Georges de Muse, distant relative of the man responsible for this diagnosis, has found a new variant to TS. Musical Tourette's Syndrome, or MTS is a more common ailment. MTS was catalogued in 2003 when Georges observed that the "tics" came out in people after introduced to a word or phrase. This would in turn would make the person break out in song, sometimes uncontrollably.
Earlier in the day, Beck had received the first Tribute award from the Festival's Guitar Show. During a question-and-answer session following the presentation, he fielded a question about the spontaneity of his technique. "It's a form of musical Tourette's, I think," he said, to general laughter. "It's an involuntary spasm. Probably, it's a form of insanity." But with every howling note so exquisitely placed, we're talking crazy like a fox.
“Musical Tourette’s” is the name that my friends and I give to the phenomenon of randomly and suddenly singing or rapping short clips of songs. Of course, unlike Tourette’s Syndrome, this isn’t really a disorder. It isn’t really a problem, most of the time. And in Tourette’s, vocal tics are uncontrollable, or so difficult to suppress that they will come out later. In the musical tics that I am referring to (and that I am extremely prone to), I definitely retain some control…but if I’m in a comfortable environment in which I don’t feel self-conscious, I won’t exert it.
Most of the time I don’t know that I’m doing it. Out of the corner of my eye I will see my wife staring at me with the TV paused and I’ll hear a noise. It’s me! I’m humming along to the theme tune of a programme or an advert or singing something. This happens around the house or when we’re in the car stuck in traffic. And it happens every day. Repeatedly.
Aly Prince coined this phrase to describe the involuntary singng of a line or two of a song in response to someone saying something that reminds you of it. So, for example, if someone mentions a roof, you can't stop yourself from singing a bit of the Drifters "Up on the Roof", whilst mention of a river automatically results in the chorus of "Proud Mary"
I was wondering if anybody has been diagnosed with or has heard reference made to the term: Musical Tourette’s Syndrome. I was diagnosed with it this summer, in addition to my OCD/OCPD, and am searching for coping tips, information, and ways to deal with this odd phenomenon. Basically, I hear music constantly (it seems to be focused between my right ear and my vocal chords), and have to try very hard not to sing along. Also, if somebody says something that sparks a song or a commercial jingle, etc. in my head, it’s almost impossible for me to get rid of it. Sometimes the music is quiet enough that I can push it aside and try to focus on something else, but other times it’s so annoying and incapacitating that I can’t do anything else — during these times it often helps if I sing the music out loud or write down the lyrics; one time when I tried to this this, though, I couldn’t stop singing the chorus of a particular song for over four hours!
Spontuneous® (spon-TUNE-ee-us): “Acting on the natural tendency or impulse to burst into song.” Think of it as Musical Tourette's: if you've ever heard a word that “Triggered” you to sing a song, then YOU are Spontuneous®
Michael amazes me. He was playing acoustic guitar yet he managed to fill in the sound with both the middle and the bass as well as tossing of some really fine solos. The rest of the band watches him and takes all of their cues off him. He goes off on a tangent (rarely on this show, really only on the first song) and they follow. When I saw them some years ago I accused him of musical Tourette's Syndrome and I was very worried when he went off on a very long tangent during Everywhere I Go. But the rest of the set was rock solid and rocked like a demon (an odd phrase for a band as concerned with faith as this bunch).
But he has kept very busy—much too busy, some say, what with Adams spewing songs and records as if he’s got musical Tourette’s. Last year was the first in this decade that he didn’t release an album (or three), though one only has to take a look at his website—full of dozens of absurdist rap songs and novelty tracks like “Space is Big (Whatever)” and “I’m Going to Kill Myself in the Face”—to realize that the man never ever stops recording, a phenomenon that results in more instances of beautiful music than any one person should have a right to.
“Oddville” is a rare opportunity to see Peters live and a bit of a change of pace. While Peters and his cohort Titler, whom Peters says shares his penchant for “musical Tourette’s,” will provide the risque, “nu-vaudeville” element to the show, most of the acts are what Peters describes as “good, clean fun.”
As a child, I had musical Tourette’s and everywhere I went I’d be singing a song. I had this strange habit where if I heard music playing and didn’t recognize what it was, I would get upset by it. ... Cut to 20 years later, and I’m making a living by knowing songs.
Lynyrd Skynyrd said it best: Sweet home Alabama! And now that I've appeased my minor case of musical Tourette's, I can get on to the flyweight details behind this photo...
Yet Hello Handshake refuses to be lumped into any sort of category, and they don’t need to tell you that in person. Anyone listening to the album will notice that the songs practice a certain brand of musical Tourette Syndrome. Melody is often broken by a manic state of instruments clashing that hits the listener without warning and can be a bit unsettling for the average music fan. It plays better when the CD is listened to front to back, but doesn’t work as well in the average iPod shuffle.
I have this thing I call Musical Tourettes. This should not be confused with the neurological disorder Tourette’s Syndrome... What I’m talking about is my automatic tendency where one word, one sound, and I’m off singing. Apparently, I’m not alone. Rolling Stone has assigned Jeff Beck the same affliction. (Do I hear a new category for next year’s Grammys? Let the nominations begin…) As a group, it appears we already have our own Facebook page.