitch and learning disabilities^[8].

By surveying more than 600 musicians in music conservatories, training programs, and orchestras, Baharloo et al. (1998) attempted to understand the contributions of genetic and early music training in development of absolute pitch. Early musical training seemed to be important but not sufficient for the development of absolute pitch. Forty percent of musicians who had begun training at 4 years of age or younger reported absolute pitch, whereas only 3% of who had begun training at or after 9 years of age did so. Self-reported AP possessors reported 4 times more AP possessors in their families than non-AP possessors. These data suggested that early musical training and genetic basis is needed for the development of AP.^[9]

Gregersen et al. (1999) made a survey of 2,707 music students at music conservatories and at the university and college music programs in the U.S. They also showed there is a strong correlation between the AP and the students in these schools whose ethnic backgrounds are Asian. This increased the possibility that AP is more common in Asian students in general. In another study, they found that Asian students had 32.1% prevalence compared to all other ethnic groups combined 7%^[10].

For the AP group as a whole, the mean age of starting musical activities was 5.4 +/- 2.8 years, whereas for the non-AP group the mean age was 7.9 +/- 13.2 years (P less than 0.0001). This was observed for both Asian and non-Asian students.

Tone deafness[link]

Tone deafness is defined as lack of relative pitch, or the inability to differentiate between notes or inability to produce a note with/without a reference note. Being tone deaf is having difficulty or being unable to correctly hear relative differences between notes. People with amusia usually cannot produce a note when they hear even with a reference note.^[11]

Kalmus (1949) studied tune deafness in a group of students at University College in London. He found two kind of distribution in investigations, with frequent segregation in families and siblings. He suggested this might be caused by a unit gene substitution, possibly a dominant. Kalmus and Fry (1980) used the distorted tunes test in family studies. Segregation suggesting an autosomal dominant trait with imperfect penetrance' was found^[12]

See also[link]

• Tonal memory
• Music-related memory
• Ear training
• Jam session
• Learning music by ear
• Tone deafness
• Beat deafness
• Music education for young children

References[link]

Carly Rae Jepsen
Jepsen performing on Canada Day in 2010
Background information
Born	(1985-11-21) November 21, 1985 (age 26) Mission, British Columbia, Canada
Genres	Pop, pop rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	2007–present
Labels	604 (2008–present) Schoolboy/Interscope (2012–present)
Website	carlyraemusic.com

Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian recording artist and singer-songwriter from Mission, British Columbia. In 2007, she placed third in the fifth season of Canadian Idol, and was a part of the Canadian Idol Top 3 concert tour.^[1]

Shortly after competing on Idol, she signed to Fontana and MapleMusic, and released her debut album, Tug of War, on September 30, 2008. Three years later, she released a new single, entitled "Call Me Maybe", which was released by 604 Records, and was followed by the release of her debut extended play, Curiosity, on February 14, 2012. "Call Me Maybe" was met with much success, reaching the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching the number 1 spot on the Canadian Hot 100. The single also went to number 1 in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Jepsen signed with Interscope Records in 2012.

Life and career[link]

Jepsen attended Heritage Park Secondary School in Mission, British Columbia and has since performed there post-graduation. She later attended the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria, BC before auditioning for Canadian Idol. After completing the Canadian Idol tour, Jepsen retreated to B.C. to focus on writing, recording and completing her band. Her demos attracted attention and she was eventually signed a joint management deal with Simkin Artist Management and Dexter Entertainment. A deal with Fontana/Maple Music quickly followed, leading Jepsen into the studio with producer/writer Ryan Stewart.^[2]

[edit] 2008–11: Tug of War

On June 16, 2008, Jepsen released her debut single and another single, a cover of John Denver's song "Sunshine On My Shoulders". It is the only cover song on her debut album.^[3] On July 21, 2008, Jepsen added two new songs from the album to her MySpace page: "Bucket" and "Heavy Lifting". In August 2008, Jepsen's MySpace page announced that the album's title would be Tug of War, and it was released on September 30, 2008. The page also mentioned two more songs that were included on the album: "Tug of War" and "Sweet Talker". The former was released as a single on iTunes on September 16, 2008, and has been receiving radio airplay on various stations across Canada. She performed the latter as her Canadian Idol audition.^[4]
A music video for "Tug of War" was released in January 2009. "Bucket", her second single, was released in May 2009, and the video for "Sour Candy", a duet with Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench who has also help produce some of her songs including Call Me Maybe, has also been released. All of Jepsen's music videos have been directed by Ben Knechtel. In spring 2009, she toured western Canada with Marianas Trench and Shiloh.^[5] She then went on a cross-Canada tour with Marianas Trench, The New Cities and Mission District.

