perfect pitch

[Phantombari1]

I had a perfect pitch or so I was told by many a major league player!

[Kimberly]

Those are the same people who are set mongers. They insist that they are exactly

on their set, but since they weren't guiding to the form, it looks like crap.

The audience and the judges don't know that you are supposed to be 1 step

in front of the back hash mark and 2 steps inside the 40....but they know that

the form doesn't look right! <**>

O.k. off my soap box

Sorry, that was me. I did the best I could back then, but there were a lot of things (including drill) that I couldn't bend, yield, or go with the flow on. It's taken a lot of years and therapy to get to where I am now, which would be a 1000% better form marcher than I was as a kid. I wish I could go back and remarch then as the person I am now, but I can't.

[marimbaman89]

I am still looking forward to hearing a counter argument or some kind of discusssion. Again, Perfect pitch does not excist. Only really well developed, internalized, relative pitch.

to be able to play in all keys, we need to break the "intune" system, so it works in all keys. Equal tempered is da word. So, someone with this so called "perfect pitch" would not be in music!! they would go nuts. Only string instruments and "the perfect instrument" (trombone,.. sorry, I'm biast ;) would physically be able to play the correct intervals and harmonies.

again, perfect pitch would indicate that 1 pitch is absolutely set,.. and we all know it isn't... Therefor I say,.. only well developed relative pitch excists. (but this doesn't sound as "cool" as saying I have perfect pitch... Oh well)

anyone think different?... BRING IT ;) (just kidding)

Barry

Well, there isn't a set pitch, but isn't it possible that people who could give you an A=440 without reference just were influenced in early age in an A=440 environment and that's why they have A=440? Isn't it possible that people who grew up in Europe or an environment with A=442 have perfect A=442 pitch? I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject, but couldn't a person's developement be influenced based on the tuning of a musical environment (haha I can't find the right words right now). Personally, my perfect/relative/whatever pitch is generally flat (I could give you a C without reference and find you anything else from a C, but it would be flat) and I tend to think that my piano has influenced that, because generally (and obviously pianos go out of tune) I'm in tune with my flat piano.

Just some thought, again I'm young and not very knowledgeable on the subject.

[flashofthunder]

Perfect pitch does actually exist. A person who graduated from my high school a few years ago was our "human tuner." We could play a pitch, without him having any starting note to base it on, and he was able to tell us if we were sharp or flat. If we would check it on a tuner, he would be exactly correct, always. He started off playing saxophone, but changed to percussion by the recomendation of our BD because he couldn't play in tune with the ensemble. He always had perfect A=440 pitch, but he wasn't able to vary by a few cents to play in tune with an ensemble very easily.

He ended up being an awesome tenor player, though.

He didn't really know how he knew a pitch so easily. I guess it's kind of like asking you how you know if a color is green or red. Sure, you could break it down and say that the light spectrums reflecting off of a given surface are picked up by our eyes and transcoded by our brain into recognizable shades. But you don't think of it like that, you just see red and know it's red.

On a side note, there's a condition called synesthesia, which can best be described as the crossing of senses. For example, you may taste a sight, or actually see a sound. Rimsky-Korsakov actually had arguments with another composer(sorry, can't remember his name) over the "colors" of different notes and keys. The composers would actually see different shapes and colors depending on the notes they heard. An Ab may be a shade of cyan, or an E may be a shade of yellow. What colors they saw were unique to each person.

In this way, the composers would have perfect pitch simply because they knew what "colors'" the notes were.

[Lance]

I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I have a good ear, and pitch problems really bother me, but I've known people with perfect pitch, and it causes them real physical discomfort, not only to listen to music that is tuned higher or lower than it should be, but also to play within an ensemble that is tuned higher or lower. I'm not sure if anybody else said it, but while it's a special gift, it's also a curse from what I've seen.

[Matthew]

I have perfect pitch myself, I can hear trains, airplanes, and other things that run and produce a sound, and can name the chords, and overtones they are producing. The only thing that has really been beneficial about perfect pitch, is being able to test out of ear training the first few days of class, because I can pick up a piece of music and sight sing it without thinking about it. Other than that, it can be very annoying having to play what is really "out of tune" with an ensemble, making yourself sound in tune, even though it is really out of tune (if that makes sense). I don't even brag about this, because having perfect pitch is nothing to brag about.

When people find out that I have it, they annoy me to no end! "What pitch was that?"...it has gone as far as friends and music majors in my school of music playing on the Dr. Beat asking me to "name that pitch"--I do it for them, without thinking twice about it... There is nothing special about perfect pitch. Sometimes I wish I could get rid of it.

When I marched in drum corps, my instructors would call me out for playing out of tune, because sometimes I really did "tune out" (no pun intended) and would play what was really in tune, not thinking of course... and then I would have to snap back into reality. It's good to have at times (i.e. un-accompanied solos on your instrument or voice). Did I mention, I hate playing solos with the piano! Id rather just program everything into a keyboard or computer and have that be the accompaniment!

I agree with the person who said something about seeing colors. I see a different color for each note, and that color changes depending on what octave that note is sounding in. Different chords produce different pictures for me, depending on their inversions. The list goes on, but it is not uncommon for people to see that.

"What pitch is that!?--I've stopped playing those games with those who like to get off on it though! Yeah its interesting for someone to have or know someone who has perfect pitch, but use a #### tuner if you want to know the pitch! It's not my job.... Right now at least.

(/rant)

[Matthew]

Here's the link to the test> UCSF is doing genetic studies.

http://perfectpitch.ucsf.edu/ppstudy.html

click on 'test'

I'd suggest being in a VERY quiet soundproof room if you are going to do a test like this. Any extra noises or whatever, can distort.

[JMS0527]

On a side note, there's a condition called synesthesia, which can best be described as the crossing of senses. For example, you may taste a sight, or actually see a sound. Rimsky-Korsakov actually had arguments with another composer(sorry, can't remember his name) over the "colors" of different notes and keys. The composers would actually see different shapes and colors depending on the notes they heard. An Ab may be a shade of cyan, or an E may be a shade of yellow. What colors they saw were unique to each person.

In this way, the composers would have perfect pitch simply because they knew what "colors'" the notes were.

I wonder if it's still called synesthesia if the association is with direction (as opposed to color, or whatever)

[Lance]

It's actually called synaesthesia (as in combination of aesthetic sensations), the way I learned it anyway. It's probably okay both ways. Direction? No, I don't think so.

[JMS0527]

Wonder if anyone else has that association..?