Something weird about my stammer...

gav_neonstars

Hi all! first time i even noticed there was a whole forum dedicated to stammers!

Ive had a fairly bad stammer my whole life (im 23 now) but thankfully i think i have it fairly well under control. Have my good days and bad days like we all do. But ive found something weird. Im a singer in a band (www.myspace.com/theneonstars) and when im on-stage talking to a crowd it miraculously disappears!.. what the fook like?..

Fluid speech with not so much as a hicup!.. anybody else ever encounter something like this??

Gav

Stephen P

Hi and welcome to the forum!
I've heard of that before, a lot of people who stammer don't stammer when they sing, it's one of the mysteries The same goes for some when they act, the stammer disappears. Bruce Willis stammers slightly but when he acts its not obvious.

stefinitely

Yeah, that happens to me too! If only life was one big musical....

bohsboy

Yes, its mad, I dj the odd small gig for kids in our Social Club in work and it just disappears, amazing.

I think its the fact that you can portray yourself in a different style. Like when you mimic an accent or do impressions, the stammer can sometimes fade away.

WeirdoFreak

When you sing you use your costal diaphragm, this is different to when you speak which you use your crural diaphragm.

Over years and years your crural diaphragm has built up with fear so that's why you stammer, but when your singing it's a totally different part of your lungs that your using, with little fear in it.

rubadub

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/carly-simon-conquered-stuttering-with-singing_1047407

CARLY SIMON has revealed she grew up a stammering wreck, and she still can't read in public without stuttering. The music icon admits she had a stammering problem that plagued her childhood - and she conquered it by singing. In a new interview with Ladies Home Journal magazine, the You're So Vain singer says, "In retrospect, my stammering was an opportunity... (Stutterers) can't stammer when they sing. "There's something about the mind connecting differently to the vocal cords when you apply either rhythm or melody." And, though she had largely conquered her speech impediment, which affects one per cent of Americans, she admits she still can't read aloud. She adds, "I loved to read, but never out loud. I still can't read out loud. I almost always couldn't say H's. Then there were some days that it was S's and some that it was T's. "So I became this walking thesaurus. You learn to supply yourself with substitute words you won't trip over." Simon feels sure here stuttering secret has a large part to play in her legendary stage fright, which has hampered her career: "I'm almost positive it did. Because as a kid I was so frightened in class that when I was going to be called on, my terror would strike. And that became true later, onstage."

readytorock

WeirdoFreak wrote: »

When you sing you use your costal diaphragm, this is different to when you speak which you use your crural diaphragm.

Over years and years your crural diaphragm has built up with fear so that's why you stammer, but when your singing it's a totally different part of your lungs that your using, with little fear in it.

This is absolutely true. Having recently attended the Mcguire programme this is effectively what they teach you. You learn how to breath a new way thus speaking a new way. You now speak using your costal diaphragm just like you do when you sing. As somebody who has struggled with my speech for years attending this course has revolutionised my life. I never knew how to control my speech and this new breathing technique coupled with other techniques has enabled me to take control and can help others too!