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Subscribe to RSSEven as millions tune in to the next round of auditions on “American Idol,” they aren’t likely to forget Lazaro Arbos, one of last week’s stand-out contestants whose voice visibly stunned the judges.
Arbos stuttered while introducing himself and the song he was set to sing, but once he broke into “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” the stammering was gone. The performance won him four “yes” votes from the panel and a spot in the next round in Hollywood.
But it also left many people wondering why a person may stutter while speaking but not while singing.
Speech pathologists say there is not yet a scientifically proven answer to that question, but there are likely a number of physiologic, genetic, environmental and social variables that play a role.
One plausible explanation, said Krzysztof Izdebski, chairman of the Pacific Voice and Speech Foundation in San Francisco, is that singing relies mostly on memory.
“When you speak, on the other hand, it’s more of a voluntary activity. There’s planning, thinking, reaction, et cetera. Singing requires different mechanisms,” he said. People who stutter may be unable to coordinate all the movements and processes involved in speech, he explained.
“The more automatic the speech is, the less someone is likely to stutter,” added Karin Wexler, an adjunct associate professor of speech and language pathology at Columbia University’s Teachers College in New York. “The same goes for reciting a poem. There’s no real communication involved.”
After the stirring performance, “Idol” judges Keith Urban and Randy Jackson told Arbos that he should just “sing all the time.” But according to the Stuttering Project at the University of Iowa, while people who stutter may be able to sing stutter-free, singing will “rarely produce long-term fluency.”
Wexler also explained that speaking requires the voice box to work a lot more because there is repeated starting and stopping, unlike singing, which is a more continuous flow.
“Getting the voice started can be a problem for someone who stutters,” she said.
The enigmatic phenomenon could also be due to the differences in brain activity elicited by singing and speaking. Each is associated with a different part of the brain, and perhaps the musical signals get routed differently, according to Izdebski.
And it’s not just stammering that gets lost when some people break into song. Accents tend to disappear as well.
“Singing is never spontaneous. People learn a song and will sing it as they heard it,” said Izdebski.
In fact, speaking with a different accent actually seems to help some stutterers.
“If they are speaking in a different way from their ordinary way of speaking, they may become more fluent,” said Wexler.
It’s too early to tell whether Arbos will win it all, but the Stuttering Foundation of America already considers him an American idol.
Said the foundation in a press release, “For his courage to speak and perform on one of the most-watched shows on television in America, Lazaro Arbos is already a winner to the stuttering community.”
Related:
Singer silences his stutter with song on 'American Idol'
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No mention of Mel Tillis?
Yes, and Bruce Willis overcame stuttering when he started acting in college.
I remember Mel Tillis. He would be on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He would be introduced on stage where he would sing a song. Good singer, strong voice. When he finished he would sit down with Johnny and the minute he started talking he would stutter uncontrollably. Carson would think this hilarious and he and the audience would laugh like crazy. It wasn't really cruel but everybody looked at his stuttering as being comedic. I always thought it was kind of sad and not very funny.
Mel looked at his stutter realistically. He even made Whataburger commercials centering on his stutter.
Fina gas stations, too. "They're my kind of f-f-f-folks at Fina."
I think even Mel Tillis eventually overcame his stutter, or at least gained some control of it. I saw him a few years ago when he and his daughter Pam headlined the Huck Finn fest (on Father's Day). He was telling stories and jokes in between songs and I don't recall noticing any stutter.
"ta ta ta ta today junior"
What a bunch of sh_t! Who cares?
Looks like we all cared enough to scroll to the bottom of the article, click "comments", and type a post.
"Singing is never spontaneous."
I beg to differ. Spontaneous silly songs are fun to invent. We do those around the house on a regular basis.
“For his courage to speak and perform on one of the most-watched shows on television in America, Lazaro Arbos is already a winner to the stuttering community.” And he's providing an education to all of us.
If I remember right, Carly Simon had a terrible stuttering problem when she was a child. When she could not spit it out, her mother use to tell her to try and sing it.
