Perfect Pitch

Alan Brookes · From: Brummy living in Southern California

Do you have perfect pitch ?
If someone played you one note could you say what it was, without reference to anything else ?
Can you listen to a band playing on the radio and say what key they're playing in, without reference to anything else ?

Most musicians can't. They'll usually ask for a reference note from a tuning fork, tuning pipe, or a keyboard, then they tune the rest of the strings by pitch relative to that original note.

But there are musicians out there who can. I remember a legal case in England in the 60's: a famous band leader was charged with exceeding the speed limit, and his defence was that he could tell from the pitch of the hum from the gearbox and the engine what speed he was going; that he was going a lot slower than what the police had said.

The prosecution then played him half a dozen tones, one after the other, and he identified the pitch of each of them exactly.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

I have it and I feel very fortunate. I can usually do a transcription without an instrument in hand, as long as it's not too heavy.
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Rick Schmidt · From: Prescott AZ, USA

On a good day, I myself have fairly good "relative" pitch. I've known a few people throughout the years with perfect pitch, and it really is a cool natural gift to have! A couple of them were great musicians (like Mike), but then I actually knew one guy who could hear the key of a jet airplane, or the Doppler modulation of a train passing by, who was just not a very good player at all. It was more of a party trick in his case. It always amazed me.

I also knew a guy who spent tons of cash on one of those "Learn Perfect Pitch" courses in the back of magazines. In his case, it was a total waste of his money.

That being said, ear training is a very useful tool!

Joachim Kettner · From: Germany

I remember when I heard a jazz singer from the US, can't remember her name right now, that she often started a tune without having a reference point from her backup band.
I later asked a band member about it, and he said that she didn't need it, beause she had perfect pitch.
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Barry Blackwood · Posted 14 Aug 2011 9:25 am

I knew one person who had pp. They explained that it was kind of a two-edged sword in that they found it difficult playing when they could perceive all the tuning and intonation inaccuracies within the band.

Twayn Williams · From: Portland, OR

I knew a guy in college who had perfect pitch, and he was a drummer Whoa!

What a waste Mr. Green

He would play guitar completely by ear but he wasn't a very good improvisor. Strange guy, I'll bet by now he's a total monster on any number of instruments.
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Bob Russell · From: Virginia, USA

Barry Blackwood · Posted 14 Aug 2011 9:47 am

Bob, my point exactly. Smile

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

[quote="Bob Russell"]

Jeremy Craft · From: Portland, Oregon

For me, the process is simply one of remembering what notes sound like. If I want to sing a pitch, I remember what the desired pitch sounds like, and sing it. If I want to identify a pitch, I have to think of a pitch that I'm familiar with, like the high E note on a guitar and compare it to the pitch I hear. I too tend to be a little flat in how I remember pitches.

Because it takes a conscious effort for me, I'm not bothered by pitches that are not "in tune" with how I remember them... unless I want to be.

I find that it can be handy to have perfect pitch, but that good relative pitch is a far, far more useful talent.

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Like so many others, I checked box #3, but I want to mention something else.

I can often tell the pitch of a recording by the sound of the guitar chords. I bet a lot of the people here can also do this. It's not pitch recognition, but rather recognition of which strings are playing which parts of the chord. (Assuming that the guitar player isn't using a capo.)

Who else can do this?
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Marc Friedland · From: Fort Collins, CO

Mike,
I'm with you on that - Certain open chords played in the traditional voicing on a 6-string guitar seem easy to identify. Once in a while I can pick out if it's being played with a capo or tuned down a step, but often I can get fooled.
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Dave A. Burley · From: Franklin, In. USA

Johnny Gore, saxaphone with Mel Tillis for twenty years, had perfect pitch. Many of the great jazz musicians have or had perfect pitch. Most great classical composers had perfect pitch. Some notable's that you might remember: Frank Sinatra, Leonard Bernstein, Barbra Streisand, Julie Andrews, Andre Previn, Stevie Wonder, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Paul Shaffer, . . . the list goes on and on.
Perfect pitch is God given. You don't learn it. You are either born with it or without it. I cannot believe the hours and days and weeks and years that I studied perfect pitch. Never did get it.
Dave A. Burley
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Alan Brookes · From: Brummy living in Southern California

Bing Crosby had perfect pitch. He also had a sense of humor. If someone in the band was playing out-of-tune he would change the words and continue singing. After a few lines of "some bastard in the horn section is playing out of tune" the band would start to break up, until the whole band was just laughing. Very Happy

William Lake · From: Ontario, Canada

I think Don Larsen had perfect pitch.
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Peter Freiberger · From: California, USA

I thought perfect pitch was when you threw a banjo into a dumpster and didn't hit any of the sides... (rim shot, please).

Barry Blackwood · Posted 15 Aug 2011 6:24 am

Darrell Criswell · From: Maryland, USA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_pitch

Go to the above link and read in particular the section under scientific studies.

When most of you talk about perfect pitch are you referring to abolsute pitch as described in the article, i.e. production or identification of a note without any external reference point or musical context?

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

I've been around music for over 40 years and never met anyone who really had perfect pitch. I knew some who thought they did but that was just "thought".

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

Don Hinkle · From: Springfield Illinois, USA

I am with mike p. I can recognize guitar chords by pitch as wel as chord voicings. Another note - for some reason, the key of "f major" sticks out like a sore thumb! Or even an "f" chord that is played in almost any song I immediately recognize it even if I am not listening for it.
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Bryan Daste · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I've done a lot of reading and exploring on the subject, including checking out the David Lucas Burge course that is advertised in magazines (it's OK, but really overpriced - check the library). There are claims that absolute, or "perfect" pitch, can be learned - or actually, that we are all born with it and lose it over time by not using it.

There's a really interesting podcast here:
http://www.radiolab.org/2007/sep/24/
With a researcher named Diana Deutsch who studied Asian children with AP, possibly related to sounds they use in their everyday speech. Definitely worth a listen.

This guy also has some great ideas:
http://www.aruffo.com/eartraining/

I have used his computer training program, and when practicing regularly I was sometimes able to identify pitches - for instance, I threw a q-tip into a garbage can and could correctly identify the "ping" as a C. I never progressed to the point where it was musically useful, but I am still very interested in it! A keyboardist in one of my bands has AP, and I can say without a doubt that it's a good thing when doing arrangements, working out harmony parts, and lots of other musical tasks.

Bo Legg · Posted 16 Aug 2011 11:53 am

I don't know if you call this perfect pitch or not but my son Stuart just sits at the computer and pulls the notes out of his head when he writes notation and just listens to a recordings and transcribes it to notation with out using any instrument for reference.
He transcribes E9 PSG to notation and then to tab and doesn't play any kind of Steel guitar.
He is constantly getting on me because I don't play things like they are written or like it is on the CD.
I always tell him for what I'm getting paid I'll play the notes I want and as for perfect pitch that didn't get on the bus with the band.

Bryan Daste · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Well, if he knows what key the song is in and is using that as a starting point to find the notes, then he's using relative pitch. If he has no knowledge of what key the song is in, but can still correctly identify the notes, then he likely has absolute pitch.

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