Perfect Pitch...!? (Jan-26-04)

[moved from old forum:]

Here is a link to a very informative website about perfect pitch aka Absolute Pitch.

http://www.aruffo.com/eartraining/


Ney, Jamie, professional musicians and anyone else, do you have perfect pitch, do you think it is possible to obtain? If so why and why not?

-Navanax

[moved from old forum:]

I guess it depends on your definition of perfect. I can tune a guitar very well just by ear but it is entirely possible that the guitar is not set to A = 440. I have a pretty good idea of what A 440 sounds like but I'm sure I might miss by a few Hz. I don't know if a human ear can actually tell the difference between 1 or 2 Hz. Perhaps when played side by side with another note you hear the difference because of the wave effect but just hearing a note I doubt someone can say that note is 445 Hz for instance. That to me would be absolute perfect pitch but I think you might need a machine to be that accurate. Just my best guess.

-Steve

[moved from old forum:]

Hi,

PERFECT PITCH is a misnomer. There is no SINGLE such thing as the name alludes to.

Some people can recognise equal temperament notes upon hearing them. That is far from constituting perfection in perception . Equal temperament is only one of many tuning standards and references used around the world.

Those who are refered to as having ' perfect pitch" suffer when they are faced with notes in just intonation or if the instruments are not tuned according to the rigid and culturally limiting way such people have psichologically permanently locked their ears.


All my best to you.
NEY MELLO

[moved from old forum:]

Ney,

I completely agree with you!! I'm not sure what the term "just intonation" means, but I have listened to some microtonalism guitar by daniel stearns and some others. I have to say that it was a massive attack on my 12 tone standard ear expectation. As well as Indian music and the microtonal bending. Those notes really hit a nerve that is so interesting to listen to, it really gives new meaning to "listen to what is between the notes". I gotta break out of my standard 12 tone listening habits. Ha ha !!
Thanks.

-Navanax

[moved from old forum:]

Thanks for the link. While we are 'sort of' on this subject, does anyone know any handy exercises/drill/practice that enables someone to play the notes they hear in their head?

This to me is equally important as technique.

-Alin

[moved from old forum:]

Thanks for the tip. Some really interesting stuff there. For a long time the predominant opinion in the music world has been that you have to be born with it. But that seems to be changing. For a short while I was experimenting with the Burge course for developing perfect pitch. I didn't continue long enough to make any strong statements, but I was beginning to be able to distinguish the qualities of some notes (greater than chance).

-Dan Mozell

[moved from old forum:]

"Does anyone know any handy exercises/drill/practice that
enables someone to play the notes they hear in their head?"

Sing what you play and play what you sing.

-John Link

[moved from old forum:]

Dan,

I have both the relative pitch and perfect pitch cd courses. I have to say that it is a slow but worthwhile process. Doing the perfect pitch listening techniques has enabled me to hear all the notes of an A major scale, and others. My ear has opened up and i can hear the subtle qualities of the pitches. It has taken a lot of awareness and attention and a sort of letting go.

-Navanax

[moved from old forum:]

Hi!

I have the Perfect Pitch CD:s too.
My ear has opened up greatly, just as he says on the CD:s.
I believe one can gain perfect pitch, because what he says makes a lot of sense.
My piano teacher has the greatest ear I've seen.
He can hear everything!! He has perfect pitch, can judge bpm missing with just a few clicks, he can immediately hear if drummers are the slighest out of time.
Once he listened to a record I brought, he had never heard it before, but the first thing he said was, the piano player is a beginner right?
He can't separate his fingers! and it was true! He was a beginner.
How many people can tell that by listening to a record??!!

-Jens

[moved from old forum:]

I have amazingly accute hearing. This from years of being a "spy" over radios in the USMC and now from being an audio engineer. It is my job to hear everything. I hear everything on music CDs too. I catch all the little slips and buzzes and weak notes before anyone I know. In my lesson I can tell what note my teacher is playing even when his back is turned with no training. I have never been told that I have perfect pitch so I assume I do not. What I have is developed from training I believe. I am also finding that all this ear training ruins a lot of good music for me. I have walked out on live guitarists because I hear too many mistakes whereas my friends don't even hear the mistakes and enjoyed the concert. I am currently attempting to hear the music now and not concentrate on the other stuff. It is a total retraining for me.

-Kfisherx