Kids are cruel as this guy had no friends growing up. I hope he goes far to shove it in their faces
That's right, blame it on everyone else... often it is because they are trying to speak faster than the mind is making the data feed to the various speech organs. Slowing down allows the brain to keep up.
An uncle of mine used to say "Think twice and speak once. You have two ears and one mouth." We found that thinking out what was to be said, then saying it, reduced stutter, often to disappearing. See my originnal comment below.
Same thing with Ozzy Osboune, kids made fun of him, he wasnt a popular kid at all. when he sings, stutter stops.
Dawn are you implying that its acceptable for kids to make fun of a child with an impediment they cannot help?
Dawn V you are a moron and no nothing about stuttering. NOTHING.
While working with my sister (a speech pathologist) we found often that when reciting a memorized line, akin to singing a rehersed song, a patient's stutter disasppeared. This is because the data feed isn't coming from a realtime, make it up as you go area of the brain, but from a prerecorded data file. We also found that delaying the feedback of their speech result caused them to think as they spoke, which also reduced or stopped the stutter.
Bruce Willis also stuttered but it stopped when he was acting in college; or a least was controlled whilst acting.
Te deseo suerte y bendiciones Hermanito Cubano! Estoy orgulloso de ti por tu valor y talento!
All that does to impress me is that it shows me that you have a translator program in your computer. And that you are starved for attention. Poor Baby!
Huh? And what does it say about you that you have 5 out of 23 comments on this page alone? Strange.
I know! well said Jennj99738. We-Need-Love-Not-Violence is just being nice to his Cuban brother, nothing to do with her. Que loca!
Or, as my younger brother used to put it, "Always start the brain before putting the mouth in gear."
Maybe you could relate it to you but switch it to saying "Always start the brain before putting the typing fingers in gear"?
Nothing odd about that. Ozzy Osborne stutters more than anyone, he doesnt stutter when he sings. Kinda like the way people with british accents lose theirs when they sing. The exception to the accent going away is when rednecks sing theirs grow tenfold. I find it rather obnoxious myself. Country music isnt country music, its pop with a twang.
Pop music is a rehash of forty-year-old country music.
I'm not kidding, I new a fellow that stuttered so bad it would take minutes to say his name. He went to auctioneer school and never stuttered again. I hope this kid goes far.
Funny, i wrote this last post before reading the story, which is good cause i felt odd going way off subject.
Same reason British people sound normal when they sing?
I kid, I kid.
I'm not. I can't watch some Brit movies can't understand the English.
Yes, Mel Tillis and James Earl Jones were also stutterers. Didn't know about Bruce Willis. It was good to read a positive article about American Idol instead of the two women judges. Out of all people, these two women were the best you could come up with? How sad.
This story brought tears to my eyes. It makes me so proud to be cuban and see the obstacles he has overcome.
Dimelo cantando!
Dawn: I've been stuttering for 51 years now, and I don't stutter when I sing either (of course the wife, kids and grandkids swear it's not singing). I've been through many different speech therapies over the years, and still stutter. Delaying feedback, using "slow speech" techniques, drawing out my "Texas accent", all worked for short periods of time, maybe a few days or a few weeks at most. No one therapy works for all individuals, some people will stutter less, some will stutter more. What helps most people is acceptance. Once you accept your stuttering as a "part of the whole of you", it becomes less of an obstacle and more of a "speed bump".
You know what they say about poems and studied speeches are true too. A Young man came to my door from Boy and Girls Clubs of America selling the candy, candles...etc...He had a prepared speech and was speaking perfect. When he was done, I asked him..."So what are you guys going to do with the money you raised?" The poor kid couldn't get another word out - the stammered through trying to tell me they were raising money to go to Great Adventure. But because it wasn't what he prepared for, it was over for him. I felt horrible - so I bought an extra candle!!
Trivia: The stutter in BTO's "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" was a joke aimed at the band's manager, who stuttered. They had done a normal version, but it just didn't sound right, so they went with the stutter version, and the rest is history.
