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The Wonders of Perfect Pitch


chamcham

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So I was talking to my voice teacher, who is perfect pitch.

Her parents discovered she had perfect pitch when she was 3.

 

She's can instantly recognize the pitch of any natural sound.

 

Near her studio there are a few trains running.

Each train has a different set of train cars.

 

While walking to the train station, she's able to guess 100%

which train is coming by the sound the train cars are making along the train

tracks. Apparently, each train makes a different sound. So she never

has to make a last minute dash to see which train is arriving......:)

 

On the flip side, she has a fear of rain. She freaks out (literally, it started

raining at the end of my last voice lesson) whenever it starts raining. The pitter-patter of rain drops puts too much stress on her ultra-sensitive hearing and she's not able to block it out.

 

I was just wondering.

 

Are there other sounds that freak out people with perfect pitch?

Or any stories about the cool things people can do with their perfect pitch?

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I don't have perfect pitch either. My pitch is actually HORRIBLE.. lol

 

But anyways, I've heard that perfect pitch people have trouble tolerating an out-of-tune instrument, even if it is only slightly out-of-tune. I also heard that perfect pitch is hell for singers that have a fear of singing high notes. Sometimes its just easier when you don't know what note it is. :lol:

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Perfect pitch is a curse...I don't have it but I have a dam great ear and can tell if an instrument is out of tune, even if by a fraction, it sucks to play in bands where halfway into the set, all you can focus on is someone's instrument...also horrible for harmonies since you tend to get stuck in the worst performers issues, loosing your place.

 

Rod

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When I was gigging 5 nights a week (4 hour shows) I developed perfect pitch only on my bass's E string. (Fretless, that was useful.) When the band stopped playing that went away. (And nearly 40 years later it hasn't come back.)

I can get pretty close to pitch on a guitar but I think this is from being familiar with the strings' physical and audible characteristics rather than the pitch itself :idk:

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My high school music teacher had absolute pitch perception, and never had appreciable issues with out-of-tune music.

 

The sensitivities vary across the boards. Saying it's a curse is ignorant and a self-defense mechanism from jealousy and misery.

 

:cop:

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Don't have perfect pitch. I can barely make out octaves. I'd love to have it (I'd certainly be a hell of a lot better singer if I did!). The stories of people who will have a nervous breakdown over a violin tuned to A439 sort of make me think twice about wanting it, though.

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I teach music at a blind school and it is amazing to me how many of those kids haven perfect pitch. I read an article about it once that said a person usually develops it by the age of 6. I'm sure it would be fun to have but relative pitch is the most important thing to be blessed with. Without good relative pitch, you have troubles.

 

Some people don't have trouble because of having perfect pitch, but some of those kids DO suffer from having perfect pitch. When one string on a guitar a tiny bit out of tune drives them crazy ... or if a song sounds "wierd" to them when it is transposed from the original key. A few times I have had kids who did not want to transpose a song to fit their own voice. Kids that flat out refused to do it. As a performer, that to me would be a big problem. If I couldn't change the key of tunes to suit my vocal range, well let's just say that the number of songs I could sing would be greatly reduced ... it would probably cut my repertoire down to about 1/5 of what it is.

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How do you know if you have perfect pitch?? I am 99% sure I don't have it and I care not either way, but I'm curious.

 

 

It means you can identify or create any note without any external reference.

 

 

Some things I can do:

 

1) put a new set of strings on a guitar and tune it to 440 standard without a tuner

 

2) sing an a Capella intro to an accompanied song without asking for a note

 

3) on cue, sing any note asked

 

4) identify the key of any song being played, and jump in on guitar without "searching" for where to start

 

5) related: by ear, identify not only the type of chord being played at any one time, but the key

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It means you can identify or create any note without any external reference.



Some things I can do:


1) put a new set of strings on a guitar and tune it to 440 standard without a tuner


2) sing an a Capella intro to an accompanied song without asking for a note


3) on cue, sing any note asked


4) identify the key of any song being played, and jump in on guitar without "searching" for where to start


5) related: by ear, identify not only the type of chord being played at any one time, but the key

 

 

I can sing with accurate pitch while listening to a song (or alternatively, when singing with another person). But I Can't for the life of me tell you what notes I'm singing. So I can sing by ear, but ask me to sing a phrase with nothing more than a piece of sheet music and I'm totally lost.

 

Is that relative pitch? I don't need anyone to tell me the key or chords used. I just feel them as soon as I hear the music. I've even reached the point where I can memorize short phrases by ear and once I committ them to memory, I know if my pitch is spot the next time I sing.

 

Obviously, I need ear training (and that's what I've been working on with my teacher lately). But I was wondering if anyone can describe what each note (for ex. an F note) sounds like to them. I'm trying to come up with some kind of way to recall pitches without needing to hear a recording.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Also, my teacher's perfect pitch is pretty severe. The slightest mistake in pitch and she loses interest in any song she hears. It just sounds really unpleasant for her.

