musicfan1

Joined 3 years ago

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Jun 21

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Well, it sort of is a "super power". As you say, it won't teach you technique or musical taste, but it is a great help for improvisational music and composing.

I have played music for quite some time and have worked on my relative pitch a fair bit, and I still struggle to improvise what I think in my head, whereas a person with perfect pitch would do it effortlessly and perfectly every time.

Comment · 3 years ago

Unfortunately I don't. I wish I did though. I have tried some training, to no avail. When hear a pitch I have no notion of uniqueness.

However, since I listen to so much music and tune my violin to A 440Hz every time I play, my ear knows when something is off even by a degree or two when listening to some European orchestras. And I think every musician hates out of tune music :)

There is a really cool phenomenon with some musicians who play instruments with a one to one correspondence between a pitch and feeling + fingering (so woodwinds, and sort of brass) that have played long tones for so long that they have internalized the "feeling" of a note and can (with a small delay) seem like they have absolute pitch. Really cool stuff. A youtuber called Saxologic dubbed this ability "Real Pitch". Really interesting video showing this in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4zo6POThHc

Comment · 3 years ago

The voice is the only instrument where you can "play" (sing) what note you think. So, the advantage of absolute pitch for improvisation is minimised.

However, AP would be advantage in vocal sight reading. With AP, you will never sing a wrong note, whereas a non-AP could make some mistakes, depending on how strong there musical ability/relative pitch is.

I am not sure shifting keys in singing would be hard for people with AP. Of course they would be aware of the exact new notes they would be singing whereas nonAP would simply thing "everything is X steps up/down" but relatively the same.

I don't think AP has an effect on tolerance to listening to a song in a different key, it is more your personal taste. I don't have AP, but I can tell when a song is in a different key from the original. I find it acceptable, so long as it is in tune. But I vastly prefer the original key simply due to familiarity. Also, some songs really do sound better in certain keys than others.

Comment · 3 years ago

As a person without absolute pitch, here is my take on its utility. It does not help technique, does not help for sight read music, and does not grant musical taste or compositional creativity.

AP helps improvisation (mostly keyboard and strings, less so brass, and even less so woodwinds, I can explain later). Also, ease/speed of composition, allowing you to focus on the creative aspect of composing, or just simply composing more.

You can become a great improviser with relative pitch, but it is much harder, as you have to calculate the intervals between notes in real time, whereas AP spits out the exact note automatically for you.

You should ask your daughter if she would be interested in Jazz improvisation! That is where her AP would actually shine. We need another Stephane Grappelli! :D

I am a violinist myself, and although I can play every scale and arpeggio in the books, I still can't play freely what I hear in my head vs my fingers even after years of working on my real time relative pitch.

Comment · 3 years ago

I don't have perfect pitch, just an average hobby musician, but I can immediately tell when an orchestra is tuned up or down (A 440Hz vs 441 or 442, or baroque, really low).

I also find out of tune music extremely distressing, and can't stand it. My ears actually have this weird "bleeding" sensation if I listen to out of tune music long enough.