For those of us with "perfect pitch"

[horn_star]

Some people with perfect pitch can't listen through a symphony performance, especially as the group grows sharper over the course of the evening. It's too uncomfortable.

I'm sorry, but I think this comment is absolutely absurd everytime I hear it.

The VERY FEW individuals I have known who possess absolute pitch have never experienced this "overwhelming discomfort" that some people claim. Not to mention that, in this country, the highest concentration of people with absolute pitch is in the 30 or so full-time symphony orchestras. I find it hard to believe that someone in the audience for say, Chicago playing Mahler 3, would be overcome with agitation at the slightly changing pitch center of the ensemble when the majority of the people in the orchestra possess the same trait and are doing just fine.

Edited August 29, 2007 by horn_star

[StraightLegs]

Ahh well. It may be a myth, but if it is, I am not sure why everyone doesn't have it if it is such a myth. When I marched Cadets, other people couldn't do it so I am not sure how to explain it.

I've been in a lot of ensembles throughout the years and Tek was the only person I've worked with who had "perfect pitch."

Myth or not, it's still pretty cool when someone picks a pitch out of thin air and nails the center of the tuner...every time.

B)

[Kyle B]

Wouldn't it really drive them crazy to be listening to a really good school orchestra that plays in tune, but the band director forgot to order all his mallet instruments in A=440? The entire orchestra is A=440 with the mallets being A=442.

Those situations happen a lot around the country.

[madscout96]

If a person has perfect pitch and and is able to identify A-440, wouldn't it drive them crazy to listen to the modern US orchestras tuning at A-443?

I don't understand the connection between being able to IDENTIFY A-440 and being UNABLE TO ACCEPT anything that is NOT A-440. I honestly don't see why there should be a connection at all. Can anyone explain this to me?

[madscout96]

B)-->

QUOTE(Kyle B @ Aug 29 2007, 06:35 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wouldn't it really drive them crazy to be listening to a really good school orchestra that plays in tune, but the band director forgot to order all his mallet instruments in A=440? The entire orchestra is A=440 with the mallets being A=442.

Those situations happen a lot around the country.

OK now that I can understand. But that has nothing to do with anyone having perfect pitch. That's just that one section of the ensemble is tuned to something else than the rest of the ensemble, so the ensemble as a whole is out of tune.

That would bug me. Just like trying to listen to a drum corps rehearse or perform in the hot hot summer heat when the brass go sharp and the mallets go flat. But again, that has nothing to do at all with having perfect pitch. The ensemble just isn't in tune with itself.

[JayM]

Some aren't that well at speaking or reading or writing

Haha.

[Gary Matczak]

Perfect pitch is a myth. There is pitch memory and some people are very good at it. But, if by perfect pitch you mean nailing A=440hz, go to Europe where the pitch standard is different. Or try another culture that doesn't use a pitch standard at all.

Pitch is entirely relative. If you are "perfect" but out of tune with the ensemble (which, more often than not, will be "imperfect") things won't work out too well.

In the studio world, there's a name for people with perfect pitch - "Out of the band."

In the Mid East and Asia, there are 20 halfsteps between octaves,................the main reason most citar music sounds out of tune,.............. :P

[Einstein On The Beach]

In the Mid East and Asia, there are 20 halfsteps between octaves,................the main reason most citar music sounds out of tune,.............. :P

Quarter steps, not half steps. Those regions use quarter tones pretty regularly and naturally in all of their music. Whenever I see a piece with quarter sharps and flats in it, I usually want to cry.

That's like saying someone is Half-Man, Half-Bear, and Half-Pig.

Edited August 29, 2007 by Einstein On The Beach

[Martybucs]

Some people with perfect pitch can't listen through a symphony performance, especially as the group grows sharper over the course of the evening. It's too uncomfortable.

So, perfect pitch is more of a curse, than a blessing.

I know a few people tthat claim to have perfect pitch...I find them more annoying than something played off pitch.

[Mello - Benji]

We had guy in our pit on tour who had perfect pitch. We sat there with a tuner on the bus and quizzed him. He nailed it every time. It was also pretty cool when we were listening to a classical piece and he goes "This is in 6/8 time in the key of such and such." Good times.