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I can sing with accurate pitch while listening to a song (or alternatively, when singing with another person). But I Can't for the life of me tell you what notes I'm singing. So I can sing by ear, but ask me to sing a phrase with nothing more than a piece of sheet music and I'm totally lost.


Is that relative pitch? I don't need anyone to tell me the key or chords used. I just feel them as soon as I hear the music. I've even reached the point where I can memorize short phrases by ear and once I committ them to memory, I know if my pitch is spot the next time I sing.


Obviously, I need ear training (and that's what I've been working on with my teacher lately). But I was wondering if anyone can describe what each note (for ex. an F note) sounds like to them. I'm trying to come up with some kind of way to recall pitches without needing to hear a recording.


Thank you.



Also, my teacher's perfect pitch is pretty severe. The slightest mistake in pitch and she loses interest in any song she hears. It just sounds really unpleasant for her.

 

 

I've had perfect pitch since I was a kid, so I couldn't tell you how I got it.

 

However, one trick I heard about to develop it is, get to where you can hear a recorded song you know REALLY well in your head. Find out what key that song is in. There's a note.

 

For instance, have you heard "Mustang Sally" so many times at the pub that you hear it in your sleep? Guess what? That's a C. So if you have relative pitch, you can derive all your other notes from that C you hear in your head when you think of that song.

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I can get pretty close to pitch on a guitar but I think this is from being familiar with the strings' physical and audible characteristics rather than the pitch itself
:idk:

This IS the way perfect pitch works. Then you start doing the same thing on other instruments, and soon you can recognize the pitch of every tone made.

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A few times I have had kids who did not want to transpose a song to fit their own voice. Kids that flat out refused to do it. As a performer, that to me would be a big problem. If I couldn't change the key of tunes to suit my vocal range, well let's just say that the number of songs I could sing would be greatly reduced ... it would probably cut my repertoire down to about 1/5 of what it is.

When I started to refuse to transpose songs, this led to the biggest development of my voice! It took hellowa a time, but today I'm glad I did. I increased my range from tiny to big, and tone, placement, reconance and dynamics are much better!

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It means you can identify or create any note without any external reference.



Some things I can do:


1) put a new set of strings on a guitar and tune it to 440 standard without a tuner


2) sing an a Capella intro to an accompanied song without asking for a note


3) on cue, sing any note asked


4) identify the key of any song being played, and jump in on guitar without "searching" for where to start


5) related: by ear, identify not only the type of chord being played at any one time, but the key

 

 

Hmm...but how do you identify any note played if you don't know music theory...do you have to have technical theory-based knowledge to have perfect pitch? This is the part I don't get.

In terms of the 5 things above, I can pick up a guitar and tune it...it's a little 6 note song in my head, that's how I remember what it should sound like, and I have no idea what the actual notes are...I just hear it in my head...and when checked by a proper tuner, it's always right. Never off at all.

 

I can sing a'capella with no note reference. I remember how it sounds in my head.

 

If I KNEW what the notes were, maybe I could sing them when asked...lol. I just don't know music theory so don't know what a B sounds like, for instance. Have never memorised all of that stuff. Though if someone said to me "sing the second note in (insert a song I know here)", I could do it with no guide. Is that anything related? lol

 

I don't know the keys of any songs...that's theory in my opinion, which I know nothing of. But if someone plays something, and I want to add an accompanying whatever, I can do so and it's a right "matching" note or chord...

 

So...yeah. I don't know.

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Hmm...but how do you identify any note played if you don't know music theory...do you have to have technical theory-based knowledge to have perfect pitch? This is the part I don't get.

In terms of the 5 things above, I can pick up a guitar and tune it...it's a little 6 note song in my head, that's how I remember what it should sound like, and I have no idea what the actual notes are...I just hear it in my head...and when checked by a proper tuner, it's always right. Never off at all.


I can sing a'capella with no note reference. I remember how it sounds in my head.


If I KNEW what the notes were, maybe I could sing them when asked...lol. I just don't know music theory so don't know what a B sounds like, for instance. Have never memorised all of that stuff. Though if someone said to me "sing the second note in (insert a song I know here)", I could do it with no guide. Is that anything related? lol


I don't know the keys of any songs...that's theory in my opinion, which I know nothing of. But if someone plays something, and I want to add an accompanying whatever, I can do so and it's a right "matching" note or chord...


So...yeah. I don't know.

 

Well yes, it sounds to me like you have perfect pitch.. The fact that you never learned the notes names is interesting but if you can correctly sing the first note to a song, or tune the guitar just by hearing it in your head, sounds like perfect pitch recognition to me. I suppose you wouldn't have to learn a lot of theory to learn to name the pitches either. There are only 12 possible notes in our tuning system. You could surely teach yourself to recognize intervals, and then pick a few notes from songs that you recognize, memorize that "the starting pitch in (song name) is (note name), and you'd have it!"

