So we were watching a Nova on PBS the other day about music and the brain, and they showed a lady with amusia. When she described how she experiences music, it clicked. Hey, that's me. So I took an internet test, and sure enough (because the interwebs are never wrong) I have amusia. I'm ok with two tunes side-by-side for comparison, but if I'm just listening to a tune I won't know if it's off-key. I also have trouble with rhythm. When I tell Justin to turn off his music because that tone causes me pain, that's what's going on. Now I have an answer when people ask me incredulously "Can't you hear that?". Nope, amusia. I'm also guessing that amusia has a genetic component, as I have several ancestors that were deaf and I'm a musical genius in comparison to my grandmother and mother.

According to Wikipedia, amusia is a learning disability. I'm not sure I agree, since it doesn't affect my life in any meaningful way. So I don't dance or sing. So what? Maybe it seems like a disability to the people who dropped out of the womb playing classical piano. But I don't know the difference, so the only way in which I am inconvenienced* by amusia is when people natter on and on about their band/instrument/composition/music theory and I have no idea what they're talking about. But it is a fantastic excuse to never attend the concert or listen to the composition of an acquaintance ever again. I'd rather strangle myself with my own intestines than listen to your CD not because I'm an asshole, but because I'm disabled. Win.

*I probably inconvenience other people because I typically prefer silence to music and when I do listen to music it's pretty much the same few songs over and over and over again.