[edit] 2012–present: Curiosity

Jepsen's second album Curiosity was released on February 14, 2012. It was produced by Ryan Stewart and Kevin James Maher produced the track "Dear Julien". On the same day as the release, Justin Bieber made the announcement on the MuchMusic program New Music Live that Jepsen has been signed to Schoolboy Records, the label run by Justin Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun.^[6] The lead single, "Call Me Maybe" (which gained notoriety after "Primetime" Sam Roberts played the track during "After Opie and Anthony Live" on SiriusXM Satellite Radio) is from her second studio album Curiosity was released on September 21, 2011 and was produced by Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench and co-written by Jepsen, Ramsay and Tavish Crowe. "Call Me Maybe" is the first song by a Canadian artist to reach the top of the digital chart since Justin Bieber's “Baby” in January 2010. It is also only the 11th song by a Canadian artist to reach No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking digital download sales in 2005. The song has also peaked at #1 on Billboard's Canadian Hot 100, being the 4th Canadian artist to do so, after Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend", Nikki Yanofsky's "I Believe", and the Young Artists for Haiti version of "Wavin' Flag", originally by Canadian rapper K'naan.^[7] Jepsen is currently touring on the Shout it Out World Tour. She is the opening act for the pop-rock trio Hanson. In February 2012, Jepsen visited Justin Bieber and Scooter Braun in Los Angeles, California, where she subsequently signed to Schoolboy Records and Interscope. Her music will still be distributed by 604 Records in Canada. On March 23, 2012, Jepsen made her first American television debut on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, performing "Call Me Maybe" (with Jared Manierka on keys), later joined by Justin Bieber. Carly was also the first Canadian Idol contestant to enter the UK charts, when Call Me Maybe debuted at #1. Carly played at Citywalk at Universal Studios on April 14 2012. 400 people who paid $5 were allowed to meet with the singer and get CDs autographed by her.

Jepsen, 26, has been criticized in the press for dressing "too young" for her age in an effort to appeal to the pre-teen demographic.^[8][9]

On May 20th, 2012 Jepsen performed "Call Me Maybe" at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards. On May 22th, 2012 she performed "Tug of War", "Curiosity", and "Call Me Maybe" at the first Q102 Springle Ball concert.

[edit] Canadian Idol performances

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Tug of War (2008)

Extended plays[link]

• Curiosity (2012)

Tours[link]

Opening act

• Justin Bieber – Believe Tour (North American dates) (2012)

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Carly Rae Jepsen on Twitter
• Carly Rae Jepsen on Myspace
• "Primetime" Sam Roberts

Rebecca Black
Rebecca Black in November 2011
Background information
Birth name	Rebecca Renee Black
Born	(1997-06-21) June 21, 1997 (age 15) Irvine, California, U.S.[1]
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2011–present
Labels	RB Records
Website	www.rebeccablackonline.com

Rebecca Renee Black^[2] (born June 21, 1997) is an American pop singer and dancer who gained extensive media attention with the 2011 single "Friday". Her mother paid $4,000 to have the single and an accompanying music video put out as a vanity release^[3] through the record label ARK Music Factory.^[4] The song was co-written and produced by Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson of Ark Music Factory. After the video went viral on YouTube and other social media sites, "Friday" was derided by many music critics and viewers, who dubbed it "the worst song ever."^[5][6][7] The music video received around 167 million views, causing Black to gain international attention as a "viral star", before being removed from the site on June 16. Black re-uploaded it in her own channel three months later.

Biography[link]

Personal life[link]

Rebecca Black was born on June 21, 1997,^[8] in Irvine, California.^[1] She is the daughter of John Jeffery Black and Georgina Marquez Kelly, both veterinarians.^[4][9] She is of Mexican, Spanish, Italian, English, and Polish descent.^[10][11] An honor student, Black studied dance, auditioned for school shows, attended music summer camps, and began singing publicly in 2008 after joining the patriotic group Celebration USA.^{[citation needed]} In 2011 Black left public school in favor of homeschooling, both in response to constant verbal bullying at school and in order to focus more of her time on her career.^[12] Black later said that her main reason for the move to homeschooling was more for career reasons rather than the bullying.^[13]

Career[link]

Ark Music Factory and "Friday" (2010–2011)[link]

In late 2010, a classmate of Black and music-video client of ARK Music Factory, a Los Angeles label, told her about the company.^[14] Black's mother paid $4,000 for Ark Music to produce the music video while the Blacks retained ownership of both the master and the video.^[4][15] The single, "Friday", written entirely by Ark, was released on YouTube and iTunes. The song's video was uploaded to YouTube on February 10, 2011, and received approximately 1,000 views in the first month. The video went viral on March 11, 2011, acquiring millions of views on YouTube in a matter of days, becoming the most-talked-about topic on social networking site Twitter,^[16] and garnering mostly negative media coverage.^[17] As of June 14, 2011, the video had received more than 3,190,000 "dislikes" on YouTube compared to more than 451,000 "likes".^[18] As of March 22, 2011, first-week sales of her digital single were estimated to be around 40,000 by Billboard.^[19] On March 22, 2011, Black appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, during which she performed the single and discussed the negative reaction to it.^[20] The song has peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 and the New Zealand Singles Chart at number 58 and 33, respectively.^[21][22] In the UK, the song debuted at number 61 on the UK Singles Chart.^[23]

