KVR Audio

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:21 am

I don't

bucket · Post by **bucket** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:26 am

I'm pretty good at baseball, but nowhere near perfect.

DELUDE · Post by **DELUDE** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:34 am

deggy · Post by **deggy** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:53 am

in my undergrad, there were a few guys that claimed to have perfect pitch (they probably did, i have no idea). But i always ended up doin way better than they did on every single ear training exam. i definitely do not have perfect or relative pitch or any of that crap. so, were they all phonys?

Kingston · Post by **Kingston** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:54 am

bucket wrote:I'm pretty good at baseball, but nowhere near perfect.

I have a halfway perfect pitch. It sometimes unconciously kicks in and makes me think stupid things like "well, that bird was just singing so nicely in G sharp major" or "that damn airconditioner should be tuned 30cents higher, it's not reaching e flat".

I was once reading a book as someone told me that you can actually enhance perfect pitch with it. It's a myth that you're born with perfect pitch, by the way. Anyway, this book had me making progress and I was hearing all these identifiable pitches around me more and more. Then I got bored with the exercises in that book (they were really dull) and settled with what I already have.

I once talked with a person who has had perfect pitch since he was a kid, it was his extremely early piano lessons that triggered his progress in the first place. He's telling me it's sometimes difficult to enjoy music if they're not *exactly* in tune. Persons' "internal tuning" can be something other than the standard 440hz-base as well, and it goes lower with age.

This is actually one of the occupational hazards for conductors: when they get older the symphony orchestra sounds illtuned to them, and it can apparently make life a living hell.

deggy · Post by **deggy** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:57 am

yeah, i'm a piano player (my mom was a piano teacher) and i've been playin since 3 or 4. all the people that got all of the highest marks on the ear training exams were either piano or string players. i wonder if that's not a coincidence.

Kingston · Post by **Kingston** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:06 am

One thing I forgot to point out that it really is a learned skill. People with early musical training grasp it easily, just like you can grasp anything fast and easy as a kid. If someone is interested I'll dig up the name of the training book.

One skill really close to it is sample spotting. It's nearly the same brain mechanism, and it's a skill that might be something many KVRians have subconciously developed quite well.

Z3R0T0N1N · Post by **Z3R0T0N1N** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:11 am

my mom has perfect pitch. she's a singer. one of those people that can start singing any song in whatever key the band wants it, and when they join in she doesn't have to adjust even remotely. I find it rather fascinating. i sing a bit too, but i can only nail it half or even less of the time. I am fairly positive that when i do it is just luck.

IvoryTickler · Post by **IvoryTickler** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:50 am

I have perfect pitch. I can name any note on the piano blind - though very low and very high notes are tricky. I learned piano from aged 8 to 15. Our piano was pretty crap but got tuned regularly. I have no idea whether this ability is acquired or inherited.

Odd thing is that if I hear a note that is in-between concert pitched notes (eg a slightly out of tune piano) then it just sounds totally weird and I can't even tell what note it is near.

It's handy for writing down music from CDs, I can listen and write down notes and chords.

IvoryTickler · Post by **IvoryTickler** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:57 am

Kingston wrote:One thing I forgot to point out that it really is a learned skill. People with early musical training grasp it easily, just like you can grasp anything fast and easy as a kid. If someone is interested I'll dig up the name of the training book.

One skill really close to it is sample spotting. It's nearly the same brain mechanism, and it's a skill that might be something many KVRians have subconciously developed quite well.

Yes, thinking about it, concert pitch is an arbitrary choice so must be learned. However the ability to learn it will almost certainly have some inherited variation. I read somewhere that as a small child Mozart used to cry when he heard out of tune notes.

I wonder - has any body had perfect pitch then lost it as a result of a localised stroke or brain surgical lesion?

tony tony chopper · Post by **tony tony chopper** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:58 am

this guy has perfect pitch, and is so happy about it

(private joke)

larm · Post by **larm** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:05 am

Interesting thread.

I've never bothered to practice "pp" but I did some interval training when I had some spare time (years ago). A more academic book I once read devoted to the topic said that most subjects aquired it in the pre-adolescence years. I think it is very closely related to our ability to unconciously pick up languages as childs, were pitch will be just another tracking parameter in order to make meaning out of the noise coming out of our mouths. (Compare old people picking up a 2nd language to a child).

Homebelly · Post by **Homebelly** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:06 am

tony tony chopper wrote:this guy has perfect pitch, and is so happy about it

(private joke)

It's Tommy Lee,, but don't tell him i told you so,,

No name · Post by **No name** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:11 am

I'm pretty close. I've never really learned how to play piano, so i've always just went by ear all this time. I'm not perfect, but i'd say my rating is up there.

o'malley · Post by **o'malley** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:21 am

deggy wrote: all the people that got all of the highest marks on the ear training exams were either piano or string players. i wonder if that's not a coincidence.

Yeah, and its always the vocalists who do the worst!

who has perfect pitch?