who has perfect pitch?

[droolmaster0]

If I tune by ear with no tuner I am usually quite accurate as I can hear the oscillation well and I know my intervals well..but that is that perfect pitch or is it a good ear? A good ear is also noticed by how I hear things like compressors breathing, artifacts...ect. A couple weeks ago a friend who plays guitar stopped by for a while and a song we both like came on Music Choice, I turned it off...he freaked.."what's wrong with you?" I explained that I could hear the breathing in the compressors that Music Choice uses. When I went to show him what I meant it was painful....yet he couldn't hear it.

I think that probably 'perfect pitch' is defined most commonly as the ability to recognize pitches. It comes in degrees. As I mentioned, because I was most familiar with the pitches in the violin range, they were easy for me to recognize, or reproduce, but I had more difficulty outside that range. My sister was better - she learned the piano, and her perfect pitch extends to that entire range, plus she can identify every note in a chord.

I would imagine that the experience of perfect pitch, being judged by the ability above, might have a different subjective experience from person to person. In my case, there is a quality to different pitches that I recognize. It is so distinctive. The E below middle C, well, it just sounds like the E below middle C. Nothing else sounds like that. It's not consciously a matter of anything else - intervals, other noises, tension in strings. The pitches just have a quality to them. It is really not a matter of recognizing this note, E, which is between two other notes. It is more like the recognition of a color.

[mandolarian]

While very good, my pitch detection is not perfect. However, after years of living beyond my means, my tastes are impeccable.

Not to mention, my timing. 1,000th post! For the second time. Kvr giveth and taketh away.

[Hink]

If I tune by ear with no tuner I am usually quite accurate as I can hear the oscillation well and I know my intervals well..but that is that perfect pitch or is it a good ear? A good ear is also noticed by how I hear things like compressors breathing, artifacts...ect. A couple weeks ago a friend who plays guitar stopped by for a while and a song we both like came on Music Choice, I turned it off...he freaked.."what's wrong with you?" I explained that I could hear the breathing in the compressors that Music Choice uses. When I went to show him what I meant it was painful....yet he couldn't hear it.

I think that probably 'perfect pitch' is defined most commonly as the ability to recognize pitches. It comes in degrees. As I mentioned, because I was most familiar with the pitches in the violin range, they were easy for me to recognize, or reproduce, but I had more difficulty outside that range. My sister was better - she learned the piano, and her perfect pitch extends to that entire range, plus she can identify every note in a chord.

I would imagine that the experience of perfect pitch, being judged by the ability above, might have a different subjective experience from person to person. In my case, there is a quality to different pitches that I recognize. It is so distinctive. The E below middle C, well, it just sounds like the E below middle C. Nothing else sounds like that. It's not consciously a matter of anything else - intervals, other noises, tension in strings. The pitches just have a quality to them. It is really not a matter of recognizing this note, E, which is between two other notes. It is more like the recognition of a color.

okay so I did a ggogle search "define perfect pitch" try it yourself...here's the first on the list
http://www.c4vct.com/kym/humor/musdefi.htm

Perfect pitch: Throwing a banjo in the dumpster without hitting the sides.

now serious

Absolute Pitch, commonly referred to as Perfect Pitch, is an intriguing behavioral trait involved in music perception and is defined as the ability to recognize the pitch of a musical tone without an external reference pitch. To be considered a Perfect Pitch possessor, an individual must have the ability to identify pitches accurately and instantaneously

notice it doesn't say some musical tones...

[Kingston]

hink,

here are some recent statistics as you seemed to want to know about them,

http://pub.ucsf.edu/newsservices/releases/200401097/

That should clear many of the myths that have popped up even in this thread. No need to speculate.

Remember that even in studies like that there is plenty of leeway, "At the same time, the researchers found that musicians with perfect pitch were four times more likely to report a family member with perfect pitch than those without it."

It could also mean that when people have early training in music, they come from musically enclined families. Hence their siblings might have started early training as well. (and hence perfect pitch abilities that have nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with family traditions)

[Hink]

hink,

here are some recent statistics as you seemed to want to know about them,

http://pub.ucsf.edu/newsservices/releases/200401097/

That should clear many of the myths that have popped up even in this thread. No need to speculate.

everyone is speculating...I have read quite a bit about perfect pitch...however the biggest myth is that we actually know where perfect pitch comes from...whether it's developed or we are born with it is a pretty interesting topic imo...sure beats the hell out of protection threads...

[Meffy]

whether it's developed or we are born with it is a pretty interesting topic imo...sure beats the hell out of protection threads...;)

I think perfect pitch comes from the earlobe. You know, that dongle-y little bit of the ear.

[james0tucson]

would it suck to have perfect pitch of A440, and have to work in an A438 world? Or to have perfect meantone pitch, and have to deal with a compensated temperament?

[james0tucson]

glass is an even more viscous liquid. old (like medieval) windows are thicker at the bottom.

Oh no! "Glass" does not "flow", and nobody with a material science background will say it does.

http://www.glassnotes.com/WindowPanes.html

[tuz]

i think i might.

[Meffy]

glass is an even more viscous liquid. old (like medieval) windows are thicker at the bottom.

Oh no! "Glass" does not "flow", and nobody with a material science background will say it does.

http://www.glassnotes.com/WindowPanes.html

I used to subscribe to this belief too, Karbon, but have since found enough evidence to change my mind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass#Glass_as_a_liquid

Even I can be wrong on occasion. Who knew?

[Kingston]

would it suck to have perfect pitch of A440, and have to work in an A438 world? Or to have perfect meantone pitch, and have to deal with a compensated temperament?

Yes, see my my first post on page 1.

[chagzuki]

A load of bollocks really. The only issue is how your skills help you make the music you want to, and of course the better your understanding of harmony in relation to the music you want to make, the easier it is to make that music.

Hearing, for expample, a vacuum cleaner and being able to identify the frequency of the main harmonics may have next to no bearing on one's ability to create the music that one want's to make.

[chagzuki]

The problem is with the word 'perfect'.

[Kingston]

it's really pitch recognition and association, but what can you do, it's an estabilished term.

And also, it may or may not help in creating music. Think of it as just another tool. It might hurt if one is composing or arranging a piece in non standard tunings (common in pop music as an enhancement effect).

But when you quickly have to write down a song you heard on a radio or something (in standard tuning), it's indispensable. And no matter how good relative pitch you might have, it's useless if you have no pitch reference around.

(several edits. crappy typing)

[mandolarian]

The problem is with the word 'perfect'.

Yeah, there's got to be a better, more perfected word to use.