 

Though I get the feeling from the way you word it that you kind of purposely didn't learn theory. Some people do have that attitude ... that it wont help them. I dissagree with that but hey. I also play a couple of instruments so I really need to know how to read and transpose and things. Who knows, maybe you don't play an instrument - and you might just sing circles around me!

 

No way in the world I could pull a pitch out of the air like you say you can do. It's a cool think to have, for sure. ;)

 

EDIT - I just re-read your post, and it says you do play guitar.

So you can go to chords and you don't know how they relate or what their names are? That is wild. So you just hear a certain chord in you head and because you have perfect pitch you just form the shape for that chord with your hand ... and you have no idea of the key or what the name of the chord is? Well. I guess that is pretty cool.

 

Every once in a while I can play a song I have never played before because I recognize the arrangement of notes in certain chords (for those of you who know chord names, I mean I can hear that it is an open A or Dsus or C or whatever) But not always, when learning songs with more than the basic open chords I sometimes have to locate the root note and then build the chord above it, though I can easily find the root and build the right kind of chord above it, major, minor, augmented, or 6 chord, or whatever... you guys know what I mean. I am tired and rambling here .. going to bed, but I just wanted to make sure I hadn't insulted grace slick by saying i thought maybe they (she?) did not play an instrument -

 

Hey, I read once that Joni Mitchell had no idea of any music theory, that she wrote songs in all kinds of alternate tunings and just played around with what she called "shapes" - Nobody can say Joni didn't know music ! ;)

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Hi!

 

No no, I don't play guitar. I play the keyboard though, and if my partner is playing the guitar I can accompany her on the keyboard...ad-libbing, etc. All I've ever done is ad-lib stuff. I just play around.

 

I kind of learnt piano way back when I was a kid, but found the theory painfully boring and slow, so I gave up and just did my own thing. And yeah, you're right, I am a theory avoider. I don't like it, don't want it and have NO interest in it! *defiant*

 

I actually don't think I have perfect pitch, just based on the things I said previously. I couldn't ALWAYS start a song on the right note. I mean, I'd always be in TUNE when I sang, but a certain song would be in my head, but there seemed to be several right-sounding starting notes, you know? And only later would I find that I was too high or too low...it still sounded good, but it wasn't THE actual correct note to start on. That was when I was a kid...by the time I was in my early teens I always got the right note. I think my memory just got better, that's all.

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I don't have perfect pitch but close to relative pitch... Sometimes, lol! I've tried to train myself to memorize where certain pitches resonate and if I'm asked to sing them I can usually fall right on it or close to depending on how long it's been since I've heard it. I find the phenomena of absolute pitch fascinating :))

 

Another phenomena that I have been experiencing and just recently discovered that there was a name to it and that other poeple experience it as well is Synesthesia. The way it manifests itself for me is that I associate colours to voices in my mind. Similarly to your teacher, sometimes the visual sensation of a certain sound is soo overwhelming that I can't concentrate on anything else, lol! So I have to "tune out" to focus again on what the person is actually saying to me, haha!

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I remember when I was 2, my aunt would play old 45s on a beat up old record player. This player's power was a little inconsistent, and I could always tell when the songs were even a little off pitch. Nothing obvious, that an average listener would hear. Just a little "off".

 

I used to say, "It's broken. You need to baby it!", because "babying" something that was old was something I heard my dad say about the family car. :lol:

 

My aunt had NO idea what I was talking about, since the player sounded fine to her.

 

 

Speaking of my dad, he's a professional musician, and by the time I was 4, through him, I was getting asked to sing at various music events around the state.

 

At one point, somewhere between age 4 and 5, I showed up to one of these events, and the house backing band had dutifully learned one of my numbers for me to sing. My dad was off doing something else while I warmed up with the band, but something was "off" and bothering me about the way the band was playing the number. So in the way of a 4yo who hasn't learned any grace or tact, I told the band they were "doing it wrong". :freak:

 

They chuckled at my (tiny at the time) balls for this statement, but around that point, my dad, who had come in sometime during the warmup, stepped up told them that the original recording was in Ab, not A.

 

One of the guys in the band said, "The kid can tell the difference?"

 

My dad: "Unfortunately, yes."

 

 

So my dad had a little side talk with me about band etiquette, and also convinced me that it was okay to sing it a little higher this time, and that it would help the band.

 

That was one of my early experiences in musical compromise, and I'm grateful to my dad for teaching me that.

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Some pretty amazing stories here! Wow!

 

I don't have perfect pitch, but my "relative pitch" is pretty accurate - I can sense what a note is through years of experience as a musician, rather than an innate ability.

 

My friend, who sings a lot of Baroque music, says it can be very difficult with perfect pitch, when you have to sing a piece with A at 415hz, for example, and not at 440hz! So he transposes the music in his head as he sangs - ouch, some serious mind gymnastics there!!

 

Andrew

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