Here's another theory: His stutter goes away when he sings because... he doesn't have a stutter problem at all and he's a good actor. A struggling show like Idol needs all the good press it can get. So these warm fuzzy stories come up to garner that public interest and approval to get those rating up. In time his character will fade away because he won't be pre-selected to be the Idol in this rigged show that's gone beyond it's 'freshness dating'.
By the way, the current cast of judges suck (except Randy)
ProFeedom,I was sure someone was going to say this and it didn't take long,I think you are wrong in this case,I might be biting my tongue,but this kid sounds sincere. Great luck to him in his life.
I agree with you there. Mariah has some clout, but Nikki Minaj? Really? Girl is hideous and her voice is all nasal.
Sorry but you are wrong. His stuttering is real. The dead giveaway are the animated physical hand gestures (crutches) used by all severe stutterers to help them plow through a sentence. The first exercise in speech pathology I was taught is to slowly reduce these mannerisms as they only reinforce the speech problem. The crutches are incredibly difficult to break and I have seen some guys that actually had hand deformities from repeated curling of the fingers and rubbing their faces. Making eye contact during speech to others is another incredibly important exercise that all stutterers need to practice.
While studying at university many years ago, I researched and wrote on stuttering. Back then, many individuals, including myself, thought there was a defined difference between stuttering and stammering. Empirical data suggests that the words are interchangeable. Etymology reference suggests that the origin of the words, old Norse vs old English results in present day either/or acceptability. Insofar as the root cause, neurological text search and deliver determines the impediment or lack thereof. Actors and singers search within the brain for memory and bring it to voice. While memorizing strings of words is a unique process in itself, it is across the neurological spectrum from activating the thought process and bringing those thoughts to a delivery system, i.e. it is less demanding to recall memorized lines and recite them than to think new thoughts and convert them to the spoken word.
Ththththth that's all folks.
Nikki Minaj is one ugly woman.
Best of luck to this young man. Congratulations on making it to Hollywood!
Good luck to this young man. I've stuttered since I was about 4, but never when I sung, was in a play, recited with another person, or talked when I was alone. I was very fortunate in that I was never mocked as a child. One of my fondest memories is of giving a ten-minute, fluent book report in 10th grade and receiving an ovation from teacher and classmates. As I said, I was very lucky in my neighbors, classmates, and teachers. I'm sorry that most other people with speech impediments were not so blessed.
I'm 64 and have stuttered my whole life. Today it's hardly noticeable except during certain social situations that can't be avoided. The singing phenomena is very well known.What I don't see mentioned here is that most stutterers don't stutter when speaking in a foreign language or when adapting an accent (Southern, Scottish, etc) considerably different than one's normal speech. I took a 6 month speech pathology class as a patient at UCLA in the late 60's that was like a turning point in my life. I went on to a perfectly normal existence as an engineer and forced myself to become a public speaker for professional organizations. Half of the solution for me was modifying my own image of myself and visualizing myself as a non-stutterer through deep relaxation exercises. As usual, it is always hardest for a stutterer to say their own name to strangers, on the phone, or something as simple as giving your name for a waiting list reservation. Young people can be very cruel to kids that stutter which is why I developed a great right hook that seemed to help me immensely, at least at the time, to overcome the repeated taunting issues.
I'm so proud to see this young man get up there and do what he's doing. Some people have no conception of how difficult that is for him; he has my vote!
Mine too.
Lazaro Arbos, you are a brilliant singer!! You can go as far in the business as your desire and
hard work will take you. Your voice and singing ability are a gift to all of us. Doing that song a capella is
very difficult; you have all it takes! Congratulations! It will be wonderful to watch your star rise...
I have a cousin who has a slight stutter. As a kid I never really noticed it all that much, it was just him. He worked on it and even knowing, I can't pick it up. This young man is very courageous on entering a show with so many viewers. Though his release is his singing. Perhaps, if he continues to go forward it will give him the courage or skill to overcome this disability.