Metal and Learning

So fun fact.  I love metal music.  And lately I’ve been looking into understanding metal vocals.  Did you know that metal vocals aren’t supposed to hurt the vocal chords?  I know, half the people who have singing experience will be thinking, “yeah duh, if it hurts you are damaging your vocal chords.”  And the other half are metal fans who like me tried to mimic what they heard with very little training.  Those guys are saying, “hmmmm no pain you say?  Go on.” 

Well I will go on.  So apparently the intensity of the screams and growls on all the bands that I listened to were actually controlled.  They did warmups.  They drank tea.  Sometimes they even stretched their back.  But when they hit the stage.  They were monsters.  Angry, intense and could shake a stadium with their voices.  But before and after that show, they were incredibly mellow. 

They were so intense for a short period.  But in order to keep that intensity consistent every night, they mellowed out hard before and after. 

And I started thinking, wow that’s cool…wait that sounds familiar. 

Ever chilled out hardcore for a semester, did a project the day before it was due, got an A and then went on a trip the weekend after.  Procrastination?  Or a metal vocalist approach to homework?  Or metal vocalists all have ADHD?  Man, we’re going down the rabbit hole now. 

One of the many stereotypical approaches of students with ADHD is to procrastinate, get hyper focused and dish out months of work in a couple of hours, and then get bored and do something else.  The process of going hard for a moment and chilling before and after is reminiscent of the approach of metal vocalists. 

The fundamental difference is that metal vocalists control it and can replicate it over and over again.  Or maybe that isn’t a difference.  Maybe students with ADHD can do it on purpose. 

And that ladies and gentlemen, is where leaning into your strengths comes in.  Sometimes a deficit is actually a skill.  You just have to look at a medium that pulled it off and realize, “oh damn I do that anyway, what if I lean into it.” 

It is in the exploration of our weaknesses that we can fully understand the nature of our strengths.  When we confront those weaknesses devoid of shame and guilt, we start to see that there is an interplay dynamic between strength and weakness.  And characteristics or skills that are weaknesses can be considered strengths in the right context. 

So, what I’m trying to say is lean into it.  Or become a metal vocalist.  Or what ever you got out of this post.

All the best,

Andreas