I am learning to sing and I am pretty bad at it for now (I sing out of tune).
I was told that a good ear is important to sing well. This makes sense, so I looked for ways to quantify the quality of my musical hearing.
I came across a test that evaluates the smallest interval one can differentiate.
This test was very interesting. I scored 2.0% of a semitone, meaning that I am able to differentiate up to 2 cents.
This got me thinking :
How relevant to singing in tune is this raw ability to hear small intervals?
Are there some statistics on results for this type of tests? Is 2 cents a good or bad natural ability?
I am able to differentiate intervals way below semitones, and yet I can’t sing in tune. So clearly this test does not give the full picture of the raw abilities needed to sing. What other raw abilities are needed to sing in tune? Specifically, is this test the wrong way to measure “good hearing” ?