Black teamed up with Funny or Die on April Fool's Day (the site was renamed Friday or Die) for a series of videos, including one which addresses the controversy about the driving kids in her music video, stating "We so excited about safety."^[24]

She has stated that she is a fan of Justin Bieber, and expressed interest in performing a duet with him.^[25]

In response to the YouTube video of "Friday", Black began to receive death threats in late February 2011, specifically by phone and email.^[26] These threats are being investigated by the Anaheim Police Department.^[27]

In March 2011, Ryan Seacrest reportedly helped sign Rebecca to manager Debra Baum's DB Entertainment.^[28]

MTV selected Rebecca to host its first online awards show, the O Music Awards Fan Army Party in April 2011.^[29] As an homage to "Friday", Black appears in the music video for Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)",^[30] in which Black plays alongside Perry as the hostess of a party Perry attends. "Friday" was also performed on the second season of Glee in the episode, "Prom Queen", which originally aired May 10, 2011. When asked about why the song was covered on Glee, show creator Ryan Murphy replied, "The show pays tribute to pop culture and, love it or hate it, that song is pop culture."^[31]

RB Records and upcoming album (2011–present)[link]

After the fallout with Ark Music Factory, Black announced she would start an independent record label named RB Records. Black released a self-produced single titled "My Moment" on July 18 by her own label RB Records, with an accompanying music video, publishing it to her YouTube channel; the video as of November 27 has received, approximately, 590,000 "dislikes" against 340,000 "likes."^[32] In the "My Moment" music video, director Morgan Lawley features real life video of Black's life from both before and after her fame.^[33]

Black is planning to release her official debut album around 2012, which she said will include "a bunch of different kinds of stuff."^[34] It is being recorded at a studio belonging to music producer Charlton Pettus.^[35] In an interview with The Sun, Black said that the songs will be "appropriate and clean".

Black appears as herself in the music video of Katy Perry's single "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". She appears as the host of a party in the house next door to that of "Kathy Beth Terry". At the end of the video Perry attempts to blame the excesses of the party (which had subsequently moved to her own house) on Black, only for her parents (Corey Feldman and Debbie Gibson) to disbelieve her.^[36] Later on, Perry (in character as Kathy Beth Terry) and Black hosted a livestream on Tinychat.com after weeks of Black being mentioned on Terry's Twitter.^[37] Perry, who performs Friday routinely on stage as part of California Dreams Tour, also brought Black on stage to perform the song as a duet during her show at the Nokia Theater on August 5, 2011.^[38]

On August 10, 2011, Black was featured in an ABC Primetime Nightline: Celebrity Secrets special entitled Underage and Famous: Inside Child Stars' Lives.^[39]

On Friday, September 16, Black re-uploaded "Friday" on YouTube.^[40] In late September 2011, she was brought to Australia by Telstra to promote the launch of their 4G service.^[41]

On October 25, Black announced she started filming her upcoming music video which she first identified as 'POI' and later identified as "Person of Interest".^[42] Black said, "The basis of it is that it's a love song but it's not a love song. It's about almost teenage crushes — when you're not in love yet but you really like a guy — which I'm really excited about because I don't think there are too many out like that. It's very much a dance type song. It will make you get up and dance and sing along in your car."^[43] A teaser of the official music video was posted on November 3, 2011.^[44] Black released another teaser including a snippet of the song on November 10, 2011 on her YouTube channel. The single and its accompanying music video were released on November 15, 2011.^[45]

On December 20, 2011, "Friday" was revealed as the #1 video of the year by YouTube and Black hosted a short video called "YouTube Rewind".^[46]

Zeitgeist sorted billions of Google searches to capture the year's 10 fastest-rising global queries and the rest of the spirit of 2011. Rebecca Black #1 Most Searched Google. The searches for the teen singer topped even those of pop icon Lady Gaga and Adele.^[47]

On May 8, 2012, Black released her fourth official single, "Sing It".^[48] The music video premiered on Black's YouTube the same day.

Philanthropy[link]

Black features NOH8 Campaign a silent protest photo project against California Proposition 8. It features photographs portraying people in front of a white backdrop wearing white t-shirts, their mouths taped shut and "NOH8" painted on their cheek.

Rebecca has pledged to donate profits from the sales of her song "Friday" towards her school, El Rancho Charter, and shortly after the 2011 Japan Earthquake, to emergency relief in the country.^[49]

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

Music videos[link]

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

• In April 2011, the MTV O Music Awards, one of the annual awards established by MTV to honor the art, creativity, personality and technology of music into the digital space nominated "Which Seat Can I Take?" for "Favorite Animated GIF" that included footage by Rebecca Black featuring 50 Cent and Bert.^[55]
• Black was named "Choice Web Star" at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards in August 2011.^[56]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official YouTube Channel
• Rebecca Black at the Internet Movie Database