Perfect/absolute pitch fascinates me. I have fairly solid relative pitch and knowledge of music theory, so I can pretty quickly work out most popular western music by ear and play along on the piano or guitar, but only in rare circumstances can I hear a pitch and recognize it as being the same absolute pitch as some other known pitch that I haven’t heard recently. When it happens, it’s usually when I hear the beginning of a song and immediately recognize that it’s in the same key as some other song that I have heard many times. The recognition seems to be stronger if both pitches are played with the same timbre (i.e. the same instrument with similar tone and effects).
This leads me to believe that absolute pitch is probably nothing more than excellent pitch memory, which further leads me to believe that it is probably learnable and not genetic (beyond any genetic predisposition for general musical skill). That said, I suspect it Is vastly easier to learn at a young age, just as are human languages.
This leads me to believe that absolute pitch is probably nothing more than excellent pitch memory, which further leads me to believe that it is probably learnable and not genetic (beyond any genetic predisposition for general musical skill). That said, I suspect it Is vastly easier to learn at a young age, just as are human languages.