Perfect or Absolute Pitch

[T-Block]

My understanding is that, everybody is born with it, but you only retain it if you becom a musician at an early age (3-5 yrs)

Wow, dat's a new one on me.

[csedwards2]

I think thats a lil far fetched as well, but there are tremendous advantages for a child if he/she starts playing muic at a very young age.

[cas10a]

My understanding is that, everybody is born with it, but you only retain it if you becom a musician at an early age (3-5 yrs)

I've heard this also...but I don't think it's a proven fact, but theory...

[Bigbabymap]

well for me it happened like this. certain notes reminded of songs. so when someone played a E i thought of fur else( not sure of the spelling). the B natural always sounds like it is trying to resolve to C. Bb sounded like a Bb jazz change. F# was never shall forget by J. P. Kee and so forth. then as i heard more it seem to speed up. it wasn't until i could recall notes that i really started to understand what was going on. now, i think it is something that still has to be trained. it takes me 3 or 4 seconds to call a 10 note chord out once its play but, I have a good friend that can hear 10 or 12 note at one time in a split second and his memory is off the chain when it comes to reciting what hes heard after hearing it once. gospel music is pretty easy to recall but some the the classical music is very challenging. then my drummer at church has it as well and this dude knows the key to every song he's ever heard! i mean but sometimes when i hear people sing and the bounce between keys it throws me for a loop as far as where to place them.

[bishopcole]

Wow, dat's a new one on me.

Me too!! I have never heard this and I have been around the block for a minute!  Bishop Cole

[under13]

I think thats a lil far fetched as well, but there are tremendous advantages for a child if he/she starts playing muic at a very young age.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_pitch#Nature_or_nurture.3F

Nature or nurture?
Many people have believed that musical ability itself is an inborn talent.[31] Some scientists currently believe absolute pitch may have an underlying genetic basis and are trying to locate genetic correlates;[32] most believe that the acquisition of absolute pitch requires early training during a critical period of development, regardless of whether or not a genetic predisposition toward development exists.[33] The "unlearning theory," first proposed by Abraham,[34] has recently been revived by developmental psychologists who argue that every person possesses absolute pitch (as a mode of perceptual processing) when they are infants, but that a shift in cognitive processing styles (from local, absolute processing to global, relational processing) causes most people to unlearn it; or, at least, causes children with musical training to discard absolute pitch as they learn to identify musical intervals.[35] Additionally, any nascent absolute pitch may be lost simply by the lack of reinforcement or lack of clear advantages in most activities in which the developing child is involved. An unequivocal resolution to the ongoing debate would require controlled experiments that are both impractical and unethical.

Researchers have been trying to teach absolute pitch ability for more than a century,[36] and various commercial absolute-pitch training courses have been offered to the public since the early 1900s.[37] It has been shown possible to learn the naming of tones later in life, although some consider this skill not to be true absolute pitch.[38] Although it has been shown possible to learn to identify pitches, keys, and everyday sounds later in life, no training method for adults has yet been shown to produce abilities comparable to naturally occurring absolute pitch.[39]

For children aged 2-4, however, recent observations have shown a certain method of music education[40] to apparently be successful in training absolute pitch,[41] but the same method has also been shown to fail with students 5 years and older, suggesting that a developmental change in perception occurs which favors relative learning over absolute and thus supporting the theory of the "critical period" for learning absolute pitch.[42]

[bigblackdrummer]

There are resources that can help you obtain that goal.... I don't know where or who, I just use my tuner.

[anointedfingaz]

i think you can learn relative pitch but what good does it do you to pull a note or chord out of thin air? it's better to distinguish the qualities of chords and even notes (voice leading) within progressions (a little bit at least) because it's all about what you do with the chord that you learn right?

[betnich]

Ear training is absolutely worth it! Whether you study intervals/chords yourself or in class, w/CD or DVD, it will improve your ear. However, I don't think that would necessarily lead to absolute pitch.

I'll tell you how I learned (or found out) - as a freshman in High School Band. We had one of those tuning machines with the turning dials (this was way back in the 60's, LOL). I learned how to come in, sing a note, and stop the dials on Bb - didn't take that long, and that is when I realized that our piano at home was about a half-step flat...


BTW, I have read about studies that claim that more people in countries with tonal language (like China, Vietnam) have perfect pitch...

[BassbyGrace]

For children aged 2-4, however, recent observations have shown a certain method of music education[40] to apparently be successful in training absolute pitch,[41] but the same method has also been shown to fail with students 5 years and older, suggesting that a developmental change in perception occurs which favors relative learning over absolute and thus supporting the theory of the "critical period" for learning absolute pitch.[42][/b]

If they say so.    My older brother didnt start lessons til he was like 7-8 and he can tell you what note the lawnmower across the street is buzzing at through a bad reception on a cell phone (actual occurrence). 

[Fingers!]

If they say so.    My older brother didnt start lessons til he was like 7-8 and he can tell you what note the lawnmower across the street is buzzing at through a bad reception on a cell phone (actual occurrence). 

My nephew is like that.  He's perfect pitch.  One time I checked him (a 12 yr old).  He sat across the room and I hit a note on the piano.  He said C#.  No, it's "D".  "Oh..." he said with this funny look on his face.  Come to think of it, maybe the piano was out-of-tune.  He also do that relative pitch in a backwards way.  When he hear music, the root would immediately do a low drone in his head, even before the root actually comes up.  Everything else sits above or below the drone.  One more thing... He's slightly autistic.  He don't train or work on it.  This stuff jumps out at him.  He also got this "elephant-memory" thing working for him. 

My understanding is that, everybody is born with it, but you only retain it if you becom a musician at an early age (3-5 yrs)

I heard that it CAN be developed but only at a very young age.  They say that most major music conductors are perfect pitch, but they are the ones who got into music very early, like, before 9 or something. 

It makes sense.  People who learn a second language from a good source before puberty don't have an accent.  To learn the language AFTER that period, it's nearly impossible to remove the accent.  That's the way our brain works.  And music is processed into the brain in the same manner as language.