Posted:
Much has been said about Manik's terrible singing in Wednesday's episode. The song was off key and off beat. Many, including me, thought it was because of Parth's limited ability as a singer but somehow I wasn't too convinced that he could sing so bad after hearing him sing earlier. Yes, his singing has never been great but it wasn't so bad either. So why would they show Manik sing so badly, especially since he is the lead singer of the band? The recent promo got me thinking even more about this and I did a bit of net search to figure out the reason. Now this is what I think.
He may be suffering from something called 'amusia' which is a musical disorder wherein a person is unable to pitch properly. It also encompasses musical memory and recognition. There are two types of amusia - acquired amusia which is the result of brain damage, which is what Manik seems to be suffering from and congenital amusia which exists from birth.
According to Wikipedia, "Symptoms of amusia are generally categorized as receptive, clinical, or mixed. Symptoms of receptive amusia, sometimes referred to as "musical deafness", include the inability to recognize familiar melodies, the loss of ability to read musical notation, and the inability to detect wrong or out-of tune notes. Clinical, or expressive, symptoms include the loss of ability to sing, write musical notation, and/or play an instrument. A mixed disorder would be a combination of expressive and receptive impairment."
Now if my intuition is right, then this can cause serious problems for Manik. Nandu may have failed to point out how bad he was, out of consideration for him, although she did say that the song was incomplete, maybe as a polite way of saying it isn't good. But imagine him singing so badly in front of Fab3. They will be in a dilemma whether to let him lead the band at a time when he sounds so bad or go with Maddy who is desperate to make money inorder to disprove his granddad that he cannot make it on his own. The record company may also exert pressure on them to ease Manik out. Manik who is already wary of Arya regarding Nandu, will be even more insecure when there is a threat that he may lose his passion, his music. If this indeed is the plot, it would be quite interesting to see how Manan will weather this storm.
Although it is said that there are no forms of treatment which have proven effective in treating amusia, tone differentiation techniques are said to have some success. Since Nandu has always been shown to have interest in science, what if they show that she researches into this disorder and finds a cure for Manik's problem? That way they can marry her science and music interests and also show her helping Manik just as he helped her recover from her post-Pandit trauma.
If this is the plot (which I think would be quite unique), I owe Parth an apology for ridiculing his singing because it is quite an art to sing off key and off beat if that is not your natural ability.
